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Study: Young Americans Dumping Religion at Rapid Rate
The New American ^ | 09 October 2012 | Selwyn Duke

Posted on 10/09/2012 3:25:25 PM PDT by Paladins Prayer

According to a recent study, religion is dying in America. And it’s a trend that has grave implications for our politics, culture, and the fate of our civilization. Ben Fearnow of CBS News reports on the story, writing:

...The study also posits some theories for this burgeoning irreligiosity, which, writes Fearnow, “run the gamut from a backlash against the entanglement of religion and politics to a global relationship between economic development and secularization.” Now, I don’t know if that “gamut” includes the obvious, but these two theories miss the mark.

Question: Do we wonder why Pakistan is spawning jihadists when we know that 10,000 madrassahs (Muslim schools) pepper its lands? In the same vein, American schools, along with the media and popular culture, instill secular dogma (I discuss one dimension of this here), and faith and her institutions are continuously discredited via specious documentaries and biased news reportage. Put simply, our culture preaches a secular-fundamentalist message. So is it any wonder that Americans are thus influenced? But more about the cause in a moment.

Having said this, some traditionalists will note that there’s also good news. As the study indicates, not all the “unaffiliated” are atheists; in fact, 68 percent claim to believe in God and 21 percent pray every day. The question is, To whom?

I’m not just being snide. The unaffiliated’s behavior reflects the now common position, “I’m spiritual, but not religious,” and this is in fact a claim 37 percent of them make. Yet while it sounds enlightened and cool to modern ears to profess spirituality, it’s a meaningless statement.

(Excerpt) Read more at thenewamerican.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Philosophy; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: decline; generationy; religion; secularism; trends; unchurched; youth; youthvote
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To: elkfersupper

The problem is that your parents didn’t instill you with the proper philosophical foundation. Understand that the most brilliant men in history have come to faith. Chesterton is the best example. And yes, he was smarter than you (and everyone else).


41 posted on 10/09/2012 5:32:43 PM PDT by Paladins Prayer
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To: elkfersupper
I educated myself, despite my parents or government schools.

You are your own teacher, the envy of compulsory students everywhere.

Do you recognize any higher authority above you, other than the grudging submission to governments which can impose themselves upon you by threat of force or confinement?

What a wonder, to be so great in one's own eyes.

Are you your own god?

42 posted on 10/09/2012 5:35:46 PM PDT by ExGeeEye (Wait a minute! Romney doesn't suck? I'm trying to keep up.)
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To: ExGeeEye
Are you your own god?

No, I don't believe in gods.

43 posted on 10/09/2012 5:40:24 PM PDT by elkfersupper ( Member of the Original Defiant Class)
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To: ForAmerica

Hollywood and the public schools win with no competition. Kids are raised by them.


44 posted on 10/09/2012 5:42:18 PM PDT by Varda
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To: alloysteel
>>Where there is a vacuum, something shall rush in to fill it.

Recall the rats canceled a “jumah,” muzzie prayer meeting a couple days before their convention. Barbaric islam is just another victim group in the democrat coalition. It isn't just muzzie brotherhood openly working with the administration; the rat party has openly embraced the enemies of civilization and very few public figures openly speak of it.

There is very little time. God help us.

45 posted on 10/09/2012 5:43:17 PM PDT by Jacquerie (Exterminate rats.)
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To: ExGeeEye

Unfortunately, we’re dealing with a closed-minded individual here. He’s upset with how his parents chose to expose him to religion (some never grow up), so now he wants to throw out the baby with the bathwater.

It’s good his parents didn’t take him to boring Republican events on a regular basis. He might be a flaming liberal today.


46 posted on 10/09/2012 5:48:13 PM PDT by Paladins Prayer
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To: Paladins Prayer

Looks like The Devil has finally got his act together.


47 posted on 10/09/2012 6:10:13 PM PDT by Misterioso (The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody has decided not to see.--Rand)
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To: Paladins Prayer
"If it’s in Miami, it likely has a large Hispanic contingent, which would make it an anomaly. The pattern, though, is unmistakeable. And closing our eyes to it won’t help." our church is very mixed, and I would guess upper middle class. I dont think we are an exception in terms of membership. Like I said, the MSM has been pushing this story lately and we know how they work. Of course there are athiests out there, but overall church membership is still on the rise, and it is impossible to quantify real believers.
48 posted on 10/10/2012 5:25:33 AM PDT by mgist
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To: mgist

Let’s not be ridiculous. I’ve attended parishes all over the U.S., and the pattern is generally this: the pews are filled — although “filled” is the wrong word because they’re sparsely occupied — with old folks and a few families with children. There are exceptions to this, but not many.

Additionally, even those who do go to church are becoming more liberal (meaning, more secular-minded).

And what’s not hard to quantify is the overall trend in our society, which is toward secularism at an alarming rate. Get your head out of the sand.


49 posted on 10/10/2012 7:58:09 AM PDT by Paladins Prayer
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To: mgist

Mormons, National Baptists, Assemblies of God and Assemblies of the World as well as Jehovah’s Witnesses are up by more than 1 %


50 posted on 10/14/2012 5:53:27 AM PDT by Cronos (**Marriage is about commitment, cohabitation is about convenience.**)
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To: pops88
An hour and a half of happy music, maybe a bit of admonition, but end on a happy note, doesn’t cut it. For the most part, the concept of “Christianity” is broken in our count

Drop into your nearest Orthodox Church and see how Christian worship in its entirety really is!

51 posted on 10/14/2012 5:56:10 AM PDT by Cronos (**Marriage is about commitment, cohabitation is about convenience.**)
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To: alloysteel

I don’t see young people (especially in this country) being ripe for conversion to Islam. While it may appeal to man’s baser instincts (need for control over others, lust, desire to do violence), the ‘rules’ for Islam are even MORE strict than how young people view Christianity’s ‘rules’. What they’re seeming to look for is a “whatever floats your boat is cool” kind of belief. The strictures placed on those who follow Islam (praying 5 times a day,’halal’ dietary laws, women covering themselves, lack of women’s rights, etc.) don’t go over too well with today’s young people.

The only conversion to Islam that young people may be subject to is FORCED conversion....unless WE do something about it BEFORE it gets to that point.


52 posted on 10/14/2012 6:12:29 AM PDT by hoagy62 ("Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered..."-Thomas Paine. 1776)
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To: Paladins Prayer

I think that many young people, having read more on religion on the internet than they would have ever been exposed to in earlier times, have decided that it is “Okay” to not believe.

They probably never did, but were afraid of “coming out” as nonbelievers.

As a fifty-something who never really believed, I understand this. A few years ago I decided that the only thing I TRULY believed in was the existence of God. Too bad there’s no church for Deists! (and no, I’m much too conservative to become a Unitarian!)


53 posted on 10/14/2012 6:16:10 AM PDT by jaybee
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To: elkfersupper

Right on Elk. Agree completely. I’m sure you opened up his Foundation books and fell right in. I did too...


54 posted on 10/14/2012 6:36:58 AM PDT by strider44
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To: strider44
Yup. Went from Asimov to Heinlein to Pournelle & Niven, etc., etc.

Was fortunate enough to go to college where Jack Williamson was a professor.

Took every class he taught, attended every lecture. I was very fortunate in that regard.

55 posted on 10/15/2012 4:31:37 AM PDT by elkfersupper ( Member of the Original Defiant Class)
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