We're Less and Less a Christian Nation, and I Blame Some Blowhards

[Zorro]

Some intolerant conservative evangelicals have tainted the faith.

Perhaps for the first time since the United States was established, a majority of young adults here do not identify as Christian.

Only 49 percent of millennials consider themselves Christian, compared with 84 percent of Americans in their mid-70s or older, according to a new report from the Pew Research Center.

We don’t have good historical data, and the historians I consulted are wary of definitive historical comparisons. But something significant seems to be happening. The share of American adults who regard themselves as Christian has fallen by 12 percentage points in just the last decade.

“The U.S. is steadily becoming less Christian and less religiously observant,” the Pew study concluded.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/26/opinion/sunday/christianity-united-states.html

[Croney]

1. Blame, or thank?

[lagomorph777]

20. Thank! These clowns are simply displaying out loud what we should have always known:

It's a bunch of BS, concocted to repress the poor and stupid, in order to keep the rich and powerful on top.

[5X]

2. good news.

[brewens]

3. Good. And we never had "god " in schools that I can remember. n/t

[Cirque du So-What]

4. The internet

has made it possible to expose hypocrisy, critique, correct the historical record on a scale not previously possible. The deluge of truth is sufficient to counteract the appeals to emotion on which evangelical Christianity depend.

[stonecutter357]

5. We're Less and Less a Christian Nation . GOOD !

[Squinch]

6. The United States was specifically designed NOT to be a Christian nation.

Or a nation of any other religion.

If we were ever a Christian nation, that was due to a failure to understand our own most valued principles.

[safeinOhio]

7. If this is a Christian Nation,

I want a Jubilee year so all of my debts can be forgiven. More than 200 years with out one and counting.

[raccoon]

8. I think that's a good thing. Nt

[3Hotdogs]

9. Fewer Christians.

THANK YOU, JESUS !!!

[democratisphere]

10. Many so-called Christians' behavior is ANYTHING BUT Christ-like.

Frauds to a belief.

[RKP5637]

11. Good! n/t

[2naSalit]

12. Good!

[amcgrath]

13. I don't think Evangelicals identify as Christian anymore ?

I don't remember the last time I heard one quote, explain or justify anything in the name of christ. They only seem to quote from the Old Testament nowadays. Fire and brimstone. - because Jesus was unforgivably liberal

[Skittles]

14. "tainted the faith", give me a break

I LOVE that younger folk are resisting the notion that you just have to have some kind of "faith". GOOD FOR THEM.

[uriel1972]

15. I just can't find any reason to be upset with this...

CONGARATS USA!

[blugbox]

16. Good riddance.

I've retyped this message and erased it like seven times and I can't articulate my arguments in a way that satisfies the point I'm trying to make. Namely:

If there is a God, then fuck that motherfucker. You are the ultimate being of the universe and can do anything but this is what we end up with? Pathetic bullshit.

I'm much more comforted by the fact that we are alone in a cold, uncaring universe. THAT makes anything good or positive we do as humans a real miracle.

Christianity as we all know it is a scam, and if there is an actual God, I turn my back and reject his bullshit offer.

[uriel1972]

17. I stand with you my sibling in just anger!

[patphil]

18. I walked away from the Catholic religion about 50 years ago.

There was something about it that bothered me.
It wasn't fulfilling my spiritual need, and some of the teachings didn't feel right.
I spent a long time looking for, and finding God on my own.
About 20 years ago, I joined a love based spiritual group that has helped me reconnect with God.
I have discovered that the true path to God is within each of us, and the door to the path is opened with love.
Love is the opening door, as the song says.

Patrick Phillips

[dalton99a]

19. "Christianity is associated less with love than with hate"

But a far bigger threat to the “brand” of Christianity comes, I think, from religious blowhards who have entangled faith with bigotry, sexism, homophobia and xenophobia. For some young people, Christianity is associated less with love than with hate.

“Pompous right-wing political chest-thumping, and an unwillingness to listen on matters like climate change or racism, has contributed to a perception by millions that Christianity is irrelevant, or worse yet, a threat to progress,” the Rev. Richard Cizik, the leader of a group of self-described “new evangelicals” with moderate views, told me. “That’s a real burden to carry going into the 21st century.”

Cizik, who was fired from the National Association of Evangelicals in 2008 after he expressed support for civil unions for gay people, added that Christianity’s reputation suffers from backward views on women’s issues and from the unwavering support among evangelical hard-liners for President Trump.

“Trump has played them like a fiddle,” he said.

It would be difficult to imagine a president more at odds with Jesus’ message than Trump, a serial philanderer and liar who has persecuted refugees, divided families, exploited the poor and allegedly committed sexual assaults. When Trump in 2016 was asked to name a favorite part of the Bible, he muttered “an eye for an eye” — a reference to an Old Testament passage that Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, specifically renounced.

That is the opposite of the Christianity whose heroic side I’ve often praised: A Catholic doctor in Sudan’s Nuba mountains … a missionary doctor in Angola … nuns everywhere. If they were the face of Christianity, its reputation would be golden. Likewise, Christian organizations like International Justice Mission, Mercy Ships, Catholic Relief Services and World Vision labor to make the world a better place. Across America, a crucial safety net comes from churches organizing food pantries and emergency shelters.