Poll: Pentecostals Widening Influence

[NVMojo]

NEW YORK (AP) - A new 10-nation survey of Pentecostal and charismatic Christians, considered the fastest-growing stream of Christianity worldwide, shows they are deeply influencing the Roman Catholic and mainstream Protestant churches and are poised to make a big impact on global affairs.

The poll released Thursday by the Washington-based Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found that "spirit-filled" Christians, who speak in tongues and believe in healing through prayer, comprise at least 10 percent of the population in nine of the 10 surveyed countries.

The study also found that followers are more willing than previously thought to bring their traditional values into public debates, potentially shaping government policies in the years ahead.

more...

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-gen/2006/oct/05/100501534.html

[AX10]

1. Not this crap again.

Seperation of Church and State!

[LiberalArkie]

3. Not necessarily. A lot of us believe in Jesus. Not in the church per se.

A lot of us believe that Christ taught us to heal the sick, house the homeless, feed the hungry. If someone is naked, we are to give them the clothes off our back.

But there are a lot of those that indeed trot out the good Old Testament, in other words, hate everyone not like me..

[lapfog_1]

2. In other news... ignorance is sweeping the world - n/t

[NVMojo]

4. let's hope they learn to not support any more predator pedophiles

from hanging chad districts.

[xchrom]

5. there are some very liberal pentacostals.

and ther eare probably some here at du.

i'm not saying liberal pentacostals are the ones doing the growing -- just saying there very liberal pentacostals.

[elocs]

17. Moving to the right:

Evangelicals---->Charismatics---->Pentecostals

Generally speaking, Evangelicals do no believe in speaking in tongues and the gifts of the Spirit still actively used. When Evangelicals do believe in speaking in tongues, and speak in tongues themselves, then they become Charismatics and they may actually be at the same place on the spectrum, but I would put Charismatics a little to the right. Pentecostals in generally where you see the big move to the right. Any denomination may become Pentecostal, but I think it would be more accurate to describe it as Charismatic. There are Charismatic Catholics and Charismatic Baptists, etc. But a true Pentecostal is like a Charismatic with an attitude because they think they are better than the others because they have higher holiness standards than other Christians. True dyed in the wool Pentecostals do not even believe that Catholics are Christians and they also believe that most other Christians are "not going to make it", and by that they mean not only in the afterlife, but also that they will not make the Rapture. But of the three: Evangelicals, Charismatics, and Pentecostals, Pentecostals are definitely the farthest to the right and would consider the term "liberal Pentecostal" to be an oxymoron.

[donco6]

22. Really?

I've never met one. And I was in those circles for many years. I could be mistaken I guess . . .

[noshenanigans]

6. That scares me...

I grew up in rural Appalachian North Carolina, surrounded by these types- my friend's father won 200,000 dollars playing bingo "because he anointed his marker with oil". And I gotta say, the idea that more and more people are putting their eggs into blind-faith baskets does not comfort me.

[valerief]

8. This same kind of behavior is what makes slot machines in casinos

so prosperous and why lottery tickets sell so well. Magic thinking. Children do it all the time.

[noshenanigans]

9. Exactly..

What got me was my friend's dad who won money playing Bingo was firmly against gambling as it is "sinful." But the money he won bought them a new double wide trailer and his wife a gastric bypass.. so.. I don't really know how to end that. I spend too much time trying to parse hypocricy!

[valerief]

7. And AP says Hastert is a Democratic. File this under the We-

Don't-Believe-You-Anymore file.

[noshenanigans]

10. What?

Like, the way Fox said Foley was a Democrat?

[valerief]

11. Yep.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/10/04/google-news-ap-dennis-hastert-is-a-democrat/

<<Josh Marshall earlier this morning discovered the AP labeling Foley a Democrat. BradBlog posted the graphic later on, but missed another problem. Dennis Hastert is now a Democrat too. Yes ladies and gentleman–our liberal media working for you!>>

[noshenanigans]

12. Sigh..

Thanks.. it's amazing, I like to think I'm pretty on top of things, and it's terrifying just how little information you get if you aren't trying.

[0rganism]

14. at this rate, Dems might just get control of the house in October!

who needs an election, when the corporate media can just switch the party of any tainted congressman on the fly?

[valerief]

19. Yeah, you'd think the Corp Media was the Supreme Court. nt

[bumponalog]

13. On the bright side,

perhaps the snake handling thing will help to keep their numbers down.

[VegasWolf]

15. Guess that snake-kissing and floor-rolling stuff is catching on in certain

parts of the country. Nothing surprises me anymore.

[hatrack]

16. OK, fundies, want to really impress me? When you speak in tongues . . .

. . . speak in Japanese. I'm not talking nonsense bullshit made up James Hagee crap that wouldn't elicit more than a puzzled looks from a cocktail waitress in the depths of Shinjuku as she waited for you to just swallow your tongue and shut the fuck up already.

I'm talking fluent, Mr. Pipeline-To-Jesus - I want chatty colloquial Japanese that touches on the chances of the Hanshin Tigers, Tora-san movies, the life and times of Rie Miyazawa and the best places to find the really good okonomiyake in downtown Hiroshima.

Otherwise, (a) go swallow some rat poison or handle some diamondbacks or do whatever it takes to get the fuck out of the political space that used to be occupied by RATIONAL FUCKING ADULT HUMAN BEINGS or (b) just shut the fuck up with your magic Jeezus power and your charmed towels blessed with the sweat of Jimmy Swaggart or D. James Kennedy and your special status as the oh-so-miraculous consonant-mangling show-offs you most likely are.

[IndianaGreen]

18. These people are seriously disturbed

and their belief-system is not Bible-based. The Book of Acts clearly and specifically said that the Apostles spoke in languages that were understood by foreigners that witnessed them. This is not the same thing as the nonsensical babble that the pentecostals, and others like them, engage in.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

23. The Pentecostals would hate to know this, but linguists and

psychologists who have studied "speaking in tongues" consider it a form of trance, identical to what happens to practitioners of voodoo when they claim to be possessed by spirits.

[BornagainDUer]

20. The Pent-ups are some warped puppies.

loony as batshit.

[donco6]

21. Hamalama, Shamalama, Sis Boom Bah!

For you unbelievers, that means, "The world is one fucked up place."

[kestrel91316]

24. Jeebus. Next you know they're going to shove a

snake-handling tongues-speaking pResident down our throats and try to tell us he's a main-stream Protestant.

[goforit]

25. The dark ages are upon us.

[Rocknrule]

26. They're everywhere

The Real Jesus: Love your enemies/neighbors, help the poor, forgive those who sin against you, turn the other cheek
Republican Jesus: Gay people bad, vote for Bush

[anitar1]

27. I suspect that Penecostals and a lot of others

are seeking places where they can play out their desire for drama. They speak in tongues , fall to the ground ect. Used to watch them at outdoor revivals , as a child. TV seems to have created more drama seeking people in the last few years. Andy Warhol was right. Curious.

[GeorgeGist]

28. I could speak in tongues too...

when I was filled with spirits. But then I sobered up and listened to my soul.