I play golf with a one time Minister in a Protestant Church who after many years took off the collar and went forth into the business world. He became very successful. He also kept his faith. We often discuss religion, me as an atheist and him as a believer. Yesterday we were trying to figure out why more and more people are describing themselves as 'none' when asked about their beliefs. I feel the internet and its ability to open peoples eyes to so many points of view is responsible. He believes that the great scientific discoveries of the last few decades, especially in physics and cosmology are responsible. I think we are both correct to a certain extent.
No matter what we think the latest Pew Surveys show that people believe less and less in the dogma of the different religions. That doesn't mean they aren't spiritual, just that they don't believe in the stories and fables surrounding religion. I think this trend will continue but there will always be believers.
"Some of us worship in churches, some in synagogues, and some on the golf course." - Adlai Stevenson
4 comments:
Those both sound like plausible reasons.
Something that occurs to me, too, is that people might be getting turned off by all this Republican Christianity. Southern Baptist, Pentecostal, etc., the ones that come down from Calvin and Luther, are mostly what's on TV and radio, and they are also the most outspoken ones in politics, so it could be that many people believe that's what Christianity is.
I'm not sure if many people are aware of this, even including people who consume those brands of Christianity, but those conservative sects take all their doctrine from the books written by Paul, and none of it from the teachings of Jesus, and there's a distinct difference between those two things.
The other more liberal sects including the mainstream of Catholicism either try to combine the two and finesse the differences, or else emphasize Jesus. Either way it results in something with a very different flavor, but you don't often hear from those people unless you walk into one of their churches, and there seems to be an unwritten rule in the clergy that you don't criticize the other side or point out the differences, and both sides respect that unwritten rule, so the public just knows what comes through in the media, and that can be pretty nasty and mean and I'm sure it comes through to a lot of people.
From a New Mexican (Hispano, Mexican, Spanish etc., etc.) perspective I recommend the book "A Contest of Faiths, Mission Women and Pluralism in the Southwest" written by Susan M. Yohn and published by Cornell University Press.
It gives a person the where, how and why a significant portion of folks in New Mexico got their religions other than Catholic.
To me it is very interesting subject when we take into consideration that in July of 1846 New Mexico and New Mexicans were 99.99% Catholic, That is if they had ant belief at all.
It aint easy being a loyal Catholic these days. It wasn't very easy for the Apostles either. The basic tenants of Catholicism of putting other before yourself and service to others just don't jibe with the Have it My Way attitudes of modern society. Just my opinion, but I will keep trying my best to stay true to my Catholic beliefs because they are great source of stength to me as a person despite the human failures of Church leadership from time to time.
still need to pratice my swing before head out for play this course
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