Posted on 12/30/2013 9:35:20 AM PST by RnMomof7
......"The U.S. Religious Landscape Survey by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life has put hard numbers on the anecdotal evidence: One out of every 10 Americans is an ex-Catholic. If they were a separate denomination, they would be the third-largest denomination in the United States, after Catholics and Baptists. One of three people who were raised Catholic no longer identifies as Catholic.........
"Thankfully, although the U.S. bishops have not supported research on people who have left the church, the Pew Center has.
Pew’s data shows that those leaving the church are not homogenous. They can be divided into two major groups: those who become unaffiliated and those who become Protestant. Almost half of those leaving the church become unaffiliated and almost half become Protestant. Only about 10 percent of ex-Catholics join non-Christian religions.
This article will focus on Catholics who have become Protestant. I am not saying that those who become unaffiliated are not important; I am leaving that discussion to another time."................
"Nor are the people becoming Protestants lazy or lax Christians. In fact, they attend worship services at a higher rate than those who remain Catholic. While 42 percent of Catholics who stay attend services weekly, 63 percent of Catholics who become Protestants go to church every week. That is a 21 percentage-point difference.
" Seventy-one percent say their faith is “very strong,” while only 35 percent and 22 percent reported that their faith was very strong when they were children and teenagers, respectively. On the other hand, only 46 percent of those who are still Catholic report their faith as “very strong” today as an adult.
(Excerpt) Read more at ncronline.org ...
to make the/your point re ‘good marxists’, compare to saying ‘good stalins’ , ‘good lenins’ , ‘good Maos’, ‘good Chavezs’, ‘good Castros’, etc...
and see if they get the point.
The new testament of KJV of the bible completed in 1611 after the reformation was based on the translations of Erasmus a Dutch roman catholic priest and a Greek scholar who used greek byzantine era texts to create the “Textus Receptus”
A well thought out and correct post as it corresponds with my personal experiences as well.
I know the pope said something about gays, it sounds like "including" them and I don't even know what he means by that. Then there was something about unfettered capitalism which made Rush buzz. I suppose he is just touching upon the latest buzz words and showing a leftist trend on them. But argument could be made that "money is the root of all evil" though Rush and others seem to say "the pursuit of money is the root of all good.".
Pardon the ramble, just trying to measure what I hear with the bible.
The term "Protestant" is used as if the Catholics in question are forsaking one Credo for another. They're not. The term "Protestant" does not signify a uniform, coherent system of belief. Some of the Catholics who are leaving are swallowing the lies of the Jehovah's Witnesses. Some are embracing the "prosperity gospel" of Osteen and Hinn. Some are becoming Baptists, some are signing up for Calvinism, some are joing the local storefront preacher and some are becoming Methodists.
In other words, they're being scattered to the four winds. They're cutting themselves adrift on a sea of individualism and subjectivism which are the two overriding characteristics of American congregationalism.
Good luck with that.
As a Catholic myself, I would rather hear the gospel of prosperity than the gospel of redistribution and trickle down we’re getting from the Vatican these days. Be fruitful and multiply we are commanded in the Bible. Celebrate! We’re not put on this earth to give up everything.
There's a simple way to measure this. As Catholics move into Protestant denominations (or vise versa) does that body vote more / less conservative?
Nothing is being lost.
The religion is called “Christianity”. And it’s not tiny, it’s big - vast in fact.
There are different ways of doing it.
... Wow Mormons say the same stuff about former mormons
I agree with everything you’ve said here.
Regards,
PS: My formerly Lutheran husband finally entered the Church on Aug. 5, 2013 after only 20 years of marriage!
Actually, while it occurs, historically it has often been Evangelical groups that have opposed such, while Rome has a long history of pagan accommodation. The Queen of Heaven being one of them.
A further reinforcement, of the same idea, was derived from the cult of the angels, which, while pre-Christian in its origin, was heartily embraced by the faithful of the sub-Apostolic age. It seems to have been only as a sequel of some such development that men turned to implore the intercession of the Blessed Virgin.. — http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15459a.htm
Journal of Religion & Society - The Virtual World Project - Anthony M. J. Maranise, Christian Brothers University Investigating the Syncretism of Catholicism and Voodoo in. New Orleans ... presence of Voodoo in New Orleans is the result of syncretism with Catholic religious. This paper discusses the syncretism of both Catholicism and Voodoo in New Orleans and explains how the adaptable Catholicism of New Orleans provides ample support for the growth rather than repression of Voodoo.
Religious Syncretism AboutSanteria Behind the veneer of Catholicism, however, Afro-Cubans kept their old religions alive by "syncretizing" their deities with Christian saints. They knew that the ..
Welcome home!
You mean like praying to dead people and gazing at their moldering copses?
Agreed. Like I said in a similar thread, the Catholic Church no longer teaches the necessity of being Catholic. Why should anyone be surprised that Catholics aren’t remaining Catholic? Or that people of other faiths see the need to become Catholic? There are exceptions of course but by and large when you have popes saying proselytism is nonsense, popes kissing Korans, etc, etc, helllloooooo????
That is simply damage control apologetics as regards converts to other Christian faiths, as the “Cafeteria Catholics” are well treated by Rome as members in life and in death.
