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Religion

Mary Dunsmore

Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2018
Messages
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Location
UK (God save the Queen)
Gender
Male
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Other
Coming from the UK, I have noticed quite a large divide between the US and and us lot over the pond. Of course, our predominant religion is Christianity, albeit Islam is growing at an alarming rate. 49% of Brits now consider themselves atheist or non religious, 43% say they are Christian, whilst only 67000 actually go to church, that's barely 1% of the population. In the US 78% of the country claim to be Christians, and 62% of the population claim to be part of a congregation. Only 3.1% of the US public admit to being atheist, whilst 5% are agnostic. Of course, it's easy to argue the figures, but nobody can pretend the the US isn't a far more religious country than the UK. Fortunately for you, your religion will slow down the Islamic take over of the west, so well done for that.

I have always been aware that the US is more religious than the UK, but after reading the figures I am shocked by how much. From a personal standpoint I have it very strange that anyone can believe in a non proven mythical being, especially after we have disproven so much in the bible. I have a wide array of friends, and only one of those actually believes in God, and even he isn't particularly religious. I don't know anyone who attends church. However, I respect anyone who has a religion, and to some extent I am little jealous. Of course, my respect goes when somebody follows a religion that is not peaceful and preaches little else but hate and intolerance, and I think you may know which one I refer to. My question is, that although our two cultures are reasonably close, why is there this massive gap in religious belief ??
 
Coming from the UK, I have noticed quite a large divide between the US and and us lot over the pond. Of course, our predominant religion is Christianity, albeit Islam is growing at an alarming rate. 49% of Brits now consider themselves atheist or non religious, 43% say they are Christian, whilst only 67000 actually go to church, that's barely 1% of the population. In the US 78% of the country claim to be Christians, and 62% of the population claim to be part of a congregation. Only 3.1% of the US public admit to being atheist, whilst 5% are agnostic. Of course, it's easy to argue the figures, but nobody can pretend the the US isn't a far more religious country than the UK. Fortunately for you, your religion will slow down the Islamic take over of the west, so well done for that.

I have always been aware that the US is more religious than the UK, but after reading the figures I am shocked by how much. From a personal standpoint I have it very strange that anyone can believe in a non proven mythical being, especially after we have disproven so much in the bible. I have a wide array of friends, and only one of those actually believes in God, and even he isn't particularly religious. I don't know anyone who attends church. However, I respect anyone who has a religion, and to some extent I am little jealous. Of course, my respect goes when somebody follows a religion that is not peaceful and preaches little else but hate and intolerance, and I think you may know which one I refer to. My question is, that although our two cultures are reasonably close, why is there this massive gap in religious belief ??

Europe is decidedly more secular = the birthplace of socialism ( "The Social Contract"-Rousseau, 1762) and all of its bastard, atheist children : communism,("The Communist Manifesto"-Marx, Engels, etal.,1848) nazism, ("Mein Kampf"-Hitler, 1924) fascism ( "The Doctrine of Facism"-Mussolini, 1932) , all of which are dependent upon atheism, as a starting point.

This is insight into the European flight from Faith.
 
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Coming from the UK, I have noticed quite a large divide between the US and and us lot over the pond. Of course, our predominant religion is Christianity, albeit Islam is growing at an alarming rate. 49% of Brits now consider themselves atheist or non religious, 43% say they are Christian, whilst only 67000 actually go to church, that's barely 1% of the population. In the US 78% of the country claim to be Christians, and 62% of the population claim to be part of a congregation. Only 3.1% of the US public admit to being atheist, whilst 5% are agnostic. Of course, it's easy to argue the figures, but nobody can pretend the the US isn't a far more religious country than the UK. Fortunately for you, your religion will slow down the Islamic take over of the west, so well done for that.

I have always been aware that the US is more religious than the UK, but after reading the figures I am shocked by how much. From a personal standpoint I have it very strange that anyone can believe in a non proven mythical being, especially after we have disproven so much in the bible. I have a wide array of friends, and only one of those actually believes in God, and even he isn't particularly religious. I don't know anyone who attends church. However, I respect anyone who has a religion, and to some extent I am little jealous. Of course, my respect goes when somebody follows a religion that is not peaceful and preaches little else but hate and intolerance, and I think you may know which one I refer to. My question is, that although our two cultures are reasonably close, why is there this massive gap in religious belief ??

