Religion in America
I was thrilled to read the results of a recent survey of religion in the United States. It found that more and more of us are indentifying ourselves as “non-religious”. In fact, we “nones” are the fastest growing “religious” sector in America. Click here for more information:
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/god-and-country/2009/03/09/new-survey-those-with-no-religion-fastest-growing-tradition.html
It was also interesting to see that the shift in those who identify themselves as Christian is away from the mainstream liberal Protestant denominations (Methodist, Lutheran, Episcopalians, United Church of Christ) and into the denominations of the Christian Right (Evangelical, Non-denominational). This trend gives hard evidence of the ever-growing religious polarization that is going on in our country. I think that we can expect intensified efforts on the part of the Christian Right to regain dominance of our culture and govern our nation. They are very clear about their agenda. I will not be surprised at all when the Christian Right officially sanctions violence to achieve their mission for God. They certainly have a very long history of using violence to achieve their ends.
Reading the results of the survey led me to read other related articles on religion. One that I read was about the ten least religious countries in the world. I was also thrilled to learn that the least religious countries, those with the highest percentage of organic atheism (non-state sponsored) have the highest rates if societal health, education, per capita income and gender equality. They also had the lowest rates of homicide and poverty. Click here for more information:
http://www.gadling.com/2007/08/23/least-religious-countries/