White Evangelic Christians Are Killing Christianity

It is no secret that I hold evangelical and fundamentalist Christians in extremely low regard.  Between their embrace of ignorance and rejection of science and their hatred towards anyone different than themselves, I view them as a cancer on American society.  They bemoan the growing secularism as they call it of society and the growing flight of the younger generations from religion and Christianity in particular.  Nearly 1/3 of the under 30 generations have walked away and now the "Nones" are the largest religious group in the nation.  Yet these modern day Pharisees remain blind to what is driving the exodus: they themselves.  Hatred, bigotry, and support for political agendas that are the antithesis of the Gospel message now most define Christianity in the public's mind's eye.  When Christianity becomes a largely dead religion in America, it will be the evangelicals and their fundamentalist brethren that will have most contributed to its demise. A piece by John Pavlovitz sums up the situation well:

Jesus cautions against the wolves who would come disguised in goodness to gain proximity to the sheep, only to devour them. “Be careful of those who appear to be one of you,” he in essence warns, “they are the real threat.” He tells his hearers that the ones most claiming righteousness will indeed be the height of wickedness.

And the saddest part about Jesus’ warnings is that they have now come to pass; the predators are here and they didn’t come from somewhere outside. They weren’t the Muslims or the gays or the Atheists, as we’ve been told by the Church they would be. They didn’t come from Hollywood or North Korea or some ISIS offshoot as FoxNews or Breitbart forecast. These wolves weren’t watching from a distance and they didn’t have to travel far to infiltrate the flock.

This slaughter has been an inside job. It’s happened at campaign rallies and in voting booths and on partisan news networks. It’s come through the evangelists and the pastors and the politicians and from proclaimed Christians, all out of blood while wearing Jesus like a sheepskin.

For all their sanctimonious preaching about morality and family values, and for all their endless warnings to the “sinners” around them, white Christians elected the worst human being to ever reside in the White House; a man completely devoid of goodness and decency—and dared to call him Christian. They rubber stamped every vulgar word, every hateful diatribe, every open falsehood, every piece of predatory legislation and sold it as being of God. And worst of all, in these days they’ve doubled down on defending every reprehensible bit of it and joined in the feeding frenzy. 

[W]hite Evangelicals let the wolves in and they’re tearing the sheep to pieces. The predators have the run of the pen and we’re seeing the carnage happen in real-time, in party-line Congressional votes, in unconstitutional Executive Orders, in ill-conceived ICE raids, and in bizarre, ranting press conferences. It’s a brutal and wasteful destruction of many of the most at risk. 

And the sad part about it all is that Jesus ends up with the blood on his hands that really belongs to them. His name is dragged through the filth by a religious-political movement systematically running through the powerless and the vulnerable—all in the name of a Jesus who they can’t be bothered with, in the name of a faith that they haven’t the slightest interest in honoring. Like an abuser who claims affection for another while inflicting injury, these professed Christians are preaching a God of love to people while simultaneously going for their throats—and wondering why they’re running away.

For many people, Evangelical Christianity here hasn’t been about Jesus in a few decades. It long ago sold its soul to the Republican Party for a few pieces of silver and some Supreme Court seats. But over the past year and particularly in recent weeks, politicians on the Right have almost literally said, “To Hell with Jesus. We have a blank check now. We’re God now.” . . . They think this is victory. But there is a price for this terror and it is the future of the very faith they profess and profit from. They are the loudest and most convincing deterrent against their religion to a watching world who know wolves when they see them. They are making Jesus synonymous with the massacre we’re witnessing and making Christianity irrelevant in the process. Not long from now, these same supposed men and women of God will lament why the Church has died.The exodus from organized religion will continue until the only ones left are those now exploiting the people. They will condemn the immoral culture who have rejected God, failing to realize that they have been the ones who’ve made Jesus so objectionable.