Our cultures are not "reasonably close", but it's funny that you think that. I've actually been across the pond, it's not at all like here. It's also not near as "religious" here as maybe it seems. We have a very loud evangelical crowd, small, nutty and deluded, but loud and with political power. Mostly over making people believ nonsense about murdering babies and scaring them with a mythical hell. Fact is, Hell was a Christian invention for social control, made up by some English guy I think, back in the 1400s or 1800, I don't recall for sure, but I read up on it once. Sill people realyy. I believe in god, but I don't think it much cares about religion. There's plenty of good in most religions, and they give purpose and meaning to millions, and personally I think "god" whatever it is is probably fine with that, but it's just silly people trying to simplify things to terms we can undersand.

I do really enjoy British humor, I could watch Monty Python and Benny Hill reruns all day ;)
 
Our cultures are not "reasonably close", but it's funny that you think that. I've actually been across the pond, it's not at all like here. It's also not near as "religious" here as maybe it seems. We have a very loud evangelical crowd, small, nutty and deluded, but loud and with political power. Mostly over making people believ nonsense about murdering babies and scaring them with a mythical hell. Fact is, Hell was a Christian invention for social control, made up by some English guy I think, back in the 1400s or 1800, I don't recall for sure, but I read up on it once. Sill people realyy. I believe in god, but I don't think it much cares about religion. There's plenty of good in most religions, and they give purpose and meaning to millions, and personally I think "god" whatever it is is probably fine with that, but it's just silly people trying to simplify things to terms we can undersand.

I do really enjoy British humor, I could watch Monty Python and Benny Hill reruns all day ;)

Outside of Leftbubble, America is OVERWHELMINGLY CHRISTIAN, they just do not hang around with you.
 
Outside of Leftbubble, America is OVERWHELMINGLY CHRISTIAN, they just do not hang around with you.

You posts are overwhelmingly not factual and full of idocy and inaccuracy, including the ones in this thread. Maybe you should use bigger fonts, maybe you will feel more credible? Won't make any of your posting any less idiotic or any more factual, but it might make you feel better?:roll::lamo
 
Outside of Leftbubble, America is OVERWHELMINGLY CHRISTIAN, they just do not hang around with you.

Like rats jumping off the idiot ship....

‘Christian America’ dwindling, including white evangelicals, study shows

(RNS) — The future of religion in America is young, non-Christian and technicolor.

Almost every Christian denomination in the U.S. shows signs of growing diversity as white Christians, once the majority in most mainline Protestant and Catholic denominations, give way to younger members, who tend to be of different races, according to a study released Wednesday (Sept. 6) by the Public Religion Research Institute.

webCHART-2-Generational-Shift-in-Religious-Identity-771x643.jpg


And American evangelicals — once seemingly immune to the decline experienced by their Catholic and mainline Protestant neighbors — are losing numbers and losing them quickly.


Americans are also continuing to move away from organized religion altogether, as atheists, agnostics and those who say they do not identify with any particular religion — the group known as the “nones” — hold steady at about one-quarter (24 percent) of the population.

The study, “America’s Changing Religious Identity,” contacted 101,000 Americans in 50 states, and has an overall margin of error of plus or minus 0.4 percentage points. And while the survey spotlights transformations afoot in many religious groups, it also shows a seismic shift for a long-standing American religious powerhouse: white evangelicals.



“This report provides solid evidence of a new, second wave of white Christian decline that is occurring among white evangelical Protestants just over the last decade in the U.S.,” said Robert P. Jones, PRRI’s CEO and author of “The End of White Christian America.”

“Prior to 2008, white evangelical Protestants seemed to be exempt from the waves of demographic change and disaffiliation that were eroding the membership bases of white mainline Protestants and white Catholics,” he said.

“We now see that these waves simply crested later for white evangelical Protestants.”

Among the survey’s chief findings:

White Christians, 81 percent of the population in 1976, now account for less than half the public — 43 percent of Americans identify as white Christians, and 30 percent as white Protestants....

