American Public: Christianity's Contributions Mostly Negative

The last two posts have focused on the continued message of hate and discrimination that is being broadcast by Protestant Christianist organizations and the Roman Catholic Church. It's a very ugly portrait. However, there IS good news. This precise conduct seems posed to ultimately be the demise of Christianity - at least in its hate based incarnation. It's literally a case of the Christians killing Christianity. Why do I say this? Because a new Barna Group survey has found that a majority of Americans believe that the contributions of Christianity to society are mostly negative. That's right - the American public increasingly sees Christianity in a negative light and believes that its negatives outweigh its positive contributions. And one of the issues fueling the anti-Christianity grounds well is the Christianists' anti-gay agenda. The parasites of the Christianist organizations are living well in the short term. but they may be ultimately killing their own source of self-enrichment in the long term. Such would truly be a case of Divine justice. Here are highlights from Christian Century:
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When asked about Christianity's recent contributions to society, Americans cited more negatives than benefits, according to a new survey.
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The negative contribution cited most was hatred or violence in the name of Jesus, according to the Barna Group survey. Other frequently cited examples included opposition to gay marriage and the Roman Catholic Church's sex abuse scandal.
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"Overall, there was a more extensive and diverse list of complaints about Christians and their churches than there was of examples of the benefits they have provided to society," said the Barna Group, a Christian firm that researches U.S. faith and culture, in a report released Monday (Oct. 25).
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Personally, I welcome the prospect of the death of Christianity in its current predominant form which is based on hate, division and intolerance. Here are some additional highlights from the Barna Group's summary of the survey results:
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[T]he survey also discovered that Americans are even more likely to identify negative contributions to society by Christianity in recent years.
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The most frequent response, however, was the inability to think of a single positive contribution made by Christians in recent years.
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When asked to identify what they thought were the negative contributions of Christians to American society in recent years, the most frequent response was violence or hatred incited in the name of Jesus Christ. One out of five Americans mentioned such vitriolic attitudes. This was most likely to be mentioned by people associated with non-Christian faiths (35%) and by evangelicals (31%).
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Three other responses generated similar levels of support. Thirteen percent said the opposition of Christians to gay marriage was the largest negative contribution. People 25 or younger were twice as likely as other Americans to mention this. Blacks (20%) and Skeptics (20%) also registered above-average levels of concern about that position.