Irish Bishops To "Boycott" Weddings Over Gay Marriage

There are few countries in which the Catholic Church is in a bigger free fall in terms of popular support than Ireland thanks to government commissions that have disclosed rampant sex abuse of children and minors along with a concerted effort by the Church hierarchy to cover up the disgusting abuse and even protect the predators among the clergy.  Yet the nasty old men in dresses at the bishoprics still do not get the message that few in Ireland any longer give a rat's ass about what the Church's position is on almost anything.  The percentage of nominal Catholics who still attend mass is down in the single digits and the government may soon enact full blown gay marriage.  So what are the Irish bishops doing?  Threatening to cease performing their civil law role in performing marriages.  Ultimately, it might be a good thing and result in the Church being removed from the civil marriage process altogether.  The Irish Independent looks at the unfolding saga.  Here are excerpts:

IRELAND's Catholic prelates are leading the charge against gay marriage, warning that they will not perform the civil aspects of weddings if marriage is extended to gay couples.

The Irish Bishops Conference (IBC) has asked to make oral submissions to oppose any provisions for same-sex marriage to the Constitutional Convention.

The Constitutional Convention received more than 1,000 submissions on the deeply controversial issue and will finalise, next week, what interest groups and individuals will be invited to make oral submissions.

The stage has been set for an intense debate ahead of the possibility of a referendum on same-sex marriage.

In a detailed submission, Ireland's Catholic bishops have warned that the church "could no longer carry out the civil element" of marriage if there was any change to the legal definition of marriage.

Amnesty International, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, the Equality Authority and Irish Congress of Trade Unions are among nine key groups who will press for full marital rights to be extended to same-sex couples.

Given the crimes committed by the Church, one can only hope that the Church's demand to submit comments is denied.  It speaks volumes about the moral bankruptcy of the Church leadership that the widespread rape and abuse of children and minors was fine, but a loving, committed same sex couple receiving CIVIL law rights is the proverbial end of the world.  It makes me proud to no longer be a Catholic when I see how foul the institutional Church continues to be.

Is Christianity Dying?

An op-ed in the New York Times looks at the decline of liberal Protestant denominations and is critical of these churches that are trying to change with the times and society.  But the malaise isn't limited to liberal denominations - e.g., Episcopal Church, ELCA, etc. - and the Catholic Church in the USA would have recoded significant declines but for the influx of Hispanic immigrants.  With that wave of immigration slowing, the real story may begin to make itself evident.  On the conservative end of the spectrum, the Southern Baptist Convention is struggling as younger members leave once they go off to college.  Yes, some of the mega churches are growing, but having gone to some of them in the past, they seem most focused on the prosperity gospel and provide services that are more akin to a stage production than any traditional connotation of a church service.  

Personally, I believe the real problem for Christianity is that it is based on a book that is increasingly shown to be untrue -the scientific evidence of the non-existence of Adam and Eve is perhaps the most damaging example of late.  With out the fall of man as focused on Adam and Eve, the entire redemption story line leading to Christ falls apart.   Church then ultimately becomes a social outlet that people go to in order to feel better about themselves or on occasion do good works.  With more and more competing social outlets, the attraction simply is falling away.  That leaves denominations left with fear and/or instilled guilt - specialties of the Roman Catholic Church - as the only real stick to keep people coming through the door.  And with the decline of liberal denominations, the intolerant, generally hate-filled message of far right churches increasingly becomes the face of Christianity.  The result? Almost a third of the milennial generation has walked away for organized religion because of its ugly image and ugly conduct towards so many in society.  Here are some op-ed highlights:

IN 1998, John Shelby Spong, then the reliably controversial Episcopal bishop of Newark, published a book entitled “Why Christianity Must Change or Die.” Spong was a uniquely radical figure — during his career, he dismissed almost every element of traditional Christian faith as so much superstition — but most recent leaders of the Episcopal Church have shared his premise. Thus their church has spent the last several decades changing and then changing some more, from a sedate pillar of the WASP establishment into one of the most self-consciously progressive Christian bodies in the United States.

Yet instead of attracting a younger, more open-minded demographic with these changes, the Episcopal Church’s dying has proceeded apace. Last week, while the church’s House of Bishops was approving a rite to bless same-sex unions, Episcopalian church attendance figures for 2000-10 circulated in the religion blogosphere. They showed something between a decline and a collapse.