But go ahead and spout your nonsense, nobody much is buying it though.
 
Overwhelmingly, Christian, at 43% and dwindling rapidly?:lamo

Give it 5 generations and you might as well fold up shop for "the religious right" which is almost never either.
 
Coming from the UK, I have noticed quite a large divide between the US and and us lot over the pond. Of course, our predominant religion is Christianity, albeit Islam is growing at an alarming rate. 49% of Brits now consider themselves atheist or non religious, 43% say they are Christian, whilst only 67000 actually go to church, that's barely 1% of the population. In the US 78% of the country claim to be Christians, and 62% of the population claim to be part of a congregation. Only 3.1% of the US public admit to being atheist, whilst 5% are agnostic. Of course, it's easy to argue the figures, but nobody can pretend the the US isn't a far more religious country than the UK. Fortunately for you, your religion will slow down the Islamic take over of the west, so well done for that.

I have always been aware that the US is more religious than the UK, but after reading the figures I am shocked by how much. From a personal standpoint I have it very strange that anyone can believe in a non proven mythical being, especially after we have disproven so much in the bible. I have a wide array of friends, and only one of those actually believes in God, and even he isn't particularly religious. I don't know anyone who attends church. However, I respect anyone who has a religion, and to some extent I am little jealous. Of course, my respect goes when somebody follows a religion that is not peaceful and preaches little else but hate and intolerance, and I think you may know which one I refer to. My question is, that although our two cultures are reasonably close, why is there this massive gap in religious belief ??

As a former Episcopalian/Anglican, I look at England and appreciate anew the separation of church and state in the United States.
 
As a former Episcopalian/Anglican, I look at England and appreciate anew the separation of church and state in the United States.

I too grew up Episcopal, and yet my folks sent us to Catholic school cuz, "close enough" and I guess cuz there were no Episcopal schools? But that was also back in the weird times when Seattle Decided to bus kids across town to intergrate schools and things sucked.

The ****ed up thing is, the whole church was founded so the King could get divorced, again!

I'm not at all anti christian, but IMO, it has no place in politics.

I am anti bull****, and the christian concept of hell was made up, theologists can tell you that.
 
Fortunately for you, your religion will slow down the Islamic take over of the west, so well done for that.

Assuming that an "Islamic take over of the west" is unstoppably moving ahead, how can the US religion be particularly potent at "slowing it down?"

Also, is the atheism community idle in the matter?
 
Europe is decidedly more secular = the birthplace of socialism ( "The Social Contract"-Rousseau, 1762) and all of its bastard, atheist children : communism,("The Communist Manifesto"-Marx, Engels, etal.,1848) nazism, ("Mein Kampf"-Hitler, 1924) fascism ( "The Doctrine of Facism"-Mussolini, 1932) , all of which are dependent upon atheism, as a starting point.

This is insight into the European flight from Faith.

You're also completely full of crap about the Nazis who used the church as a political tool. Spouting about crap you know nothing about as usual.

Maybe more big fonts will help? Probably not though....:lamo
 
Coming from the UK, I have noticed quite a large divide between the US and and us lot over the pond. Of course, our predominant religion is Christianity, albeit Islam is growing at an alarming rate. 49% of Brits now consider themselves atheist or non religious, 43% say they are Christian, whilst only 67000 actually go to church, that's barely 1% of the population. In the US 78% of the country claim to be Christians, and 62% of the population claim to be part of a congregation. Only 3.1% of the US public admit to being atheist, whilst 5% are agnostic. Of course, it's easy to argue the figures, but nobody can pretend the the US isn't a far more religious country than the UK. Fortunately for you, your religion will slow down the Islamic take over of the west, so well done for that.

I have always been aware that the US is more religious than the UK, but after reading the figures I am shocked by how much. From a personal standpoint I have it very strange that anyone can believe in a non proven mythical being, especially after we have disproven so much in the bible. I have a wide array of friends, and only one of those actually believes in God, and even he isn't particularly religious. I don't know anyone who attends church. However, I respect anyone who has a religion, and to some extent I am little jealous. Of course, my respect goes when somebody follows a religion that is not peaceful and preaches little else but hate and intolerance, and I think you may know which one I refer to. My question is, that although our two cultures are reasonably close, why is there this massive gap in religious belief ??

