It seems that even mainstream media 'get religion' at Christmas and Easter. That does not mean they necessarily carry stories supportive of the enterprise of faith, but they have more stories with a religious slant, even if the stories can be seen to be critical of religion.
In what I believe is the current edition of Newsweek, there is a story written by Jon Meacham entitled "The End Of Christian America" [found at URL: http://www.newsweek.com/id/192583] in which Meacham comments on the reality of a "post-Christian" America and what that might mean. On the web, [at URL: http://www.newsweek.com/id/192915], Daniel Stone has an article entitled "One Nation Under God?" that discusses results from an April 3 poll conducted by Newsweek through Princeton Survey Research Associates.
Among the poll results, I found these items of particular interest.
-- 48% agreed completely that prayer is an important part of daily life, while 9% completely disagreed.
-- 64% completely agree that "I never doubt the existence of God"; 7% completely disagree with the statement.
-- 68% think religion as a whole is losing its influence on American life; 19% think it is increasing its influence.
-- 62% think America is a Christian nation and 32% disagree.
-- 30% of the respondents consider themselves "Spiritual but not Religious"; 9% are "Religious but Not Spiritual"; 48% are "Religious and Spiritual"; 9% think of themselves as neither.
What does this tell us about the religious climate of our country? I don't know. Oft times, consulting polls is like using the entrails of animals to predict the future; you see in them what you want to see. I do think the titles of the articles are interesting and indicate how the writers view the results.
How would you have responded to these querys? Are you surprised by any of the results? What question would you have liked to ask?
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Just in Time for Easter
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I unfortunatly get Newsweek, at least until June, and read this article. To me it was labled completly wrong. All most all of America believe in god. We al pray for a lot of things, as in one sermon I read of yours, not always for strength and guidence but for a mirical, which almost never happens. We were founded on Cristian beliefs and this country can not survive without those beliefs. Or constitution is based on those beliefs. I think this poll is some what skewed because of the American melting pot and the many different religions that are now here. I have seen so many polls change dramatically when a question was just asked a different way. There have been many polls done over the past year that show that the youth of today actually have more conservative values on abortion and religion as a whole. I feel that most of religion is not directed at the youth, they are into the internet, ipods and twitter. I do believe that most youth do not go to church as much as they use to, but I blame that on their parents for not instilling that basic value in them. I feel that Rick Warren is doing a good job with the youth by bringing up values that matter to them at this time. The church needs to figure out a way to bring the youth to them, I feel that you do a great job of this by providing your sermons online so the youth of today can stay in touch with religion even if they are to lazy to attend a service. Again I want to say that I feel that we are a very Cristian nation. Why don't they just ask one question. Do you believe in a higher power? Many people have different religions but everyone believes in something, we do not have to believe in the samething, that is not what America is about, we were founded on Freedom of Religion, we fought for the right to worship how we choose. We have to stand up to thoses who tells us it no longer matters, that no one cares. They are wrong, we care and we matter.
Post a Comment