This decline is the latest chapter in a story dating to the 1960s. The trends unleashed in that era — not only the sexual revolution, but also consumerism and materialism, multiculturalism and relativism — threw all of American Christianity into crisis, and ushered in decades of debate over how to keep the nation’s churches relevant and vital.

Traditional believers, both Protestant and Catholic, have not necessarily thrived in this environment. The most successful Christian bodies have often been politically conservative but theologically shallow, preaching a gospel of health and wealth rather than the full New Testament message. 

But if conservative Christianity has often been compromised, liberal Christianity has simply collapsed. Practically every denomination — Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian — that has tried to adapt itself to contemporary liberal values has seen an Episcopal-style plunge in church attendance.

But if liberals need to come to terms with these failures, religious conservatives should not be smug about them. The defining idea of liberal Christianity — that faith should spur social reform as well as personal conversion — has been an immensely positive force in our national life. No one should wish for its extinction, or for a world where Christianity becomes the exclusive property of the political right. 

What should be wished for, instead, is that liberal Christianity recovers a religious reason for its own existence. As the liberal Protestant scholar Gary Dorrien has pointed out, the Christianity that animated causes such as the Social Gospel and the civil rights movement was much more dogmatic than present-day liberal faith.

Frankly, I believe the decline is irreversible and will likely accelerate as the backward and reactionary conservative denominations drive even more members of the younger generations away from organized religion entirely.

New Gallup Survey: U.S. Confidence in Organized Religion at Lowest Point Ever

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A new Gallup Survey indicates that Americans' confidence in organized religion is at the lowest point ever recorded by Gallup.  Frankly, given the toxicity and hypocrisy that flow virtually non-stop from most forms of organized religion in this country (if not the world), this is actually probably a good thing.   Yes, there are some denominations that do a better job at implementing the so-called Golden Rule, but sadly, most seem to have division and passage of judgment on others and often outright hate as their principal characteristics.They claim to preach a message of "love" but their actions speak otherwise.  What's interesting is that while confidence in organized religion has fallen sharply, spirituality has not.  It is also telling that Catholics have far less confidence in organized religion than do Protestants.  Here are some highlights of Gallup's findings:

Forty-four percent of Americans have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in "the church or organized religion" today, just below the low points Gallup has found in recent years, including 45% in 2002 and 46% in 2007. This follows a long-term decline in Americans' confidence in religion since the 1970s.

In 1973, "the church or organized religion" was the most highly rated institution in Gallup's confidence in institutions measure, and it continued to rank first in most years through 1985, outranking the military and the U.S. Supreme Court, among others. That began to change in the mid- to late 1980s as confidence in organized religion first fell below 60%, possibly resulting from scandals during that time involving famed televangelist preachers Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart. Confidence in religion returned to 60% in 2001, only to be rocked the following year by charges of child molestation by Catholic priests and cover-up by some in the church.

Currently, 56% of Protestants express a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the church/organized religion, compared with 46% of Catholics. This is in line with an average 12-percentage-point difference in the two groups' confidence, according Gallup polling from 2002 through 2012, with Protestants consistently expressing higher confidence.

Two major findings apparent in Gallup's confidence in the church and organized religion trend are, first, the long-term decline in Americans' confidence in this societal institution since 1973, and second, the suppressed confidence among Catholics relative to Protestants starting in 1981, and becoming more pronounced by 2002.

The Increase of Those with "No Religion"

A recent study in the UK has shown a huge increase in the number of people professing no religion. While the non-Christian numbers have held steady, every category of Christian membership has seen decline. Personally, I suspect two of the driving forces of this phenomenon are (1) the anti-knowledge agenda of fundamentalist Christians that makes it difficult for anyone who is educated and rational to continue to subscribe to fundamentalist beliefs, and (2) the constant message of hate that seems to be the predominant message one hears from self-styled Christians. Many churches may be quietly attempting to do good deeds, but their efforts are eclipsed by the efforts of those who stand for intolerance and religious based bigotry. The irony is that its the Christians of this mold who are killing Christianity. Although the world would be well rid of their toxic form of religion.