I am a atheist and live in America. With the United Kingdom, you have the state religion and it does not need to make a profit to stay around. With America, most churches have to pay the bills like a loan to the bank. I have noticed a number of churches that have gone bankrupt and closed. They need new members because they see them as donors to the church. In fairness, a American church is a business model to get more people and high donors willing to give to the church -- that is why we have megachurches with a vast amount of people with deep pockets to donate to the church. That is also the reason why the conservative movement wants low taxes so the donors have more capital to give to the church. If the government did everything that Christian values ask to be done and and taxed the wealthy -- the churches would collapse and close.
 
Coming from the UK, I have noticed quite a large divide between the US and and us lot over the pond. Of course, our predominant religion is Christianity, albeit Islam is growing at an alarming rate. 49% of Brits now consider themselves atheist or non religious, 43% say they are Christian, whilst only 67000 actually go to church, that's barely 1% of the population. In the US 78% of the country claim to be Christians, and 62% of the population claim to be part of a congregation. Only 3.1% of the US public admit to being atheist, whilst 5% are agnostic. Of course, it's easy to argue the figures, but nobody can pretend the the US isn't a far more religious country than the UK. Fortunately for you, your religion will slow down the Islamic take over of the west, so well done for that.

I have always been aware that the US is more religious than the UK, but after reading the figures I am shocked by how much. From a personal standpoint I have it very strange that anyone can believe in a non proven mythical being, especially after we have disproven so much in the bible. I have a wide array of friends, and only one of those actually believes in God, and even he isn't particularly religious. I don't know anyone who attends church. However, I respect anyone who has a religion, and to some extent I am little jealous. Of course, my respect goes when somebody follows a religion that is not peaceful and preaches little else but hate and intolerance, and I think you may know which one I refer to. My question is, that although our two cultures are reasonably close, why is there this massive gap in religious belief ??

Excellent post, Mary.

Yes, there remains a palpable difference in practice of religion in England and the US. It's been a while since I've been in Northern Ireland but I would venture to say that religion practice is a bit stronger in Northern Ireland than in England.

I'm no historian nor has anyone ever accused me of a being an authority on religion of any kind.

The simple answer explaining the difference as you've addressed in your OP is religious persecution. The US was founded primarily by people seeking religious freedom. In addition it was founded by desperate people with little hope left.

Interestingly, if I remember correctly, the majority of the people in the original colonies while declaring a particular faith remained "unchurched" around the time of the American revolution. Obviously at some point people in early America began going to church.

It would be interesting if others especially from different regions of the US would respond. As an American raised in the deep South (yes, I capitalize it) I can tell you that specific area of America.

The American South was primarily settled by Scots-Irish, Irish and Germans. There were no big cities. Hell, there were comparably no big cities until perhaps the late 1940s and early 1950s. Churches in the South served as gathering places for many purposes other than religion. The early churches were established by tough determined people not terribly different from the farmers, trappers and traders of the region. Many of those preachers were Scots-Irish and more than a few established Presbyterian churches.

That takes us back to the earlier reference to settlers being Scots-Irish and also desperate people with only a little hope. A perfect group to attract to a little log church in the middle of nowhere. They weren't all necessarily "religious" people as we might define the term today but rather kindred spirits of sorts who gathered to socialize, trade, share news, drink and dance. Being Scot-Irish there was apparently a lot of drinking and dancing and fighting after church service. You can well imagine people sharing a somewhat common language and experience. Irish were attracted to the churches as well. I don't know that Germans participated in great numbers because of the language barrier, but surely some did.

Of course Catholic and Baptist churches were also established. However, churches of any kind were few a far between. You went to the church that was available. I would emphasize that churches were supported for many reasons, one of which was religion.

There are more than a few accounts of Baptist congregations complaining about the Scots-Irish showing up for service only to gather afterwards to socialize, to drink, to get loud and proud.