Those who have left Catholicism outnumber those who have joined the Catholic Church by nearly a four-to-one margin. 10.1% have left the Catholic Church after having been raised Catholic, while only 2.6% of adults have become Catholic after having been raised in a different faith. - Pew forum, Faith in Flux (April 27, 2009) http://pewforum.org/uploadedfiles/Topics/Religious_Affiliation/fullreport.pdf ^
4% of Americans raised Catholic are now unaffiliated; 5% are now Protestant. ^
Over 75% of those who left Catholicism attended Mass at least once a week as children, versus 86% having done so who remain Catholics today.^
Regarding reasons for leaving Catholicism, less than 30% of former Catholics agreed that the clergy sexual abuse scandal played a role in their departure. ^
71% of converts from Catholicism to Protestant faith said that their spiritual needs were not being met in Catholicism, with 78% of Evangelical Protestants in particular concurring, versus 43% of those now unaffiliated. ^
50% of all Protestants converts from Catholicism said they stopped believing in Catholicism's teachings overall. Only 23% (20% now evangelical) were unhappy about Catholicism's teachings on abortion/homosexuality (versus 46% of those now unaffiliated); 23% also expressed disagreement with teaching on divorce/remarriage; 16% (12% now evangelical) were dissatisfied with teachings on birth control, 70% said they found a religion the liked more in Protestantism.
55% of evangelical converts from Catholicism cited dissatisfaction with Catholic teachings about the Bible was a reason for leaving Catholicism, with 46% saying the Catholic Church did not view the Bible literally enough.
81% of all Protestant converts from Catholicism said they enjoyed the service and worship of Protestant faith as a reason for joining a Protestant denomination, with 62% of all Protestants and 74% Evangelicals also saying that they felt God's call to do so. ^
42% of those now unaffiliated stated they do not believe in God, or most religious teaching. ^
Almost 20% of all Latino American Catholics have left the Roman Catholicism, with 23 percent of second-generation Latino Americans doing so. http://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/33304.pdf
54% of Hispanic Catholics describe themselves as charismatic Christians. http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?ReportID=75
51% of Hispanic Evangelicals are converts, and 43% are former Catholics. ^
82% of Hispanics cite the desire for a more direct, personal experience with God as the main reason for adopting a new faith. Among those who have become evangelicals, 90% say it was a spiritual search for a more direct, personal experience with God was the main reason that drove their conversion. Negative views of Catholicism do not appear to be a major reason for their conversion. ^
Latino evangelicals are more than 20 percentage points more likely than Catholics to say that abortion should be illegal in most or all circumstances. http://www.nhclc.org/news/latino-religion-us-demographic-shifts-and-trend
40% Roman Catholics vs. 41% Non-R.C. see abortion as "morally acceptable"; Sex between unmarried couples: 67% vs. 57%; Baby out of wedlock: 61% vs. 52%; Homosexual relations: 54% vs. 45%; Gambling: 72% vs. 59% http://www.gallup.com/poll/117154/Catholics-Similar-Mainstream-Abortion-Stem-Cells.aspx
Committed Roman Catholics (church attendance weekly or almost) versus Non-R.C. faithful church goers (see the below as as morally acceptable): Abortion: 24% R.C. vs. 19% Non-R.C.; Sex between unmarried couples: 53% vs. 30%; Baby out of wedlock: 48% vs. 29%; Homosexual relations: 44% vs. 21%; Gambling: 67% vs. 40%; Divorce: 63 vs. 46% ^
Comparing 16 moral behaviors, Catholics were less likely to say mean things about people behind their back, and tending to engage in recycling more. However, they were also twice as likely to view pornographic content on the Internet, and were more prone to use profanity, to gamble, and to buy lottery tickets. ^
In a survey asking whether one approves or rejects or overall sees little consequence (skeptical) to society regarding seven trends on the family (More: unmarried couples raising children; gay and lesbian couples raising children; single women having children without a male partner to help raise them; people living together without getting married; mothers of young children working outside the home; people of different races marrying each other; and more women not ever having children), 42% of all Protestants were “Rejecters” of the modern trend, 35% were Skeptics, and 23% were “Approvers.” Among Catholics, 27% were Rejecters, 34% were Approvers, and 39% were Skeptics. (Among non religious, 10% were Rejecters, 48% were Approvers, and 42% were Skeptics.) Pew forum, The Public Renders a Split Verdict On Changes in Family Structure, February 16, 2011 http://pewsocialtrends.org/2011/02/16/the-public-renders-a-split-verdict-on-changes-in-family-structure/#prc_jump
50 percent of Protestants affirmed gambling was a sin, versus 15 percent of Catholics; that getting drunk was a sin: 63 percent of Protestants, 28 percent of Catholics; gossip: 70 percent to 45 percent: homosexual activity or sex: 72 percent to 42 percent. Ellison Research, March 11, 2008 http://ellisonresearch.com/releases/20080311.htm http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080312/study-behaviors-americans-consider-sinful.htm
Much more
So your argument is that Rome was/is the instrument and stewards of Scripture, and thus they are its assuredly correct interpreter? Articulate.
“Ex-Catholics are mostly gays and what are known as “Cafeteria Catholics” They are willing to rejoin on “their” terms. “
You will notice no citations were posted to back up that claim!
daniel1212: That is simply damage control apologetics as regards converts to other Christian faiths, as the “Cafeteria Catholics” are well treated by Rome as members in life and in death
"Sour grapes" indeed! Ping to look at daniel's numbers later.
“pew research” :^)
There is a reason for this article.
We went to a parish (not my wife’s home one) last week where he priest said that Jesus had no idea he was God until maybe after the Resurrection. I asked him after the service to clarify what he meant, and he said “well, we really don’t think he had any idea.” He also said that he probably WASN’T all God for most of his life. Left me a bit stunned.
This man TEACHES at a seminary. He is not Christian, but is openly teaching this.
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