The coming evangelical collapse | csmonitor.com
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0310/p09s01-coop.html

ome very successful developments in the past 25 years, Christian education has not produced a product that can withstand the rising tide of secularism. Evangelicalism has used its educational system primarily to staff its own needs and

the number of Americans who claim no religious affiliation has nearly doubled since 1990, rising from 8 to 15 percent. Then came the point he could not get out of his mind: while the unaffiliated have historically been concentrated in the Pacific Northwest, the report said, "this pattern has now changed, and the Northeast emerged in 2008 as the new stronghold of the religiously unidentified." As Mohler saw it, the historic foundation of America's religious culture was cracking.

The percentage of self-identified Christians has fallen 10 points in the past two decades. How that statistic explains who we are now—and what, as a nation, we are about to become.

Well written and interesting American culture study.

Jesus Christ

Flash intro from the future: http://www.iccm-1.org/ (via feedthebird!)

on the morning of Thursday, April 10, 2003, Donald Rumsfeld’s Pentagon prepared a top-secret briefing for George W. Bush. This document, known as the Worldwide Intelligence Update, was a daily digest of critical military intelligence so classified that it circulated among only a handful of Pentagon leaders and the president; Rumsfeld himself often delivered it, by hand, to the White House. The briefing’s cover sheet generally featured triumphant, color images from the previous days’ war efforts: On this particular morning, it showed the statue of Saddam Hussein being pulled down in Firdos Square, a grateful Iraqi child kissing an American soldier, and jubilant crowds thronging the streets of newly liberated Baghdad. And above these images, and just below the headline secretary of defense, was a quote that may have raised some eyebrows. It came from the Bible, from the book of Psalms: “Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him…To deliver their soul from death.” This mixing o

Nice overview of Donald Rumsfeld.

donald rumsfeld

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"Former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld has always answered his detractors by claiming that history will one day judge him kindly. But as he waits for that day, a new group of critics—his administration peers—are suddenly speaking out for the first time. What they’re saying? It isn’t pretty"

Excellent profile of Donald Rumsfeld, who, it turns out, pandered to Bush's religiosity by including old testament citations on his defense intelligence reports from Iraq. Yikes.

Former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld has always answered his detractors by claiming that history will one day judge him kindly. But as he waits for that day, a new group of critics—his administration peers—are suddenly speaking out for the first time. What they’re saying? It isn’t pretty

More evidence that right-winger Christians are jerks and full of fear. If you're so faithful, how come you're scared?

The more Americans go to church, the more likely it is they support torturing suspected terrorists. http://bit.ly/YHDkV [from http://twitter.com/NickCobb/statuses/1685517486]

More than half of people who attend services at least once a week -- 54 percent -- said the use of torture against suspected terrorists is "often" or "sometimes" justified. Only 42 percent of people who "seldom or never" go to services agreed, according to the analysis released Wednesday by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. White evangelical Protestants were the religious group most likely to say torture is often or sometimes justified -- more than six in 10 supported it. People unaffiliated with any religious organization were least likely to back it. Only four in 10 of them did.

The more often Americans go to church, the more likely they are to support the torture of suspected terrorists, according to a new survey.

Enough said...

Piece by Jimmy Carter about his decision to sever ties w/ his church, after six decades b/c of the church's treatment of and opinions about women.

Women and girls have been discriminated against for too long in a twisted interpretation of the word of God.

A page with evidence to the contrary tat the founding fathers were as Christian or as intent on impressing Christian values into the Constitution and the newly created American government.

One of the most common statements from the "Religious Right" is that they want this country to "return to the Christian principles on which it was founded". However, a little research into American history will show that this statement is a lie. The men responsible for building the foundation of the United States had little use for Christianity, and many were strongly opposed to it. They were men of The Enlightenment, not men of Christianity. They were Deists who did not believe the bible was true.

The men responsible for building the foundation of the United States had little use for Christianity, and many were strongly opposed to it. They were men of The Enlightenment, not men of Christianity.

Some of them may have been deists at best, but most of them abhorred religion and everything it entails.

Incredibly, President George W. Bush told French President Jacques Chirac in early 2003 that Iraq must be invaded to thwart Gog and Magog, the Bible’s satanic agents of the Apocalypse. Honest. This isn’t a joke. The president of the United States, in a top-secret phone call to a major European ally, asked for French troops to join American soldiers in attacking Iraq as a mission from God.

Incredibly, President George W. Bush told French President Jacques Chirac in early 2003 that Iraq must be invaded to thwart Gog and Magog, the Bible’s satanic agents of the Apocalypse.

A French Revelation, or The Burning Bush

"Honest. This isn’t a joke. The president of the United States, in a top-secret phone call to a major European ally, asked for French troops to join American soldiers in attacking Iraq as a mission from God."