The American South developed as culture much different from the rest of the colonies and to a lesser degree remains so today. No matter, Southern culture is steeped in religion and professes religion more than probably any other region in America today. That does not mean the American South is more religious or moral than the rest of the US. It just means the South professes it more often. In essence defense of protestant religion is a defense of Southern culture.
 
Assuming that an "Islamic take over of the west" is unstoppably moving ahead, how can the US religion be particularly potent at "slowing it down?"

Also, is the atheism community idle in the matter?

It's my belief that a countries culture is largely driven by religion. That is to say the UK is presently considered a Christian country. Islam is growing rapidly, whereas practising Christians are becoming a thing of the past. Once Islam becomes the dominant religion (not in my lifetime) the UK will become an Islamic state. The fact that the demographic remains predominantly white Anglo Saxon will become irrelevant. Already we have senior Muslim politicians and Muslim Lord mayors of large cities is an indication of what I am predicting. Due to the fact the US have far more practising Christians than we do will surely slow down the infestation of Islam. Anyway, for your sake's I hope I am right.
 
It's my belief that a countries culture is largely driven by religion. That is to say the UK is presently considered a Christian country. Islam is growing rapidly, whereas practising Christians are becoming a thing of the past. Once Islam becomes the dominant religion (not in my lifetime) the UK will become an Islamic state. The fact that the demographic remains predominantly white Anglo Saxon will become irrelevant. Already we have senior Muslim politicians and Muslim Lord mayors of large cities is an indication of what I am predicting. Due to the fact the US have far more practising Christians than we do will surely slow down the infestation of Islam. Anyway, for your sake's I hope I am right.

I think you are vastly undermining the atheistic impact in the matter. With the good percentage of Brits claiming to be non-religious, how can Islam take over if Christianity failed?
 
I am a atheist and live in America. With the United Kingdom, you have the state religion and it does not need to make a profit to stay around. With America, most churches have to pay the bills like a loan to the bank. I have noticed a number of churches that have gone bankrupt and closed. They need new members because they see them as donors to the church. In fairness, a American church is a business model to get more people and high donors willing to give to the church -- that is why we have megachurches with a vast amount of people with deep pockets to donate to the church. That is also the reason why the conservative movement wants low taxes so the donors have more capital to give to the church. If the government did everything that Christian values ask to be done and and taxed the wealthy -- the churches would collapse and close.

Hi there Atheist,

Do you see anything in particular in Islam that has a fighting chance to turn you over to the religious side and sort of take over from where Christianity may have left you?

See previous post above for some discussion and reference.
 
Europe is decidedly more secular = the birthplace of socialism ( "The Social Contract"-Rousseau, 1762) and all of its bastard, atheist children : communism,("The Communist Manifesto"-Marx, Engels, etal.,1848) nazism, ("Mein Kampf"-Hitler, 1924) fascism ( "The Doctrine of Facism"-Mussolini, 1932) , all of which are dependent upon atheism, as a starting point.

This is insight into the European flight from Faith.

Haha! Dang, you spend a lot of time divorced from reality, don't you? Hitler was a Catholic, and had the support of the Catholic church. Nice try though. ;)


And let's not forget that the KKK is a Christian organization.
 
Hi there Atheist,

Do you see anything in particular in Islam that has a fighting chance to turn you over to the religious side and sort of take over from where Christianity may have left you?

See previous post above for some discussion and reference.

Christians have been around 2,000 years and Islam has been around less time. If you take Africa, all of Africa having contact with Christian values has been only done during the 20th century. Even that I am a white male, being a African American I would have direct issues about being a Christian. As a observer, we discovered the black African without being connected with the Islamic world. They went centuries without understanding Christian values, so they died and went to hell. If that was Gods will, we came to accept them as slaves. Since we accepted them as slaves, it did not become practical to or wanted to give knowledge of the Christian God until the last century. So, you can be a black African that is a Christian, but, your great grandfather is burning in hell because he had no knowledge of being a Christian.
 
From a personal standpoint I have it very strange that anyone can believe in a non proven mythical being, especially after we have disproven so much in the bible.

I don't understand how people can believe that everything that happens is just a result of physics--that includes everything you think and feel. Love is just physics and the universe is just some accident.

