04-15-2016, 12:18 PM
(04-05-2016, 12:34 PM)bfine32 Wrote: imagine if it were any other country than one that is vastly Christian
It is still more vastly Christian than I would have thought per this: http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/
But, two things to note about that - while 70% still claim they are Christian the number has declined dramatically in the last decade or so. And, this is simply what people claim when asked. I think the number of people who attend a Christian church even quarterly (not every week or multiple times a week) is far less than 70%. What difference does it make? Well, people can say they are a lot of things, but their behavior often tells a different story. People can say they are very active and in fact be very sedentary, they can say they are environmentalists but pollute shamelessly, they can say they believe all people are equal but act in ways that are overtly sexist and/or racist.
My point is sometimes it is just fashionable to describe yourself in certain terms, and the self-applied label is not very accurate. It was cool to be a "liberal" in the 60's, but not everyone who claimed the moniker was one. Then that term was vilified in a decades long smear campaign perpetrated in large part by the mythical "liberal media." So, all the "cool kids" claimed to be "conservatives." Were they really? Now that tag has been tainted so people, fearing being tarred and feathered for calling themselves liberal or conservative say they are "independent." Again, are they? Seventy percent of Americans still claim they are Christian, but other than self-identifying what do they do that indicates they are Christian? "Ye shall know them by their fruits." (Matthew 7:16). I would say there is very little fruit on very many of the so-called Christian plants. And, ironically, stupid stunts like making the Bible the official book of a state make people feel worse about identifying as Christian, hence the downward trend in the past decade. The fanatics behind such folly are making it feel more cool and comfortable to call yourself anything but Christian.
JOHN ROBERTS: From time to time in the years to come, I hope you will be treated unfairly so that you will come to know the value of justice... I wish you bad luck, again, from time to time so that you will be conscious of the role of chance in life and understand that your success is not completely deserved and that the failure of others is not completely deserved either.