In the Begining - Origins of Christian Beliefs

Fellow blogger Bob Felton at Civil Commotion likes to look at the intersection of religious and public policies/laws. Bob is a libertarian and possibly an atheist - whereas I am more a Jeffersonian deist - and he often does an amazing job at exposing the malignancy and growing influence of religious fundamentalism on American public life. He also likes to poke holes in the fragile belief of system of Christian fundamentalists who fearfully hang on to superstition and throw common sense and any ability to grasp reality to the wind- particularly when they claim the Bible is the inerrant word of God. The reality is that certain "myths" seem to go through religious revivals over the centuries and thus question the originality of what the Christian fundamentalist profess to believe. Here are highlights fro one of Bob's recent posts:

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In the beginning, says a Mesopotamian tale that pre-dates Genesis by almost 1200-years, there were two ranks of gods. There were old important gods who made all the decisions, and lesser gods who did all the work. In time, as happens still amongst we humans, the worker gods decided the system was rigged against them and went out on strike.

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Every single one of us gods declared war! We have put a stop to the digging. The load is excessive, it is killing us!Our work is too hard, the trouble too much! A compromise was reached. The worker gods would be permitted to have helpers: Men.

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Then one god should be slaughtered. And the gods can be purified by immersion. Nintu shall mix clay. With his flesh and his blood. Then a god and a man Will be mixed together in clay.Let us hear the drumbeat forever after, Let a ghost come into existence from the god’s flesh. Let her proclaim it as his living sign,And let the ghost exist so as not to forget the slain god. Later, the gods grew tired of mens’ noise and attitude, and drowned them all in a great flood, excepting the man Atrahasis and his family. The likeness to Genesis cannot be denied or overlooked.

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Is the Book of Genesis merely a rewrite of the far older Mesopotamian beliefs with Jewish outspreads for added good measure? We may never know, but it is an interesting question worth pursuing. Should it prove true, then the fragile Christian fundamentalist construct falls apart.

Catholic Population in New England Plummeting

I previously wrote about the decline in the percentage of Americans who consider themselves Christian and also the increase in the portion of the Americans who label themselves as having no religion. Buried within that larger story is the steep exodus of individuals from the Roman Catholic Church in New England, once the Catholic bastion within the country. As the Boston Globe reports, the decline in the number of Catholics is rather staggering and in my mind reflects a trend that will continue in many parts of the country unless and until the Vatican (1) does the right thing and cleans house within the corrupt hierarchy and (2) begins to bring the Church into the 21st century. Personally, I do not see either development occurring any time soon and certainly not under the Nazi Pope, Benedict XVI. Nonetheless, eventually the decline of the Church in the west will hurt the Church's cashflow position and as it has throughout history, the Church will change when the loss of money gets sufficiently bad. Here are some highlights from the Globe:

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The Catholic population in New England, long the most Catholic region in the country, is plummeting, according to a large survey of religious affiliation in the United States. . . . The American Religious Identification Survey, a national study being released today by Trinity College in Hartford, finds that the Catholic population of New England fell by more than 1 million in the past two decades, even while the overall population of the region was growing. . . . the six-state region is now 36 percent Catholic, down from 50 percent in 1990.

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In Massachusetts, the decline is particularly striking - in 1990, Catholics made up a majority of the state, with 54 percent of the residents, but in 2008, the Catholic population was 39 percent. At the same time, the percentage of the state's residents who say they have no religious affiliation rose sharply, from 8 percent to 22 percent.

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The study did not ask New Englanders why they ceased identifying with Catholicism, but the researchers said it was probably some combination of the general secularization of American society with alienation among some Catholics over the sexual abuse crisis and other issues.

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Silk said the study found that Irish-Americans, along with people of Jewish ancestry and Asian-Americans, are disproportionately represented among those who report no religious affiliation. "The other thing is that New England Catholics have become sort of like New England Protestants - not particularly attached" to religion, he said.