I think with the UK when Henry VIII formed the Anglican church that destroyed any authenticity religion had in the UK. I think Europe was mostly Catholic and Americans were mostly protestants. Protestantism, for all its many flaws, is more modern than Catholicism.

I think people are always religious. They always worship something. Whatever is most important to you is essentially your God. Today the most popular religion is the worship of money. Materialism has always been the most popular religion.

Ultimately, materialism leads to despair and depression. At some point, religion will make a resurgence.

Religion has always been the belief that there is something more than the material.
 
Christians have been around 2,000 years and Islam has been around less time. If you take Africa, all of Africa having contact with Christian values has been only done during the 20th century. Even that I am a white male, being a African American I would have direct issues about being a Christian. As a observer, we discovered the black African without being connected with the Islamic world. They went centuries without understanding Christian values, so they died and went to hell. If that was Gods will, we came to accept them as slaves. Since we accepted them as slaves, it did not become practical to or wanted to give knowledge of the Christian God until the last century. So, you can be a black African that is a Christian, but, your great grandfather is burning in hell because he had no knowledge of being a Christian.

I assumed you were an atheist like your username is called.
 
Assuming that an "Islamic take over of the west" is unstoppably moving ahead, how can the US religion be particularly potent at "slowing it down?"

Also, is the atheism community idle in the matter?

I'm an atheist but I'm not part of any 'Community' on that account. We do not congregate to sing dopey songs or dress up in silly clothes or anything of that sort.
 
Coming from the UK, I have noticed quite a large divide between the US and and us lot over the pond. Of course, our predominant religion is Christianity, albeit Islam is growing at an alarming rate. 49% of Brits now consider themselves atheist or non religious, 43% say they are Christian, whilst only 67000 actually go to church, that's barely 1% of the population. In the US 78% of the country claim to be Christians, and 62% of the population claim to be part of a congregation. Only 3.1% of the US public admit to being atheist, whilst 5% are agnostic. Of course, it's easy to argue the figures, but nobody can pretend the the US isn't a far more religious country than the UK. Fortunately for you, your religion will slow down the Islamic take over of the west, so well done for that.

I have always been aware that the US is more religious than the UK, but after reading the figures I am shocked by how much. From a personal standpoint I have it very strange that anyone can believe in a non proven mythical being, especially after we have disproven so much in the bible. I have a wide array of friends, and only one of those actually believes in God, and even he isn't particularly religious. I don't know anyone who attends church. However, I respect anyone who has a religion, and to some extent I am little jealous. Of course, my respect goes when somebody follows a religion that is not peaceful and preaches little else but hate and intolerance, and I think you may know which one I refer to. My question is, that although our two cultures are reasonably close, why is there this massive gap in religious belief ??

Sweden is much like the UK - only more so, as it were. In our very large extended family I now of not one who attends church.

Another point of simularity: We too suffer from creeping Islamisation, somthing our American friends have yet to experience or understand.
 
I am a atheist and live in America. With the United Kingdom, you have the state religion and it does not need to make a profit to stay around. With America, most churches have to pay the bills like a loan to the bank. I have noticed a number of churches that have gone bankrupt and closed. They need new members because they see them as donors to the church. In fairness, a American church is a business model to get more people and high donors willing to give to the church -- that is why we have megachurches with a vast amount of people with deep pockets to donate to the church. That is also the reason why the conservative movement wants low taxes so the donors have more capital to give to the church. If the government did everything that Christian values ask to be done and and taxed the wealthy -- the churches would collapse and close.

I understand that US churches enjoy tax exempt status. If that was removed even more would go bust.
 
I'm an atheist but I'm not part of any 'Community' on that account. We do not congregate to sing dopey songs or dress up in silly clothes or anything of that sort.

I know.

yes, that is true

Well, the author of this thread assumes that the Brits will be replaced since they are not as religious anymore and instead they are more atheists by numbers. This implies that us the non-religious are somehow weaker to the "effects" of Islam, that somehow we do not count, might stay idle in the matter, and/or easily converted by Islam (no matter if Christianity failed to do so).
 
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