Posted on 02/12/2017 2:20:29 PM PST by SoFloFreeper
Every year, the American Bible Society and Barna Group rank 100 of the nation’s most Bible-minded cities—that is, how many people read the Bible at least once a week and who strongly believe the Bible is accurate. And every year, cities from the Bible Belt—Chattanooga or Birmingham or Knoxville—come in first, while cities from the coasts—San Francisco or Boston or Albany—come in last.
It’s all fairly predictable, except for one city: Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Cedar Rapids, the second-largest city in Iowa, has ranked in the bottom five for the past four years, and its percentage of Bible readers and believers keeps going down—from 17 percent in 2014 to 15 percent in 2015 to 13 percent in 2016. Barna measures by media market, so Cedar Rapids’s numbers include nearby Waterloo, Dubuque, and Iowa City.
My bad. 1001 apologies.
Your opinion of Iowa jives with mine!
Although I knew a crack cocaine user-dealer from Iowa. He left THERE to go west because of the west coast's easy attitude about drugs.
“However, at daily Mass we have FIVE Biblical readings.”
Someone reading the Bible to you is quite different than sitting down and reading it yourself, which is what this study was measuring.
“Also, non-Catholics are allowed to interpret the Word of God as they like. Not so with Catholics. The Word of God was meant to be interpreted only one way.”
So there is an official Catholic companion to the Bible that you can use to interpret all the verses for you when you do your daily study?
With the trombones right behind.... like 76 I think...
I am a Cedar Rapidian and this is surprising, but probably true. There are only a couple good Gospel churches in town. The social (bibleless) gospel reigns in the mega-churches/Roman Catholic Churches. Many older folks were Robert Schullerites, and others watch Joel Osteen. God help us!
God actually already knows (has always known) which person will be the very last one entered in the Book of Life before the end. Won’t he or she be something of a minor celebrity in heaven? Something tantamount to Mr. Irrelevant (though certainly not irrelevant), the last player drafted by the NFL annually.
Read the article. Explains it.
The Czech, Slovak, Bohemian settlers in Saline County Nebraska seemed not to have any religion.
The statement was that Catholics don’t read the Bible, which is typically and comparatively true based on various surveys , as regards much personal reading.
However, at daily Mass we have FIVE Biblical readings. [Sundays there always a "second reading" so there are SIX Biblical readings on Sundays.]:
And which are simply repeated every 3 years, and an industrious RC on a RC forum reports "by my calculations, the 3-year Sunday readings cover about 5%-10% of the Old Testament and about 42% of the New Testament." "I was able to come up with a more precise estimate of the Old Testament covered in the 3-year Sunday readings based on the number of verses read: 5%. Source and more .
Actually RCs have a great deal of liberty to interpret the Bible within the wide parameters of RC teaching, and are more liberal in their understanding of it than evangelicals. Look at even some of the notes in the approved NAB plus much of the study helps in study versions.
Golly!
I think I have a neighbor that hails from that area.
So THAT explains why he doesn’t believe.
(Possibly)
Dubuque is a Catholic city.
There are 39 Catholic churches in Dubuque county.
Thereby skipping over a LOT of the bible.
...if it loses it's saltiness...
I see you’ve addressed it already.
The google maps listing of churches in cedar rapids has 21 churches listed;
Ludmilla Catholic, First Lutheran Church, Christ Episcopal Church, Calvary Community Church, Bethany Lutheran Church, First Presbyterian Church, Cedar Hills Community Church, Cedar Rapids Family Church, All Saints Catholic Church, St Patricks Church, St Wenceslaus Church, Veritas Church, Lovely Lane United Methodist Church, Stone Bridge Church, Calvary Baptist Church, Asbury United Methodist Church, St Stephen Lutheran Church, St Marks United Methodist, Spirit of Faith Family Church, St Mathew Catholic Church.
AND -
The National Muslim Cemetery, The Mother Mosque historical site and museum - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Mosque_of_America, (The Mother Mosque of America, once known as The Rose of Fraternity Lodge and also known as Moslem Temple, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States, is the longest standing mosque in North America.)
The Mother Mosque is THE LASTING SYMBOL OF ISLAM IN AMERICA.... per ALJAZEERA,,,, http://america.aljazeera.com/features/2014/2/in-iowa-a-lastingsymbolofamericanislam.html
The dissolution of American Protestantism has opened the door for Islam in the Heartland. The Protestant experiment may be imploding - At least in middle america.
Oh please! Islam has nothing to do with lack of Bible-reading in Cedar Rapids.
You are correct that the main reason is the collapse of actual religious belief of any kind in mainstream Protestant denominations, who are over-represented in Iowa. A higher than average Catholic population anywhere in America or Europe also indicates a lower degree of religious commitment of any kind.
Cedar Rapids is also home to many of the employees and students of the University of Iowa with predictable results.
https://www.rockwellcollins.com/Our_Company/History.aspx
This government contractor brought in a lot of foreign workers over the years.
I cordially disagree.
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