Newsweek has posted a story about the shifting role of religion in the United States based on a poll they ran earlier this month. Broadly speaking: people have moved faiths, lots of people pray, fewer people report having "old fashioned values," people think religion is losing influence on American life, and the religious "nones" (atheists, agnostics, and the religious non-affliliated) have grown 3% since the last poll.
The comments page is alive with some pretty hefty vitriol. Christian revisionists are all over it lambasting non-believers for not accepting the "truth" of the Word and yammering on about the Constitution as a Christian document. It's pretty nuts.
But if you want to see Christopher Hitchens rip into the notion that the United States is a Christian nation, go to richarddawkins.net and watch an excerpt from Hardball.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
One Nation Under God?
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3 comments:
It's pretty clear. If it was intended to have God in the Constitution he'd be in there.
Frankly, I'm tired of all this debate over what the Founding Fathers meant or didn't mean or believed or whatever. Regardless of what America was THEN, we are different NOW.
I agree that we are predominantly a Christian nation, meaning simply that the majority of people have some sort of faith in Jesus/Christianity. It doesn't mean that we necessarily follow all Christ's teachings or everything in the Bible, but more that we follow the customs and generally accept the Christian outlook on things.
But mostly that's because no one is ballsy enough to think for themselves. So--there's your "Christian" nation.
Glad to see the "nones" category growing. I wish these surveyor would change categories though. Some of us may not be monotheists but we may not necessarily fit the atheist/agnostic label either. Maybe just adding a "spiritual" category would help provide a clearer picture.
Thanks for posting this, Peter. I posted something similar a few weeks ago. The good news is, religion is starting to descend while reason and logic climb. The bad news is, evangelicals are increasing - Ick! Ick! Ick!
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