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Posted on 03/09/2009 11:41:44 AM PDT by presidio9
A wide-ranging study on American religious life found that the Roman Catholic population has been shifting out o of the Northeast to the Southwest, the percentage of Christians in the nation has declined and more people say they have no religion at all.
Fifteen percent of respondents said they had no religion, an increase from 14.2 percent in 2001 and 8.2 percent in 1990, according to the American Religious Identification Survey.
Northern New England surpassed the Pacific Northwest as the least religious region, with Vermont reporting the highest share of those claiming no religion, at 34 percent. Still, the study found that the numbers of Americans with no religion rose in every state.
"No other religious bloc has kept such a pace in every state," the study's authors said.
In the Northeast, self-identified Catholics made up 36 percent of adults last year, down from 43 percent in 1990. At the same time, however, Catholics grew to about one-third of the adult population in California and Texas, and one-quarter of Floridians, largely due to Latino immigration, according to the research.
Nationally, Catholics remain the largest religious group, with 57 million people saying they belong to the church. The tradition gained 11 million followers since 1990, but its share of the population fell by about a percentage point to 25 percent.
Christians who aren't Catholic also are a declining segment of the country.
In 2008, Christians comprised 76 percent of U.S. adults, compared to about 77 percent in 2001 and about 86 percent in 1990. Researchers said the dwindling ranks of mainline Protestants, including Methodists, Lutherans and Episcopalians, largely explains the shift. Over the last seven years, mainline Protestants dropped from just over 17 percent to 12.9 percent
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I am positive that the Obamaists would totally disagree!
Just to clarify, that would be Northeast Mexico and the Southwest United States....
Sure they do; until things hit the fan.
Yet they consider themselves “spiritual” whatever that means.
Thanks for the clarification... I was thinking it was the NE & SW parts of San Francisco!
Really sad, but hardly surprising considering the drift of the country.
That’s fine. More room in Heaven...
How sad that the MSM keep doing these poles and then are so happy to report the results! They want the country to become Godless and can’t wait to see it happen.
They have no religion, or they do not belong to any organised religion?
You don’t think someone can believe in God, and not belong to an organised religion?
Buttociated Press at it’s finest. More Americans does not mean a majority of Americans, here is just means more agnostic/atheist responses than last time (now 15%).
Barack Obama claims to have a “healthy skepticism of organized religion”. He also sees all faiths as equal (Buddhists and Hindus are also on the path to ‘heaven’).
Yet he calls himself a Christian (his mother was an agnostic, and his grandmother was a Unitarian).
Great! We have no religion, no race and no families. We are becoming the egalitarians dream society of widgets and drones who believe in nothing with no right or wrong.
The Marxist must be ecstatic.
It’s Pravda Media.
Time-Lies-Warner told Americans 45 years ago that God was dead (with a cover story).
Same Socialist goals, different byline.
ok
Nonsense. Obama worship is alive and well.
And "anti-war" activists claim to be pacifists until someone throws a punch in a bar or denounces Hamas.
FYI - ping
The headline reminded me of a joke;
The Atheist and the Bear
An atheist was taking a walk through the woods. ‘What majestic trees! What powerful rivers! What beautiful animals!’, he said to himself.
As he continued walking alongside the river he heard a rustling in the bushes. Turning to look, he saw a 7 foot grizzly charging towards him.
He ran as fast as he could up the path. Looking over his shoulder he saw that the bear was closing in on him. His heart was pumping frantically and he tried to run even faster.
He tripped and fell on the ground. He rolled over to pick himself up but saw the bear raising his paw to take a swipe at him.
At that instant the atheist cried out: ‘Oh my God!...’
Time stopped.
The bear froze.
The forest was silent.
It was then that a bright light shone upon the man and a voice came out of the sky saying:
‘You deny my existence for all of these years, teach others I don’t exist and even credit creation to a cosmic accident.
Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a believer?’
The atheist looked directly into the light.
‘It would be hypocritical of me to suddenly ask you to treat me as a Christian now, but perhaps, could you make the BEAR a Christian?’
‘Very well, ‘said the voice. The light went out, and the sounds of the forest resumed.
And then the bear lowered his paws, bowed his head and spoke: ‘Lord, bless this food which I am about to receive and for which I am truly thankful, Amen.’
There is moral to this story...but we never heard from the Atheist again...hhhuuuummmm.
Well, like I always say, if you don’t believe in God, you’d better hope you’re right.
Rent "Expelled - No Intelligence Allowed", by Ben Stein. It is available at Blockbuster.
I cannot recommend this movie highly enough.
they believe in Obama instead
All men are endowed by their Creator with certain natural inalienable rights: this is the philosophical foundation for the Bill of Rights and the concept of individual liberty.
If you do not have religion, then you do not believe you have a soul. Your body is nothing but a piece of meat, and there is no philosophical reason to prevent the state from claiming you as it’s own, to dispose of as it sees fit.
I feel really sorry for them. In these troubling times, a strong faith is going to be a real asset.
Are we talking about organised religions, or simply a belief in God?
Thanks.
I noticed the headline.
Will try and get to it at home this evening.
Sobering.
When clamities begin to literally fall out of the sky . . .
SOME may reconsider . . . IF there is time left for that . . . in their particular cases, their particular lives.
Some will be snuffed out in the initial blows.
There are no atheists in hell.
IN THE COMING CALAMITIES,
folks should watch which areas are most devastated soonest.
Well said.
A strong faith IN CHRIST
is going to be the difference between
LIFE VS DEATH
and between
ETERNAL LIFE VS ETERNAL DEATH.
“a real asset” is just too mild. Far too mild, for the realities looming.
“How sad that the MSM keep doing these poles and then are so happy to report the results! They want the country to become Godless and can’t wait to see it happen.”
The POLL is not by the MSM.
Neither the POLL, the article about the POLL or the actual study writeup says anything like “country to become Godless.”
“They have no religion, or they do not belong to any organised religion?”
I know many people who express strong belief in God, are very spiritual (walk the walk), but claim to be outside the system of organized religions.
more americans believe in false idols, like zero, or pagan religions like giai and man-made gorebull warming or in science as the be all and end all.
We have The One. That’s all that matters.
Exactly! This is the reason for the push for abortion, embryonic stem cell research, euthasasia -- in all of them, being human counts for nothing, only gov't recognition does.
How sad to see the continued Europeanization of America. We are losing our values.
It certainly doesn’t mean
of or pertaining to the Holy Spirit of God.
Have always loved that joke.
Thx.
And by their fruit.......
INDEED.
All... please read the entire Psalm 14.
We believers know WHO butters our bread! Praise the Almighty One forever and ever!
Let's see, there's a dip of less than one percent, and it's AP headline material? Whereas, if 67% of voters in a given district reject gay marriage, it's a "very slim majority"?
I would have to add, even some people who claim to be Catholic have no religion.
Those are the people I am talking about.
I didn’t say that at all.
It was a question.
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