Now out of office, Chirac recounts that the American leader appealed to their “common faith” (Christianity) and told him: “Gog and Magog are at work in the Middle East…. The biblical prophecies are being fulfilled…. This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase his people’s enemies before a New Age begins.

Si Vous le Répétez, Je Démentirai

Dutch scholar claims that "bara" in the first sentence of the Bible does not mean create, but separate: thus no creatio ex nihilo. Instead, earth and many of its elements (waters, sea monsters) already existed. God created humans and animal life, but not the earth itself. If true, this would be interesting because it would remove, e.g., the seeming conflict with classical cosmology (cf. Aristotle) and other early, as well as possibly later doctrines.

veeery interesting

He's the separator!

this amused me http://imgur.com/nb3e3.png (also via @projct vand via FF peeps) [from http://twitter.com/geechee_girl/statuses/1844053358]

When it comes to religion, the USA is now land of the freelancers. The percentage of people who call themselves in some way Christian has dropped more than 11% in a generation.

ht: @STRtweets -- interestingly, dig into the really small percentage of atheists.

Cathy Lynn Grossman 3/17/09

Most religious groups in USA have lost ground, survey finds

  As you probably already know, Jesus is a pretty popular guy. He's so popular, in fact, that he's inspired people from all walks of life to create their very own versions of the Son of God that somehow take him to another level. Here are 40 of

Seriously awesome.

Wow, oldest bible goes online

ה-Codex Sinaiticus הוא העותק הקדום ביותר של התנ"ך, שהודפס במאה הרביעית. לאחרונה הועלה לאינטרנט עותק סרוק שלו, שמאפשר לעיין בברית החדשה והישנה (ביוונית), לראשונה מזה 100 שנה.

Codex Sinaiticus is one of the most important books in the world. Handwritten well over 1,600 years ago, the manuscript contains the Christian Bible in Greek, including the oldest complete copy of the New Testament. The Codex Sinaiticus Project is an international collaboration to reunite the entire manuscript in digital form and make it accessible to a global audience for the first time.

I'm sick of people quoting the bible in an argument against gay marriage. It's bullshit.

11 Things The Bible Bans, But You Do Anyway

We hear a lot about “biblical marriage” these days. Some of us might not be clear on what that means. The website Religious Tolerance has provided a helpful article on the types of marriage found in the pages of the bible.

1. Polygynous Marriage 2. Levirate Marriage When a woman was widowed without a son, it became the responsibility of the brother-in-law or a close male relative to take her in and impregnate her. If the resulting child was a son, he would be considered the heir of her late husband. See Ruth, and the story of Onan (Gen. 38:6-10). 3. A man, a woman and her property — a female slave 4. A man, one or more wives, and some concubines The definition of a concubine varies from culture to culture, but they tended to be live-in mistresses. 5. A male soldier and a female prisoner of war Women could be taken as booty 6. A male rapist and his victim Deuteronomy 22:28-29 describes how an unmarried woman who had been raped must marry her attacker. 7. A male and female slave A female slave could be married to a male slave without consent, 8. Monogamous, heterosexual marriage

1) polygynous 2) levirate 3) wife's slave 4) concubines 5) soldier and kidnapped female prisoner 6) rapist-raped 7) two slaves (forced) 8) monogamous heterosexual

Holy Week - The Big Picture

Christian communities around the world are currently celebrating Holy Week - both the last week of Lent and the week before Easter. Holy Week commemorates the last week of the earthly life of Jesus Christ culminating in his crucifixion on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday. Observances range from the elaborate and fanciful to simple and reverential, and vary a great deal between communities, regions, countries, and churches. Collected here are a small sample of photographs from Holy Week observances around the world

astonishing easter images

religious photos

holy shit

Great interactive graph on recent shifts in religious identity in the U.S. Split by state and by Catholic, Christian, Other Religions, etc.

Catholicism made me a humanist before I knew the word. When people rail against "secular humanism," I want to ask them if humanism itself would be okay with them. Over the high school years, my belief in the likelihood of a God continued to lessen. I kept this to myself. I never discussed it with my parents. My father in any event was a non-practicing Lutheran, until a death bed conversion which rather disappointed me. I'm sure he agreed to it for my mother's sake.

We're not all "Jesus Freaks" who run around screaming about how everyone should "Judge not lest ye be judged," whine "Blessed are the meek" all the time, or drone on and on about how we're all equal in the eyes of God! Some of us are just trying to be good, honest folks who believe the unbaptized will roam the Earth for ages without the comfort of God's love when Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior returns on Judgment Day to whisk the righteous off to heaven.

Ha.

Everybody has this image of "crazy Christians" based on what they hear in the media, but it's just not true. Most Christians are normal, decent folks. We don't all blindly follow a bunch of outdated biblical tenets or go all fanatical about every bit of dogma. What I'm trying to say is, don't let the actions of a vocal few color your perceptions about what the majority of us are like.