Posted on 09/26/2009 7:15:41 AM PDT by Utah Binger
According to a new study from Trinity College, 15% of Americans don't associate with a religious denomination.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/2009/09/22/2009-09-22_new_study_americans_are_losing_their_religion_choosing_to_be_nones_instead_of_nu.html#ixzz0SDnQoSOr
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
Some of us do not need a religious group to be religious.
FYI
I agree with you. I no longer go to church....but I do think I pray more and try to do good.
Some evangelicals have given up on denominations they have formerly followed due to liberal political nonsense that has invaded the World Council of Churches (WCC) for example. Other non-denominational churches which are more conservative leaning have appeared to fill the void that many traditional liberal denominational churches created.
And you are your own person.
People constantly decry “organized religion” as if the mere fact of an activity being organized is damning. What poppycock! Any human activity involving more than one person will involve organization. People who are of like minds on certain things are free to associate in a free society for any purpose that is not criminal. Organizations can do things that are good or things that are bad, just like individuals. The superficial creis against “organized religion” not only reveal thoughtlessness, but a sweeping bigotry against something that logically is neither good nor bad insofar as it is organized.
All through college I was an agnostic, with no particular use for religion. Then I gradually discovered that Christianity is much bettter than religion. It offers emotional and intellectual stability, not because it answers all my questions, but because it allowed me to bundle together my unanswered questions in such a way that I could trust in God that some day they would be answered. The real question that should be considered by those contemplating the embracing of a worldview is not “Which religion is better?” but rather what is true?
IMO, “organized religion” is code for “Catholic Church”.
I agree with that statement, however if those folks try to convince me to give money for their religion to organize, they lose me.
I have found the most ignorant tunnel vision individuals in churches. They must need it. Somehow it is letting them down.
You sound like Oprah. Spirituality without religion is like football without referees. You personally may have rules to follow, but many just do what “feels good”. Sometimes we need to feel bad for what we have or have not done.
Wow! Ever try the predominant religion in Utah?
Has the preacher arrived?
I had a family of them living next door to me when I was a kid.
Well said.
The problem is that 1) “in your own way” is incompatible with submission to God, and that 2) you may not have a choice.
Scripture plainly says that if you are a Christian, the Lord adds you to his church. That’s not a capital “C,” rather a little “c,” also depicted in scripture as the “bride of Christ” and the “body of Christ.”
If you belong to Him, you belong to his body. I won’t take the metaphor forward with words like “paralysis” or “dead,” but you get the picture.
You’re either in or out, your choice, but sitting in the shadows and hoping the Light spills over onto you isn’t going to work.
Sometimes that American self-made spirit butts heads with the notion of an all-powerful God who’s not as impressed with us as we are with ourselves.
I am no preacher. Just a regular joe. What I said was based on personal obervations with friends and family. Without organization people tend to lose discipline. It then falls into distancing themselves from G_d.
Bingo!
And the One who “created heaven and earth and all that is in it” didn’t make truth so obscure that we can’t find it.
I suspect my problem with a certain organization is that the discipline was more than I could handle. Just seems to me that lots of folks really do need a certain amount of such. But, there are others that do not. Self discipline is the key. For instance, last night I had one too many. I'm paying for that today.
Yea, I can see your point.
Takes all the heat off of actually following up with those principles and duties too.
There's still some social pressure on politicians to say they believe in God; there's only one self-admitted atheist in Congress, if I recall correctly. I suspect a significant fraction of politicians would admit to being atheists or agnostics if they felt there were be no negative consequences come election time.
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