Interesting article from CNN

Here's an interesting article from CNN.

Or you can copy and paste this http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/wayoflife/03/09/us.religion.less.christian/index.html

The first thing I like about this survey is that is was done by a religious institution. They must have been disappointed by the results but they put the numbers out there anyway.

In 1990 86% of Americans identified themselves as christians. Their current survey has that number at 75%. For me this is a move in the right direction. For me this means that we are getting closer to the day when I, or anyone can say to anyone else "I don't believe in god," and not be judged as a bad person.

A scary statistic, 200,000 people belonged to "mega-churches" in 1990. Today that number is 8 million. Now I'm not sure what qualifies a church as a "mega-church," But I have attended what I thought was a really large church and for me the experience was frightening. I left feeling that this particular church was all about money. There were large TVs and speakers so the people in the rear could see and hear the "preacher." There was a huge gymnasium (larger and nicer than any of the local schools), in the Sunday "school" rooms there were flat screen TVs and video game systems. The whole thing gave me the creeps. Granted, when I attended this church I didn't know what I was looking for. I was just trying to see what was out there and this place filled the (very large) parking lot for every service. I must say when I revisit this, in my head I hear "cult."

"The rise in evangelical Christianity is contributing to the rejection of religion altogether by some Americans, said Mark Silk of Trinity College."

This isn't the case for me. My rejection of the existence of a god has nothing to do with what other people are doing. I can see where people would be turned off by extreme christians but I don't think that people who believe in god would stop because of radicals (its a hopeful thought but...nah). For me it comes down logic.

The study found that the percentage of catholics has remained the same the percentage of christians has "plummeted" (their word) from 60% to 50%. Hmm, perhaps this is because catholics are shamed into not using birth control. I can say this because I was raised catholic (forced to attend mass until I turned 18) and I have eight brothers and sisters. (Of the nine of us only one still attends mass identifies as a catholic.) (The church didn't get it's exponential value out of us.)

Overall I find the results of this study to be good news and not because it found that there are less christians out there but because I think this is going to lead to more tolerance of people who don't believe.