Why is Christianity and religion so huge in the USA? (Buddhists, grace)
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Agreed. In fact I think being in a non-diverse place can make one more religiously complacent. Some of the most devout Catholics I know or know of are from the Ozarks or Deep South, places that aren't very Catholic. Later I found that's not just my experience, some study indicated the US South had some of the most "vibrant" diocese. Detroit has a "Jain Temple" and Hinsdale, Illinois is the headquarters of the Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America. I doubt those places are majority Jain or Zoroastrian.
[quote=Joe84323;21355218]The most religious areas are the least diverse areas.
Kinda like the Orthodox Jews and Muslims of NY or the large Buddhist sects in LA, huh? Or the large numbers of Latino Catholics,white protestant and non-religious white people living together in the Southwest?
That's a swipe against fundamentalists in the South and it falls flat. The only Christianity that gets attention anymore are crackpot fundamentalists because they're the loudest, most arrogant, most confrontational religious people in America. Most people that are in some way christian/religious you will meet you won't ever know they're religious because they don't try to convert people, don't take their religion's book literally, and know that there is truth in science and see value in both science and religion. It's unfortunate, to say the least, that christian extremists have hijacked the word "religion" in America.
Mainly because the USA is a Christian country with secular government. They call it secular government but a president who is not Christian have 0% chance to become a president and they put "In God We Trust" on their money$$
American's are way more ignorant of other cultures in general because they're not like Europe where a bunch of different countries are close by. We only have 2 geographic neighbors: Canada and Mexico. Other than that I've never determined why our country has a huge Bible belt that hasn't become all that less religious even with lots of people moving about, as the South has grown fast in places like North Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
A good number of people also actually go to church as their social scene, like for small town people, church is likely the only place you'll meet a woman. It's also partly that we're largely suburban so we just take cars everywhere. People don't know all their neighbors so they may not have their own community if they didn't go to church. People also use church to network for jobs and such.
I think religion in America is going to taper down a lot as America becomes more Latin. Church attendance is actually pretty low in Mexico contrary to how many people think Mexicans are a very religious people. Also just young people are less religious, the only Christians I know when I think about it are immigrants or older people. If you look at America in 2040, America will probably be as nonreligious as Canada, its just a matter of generational change. I remember my friend had a neighbor in college who was a very devout Christian, and I remember we couldn't remember his name and we just called him "that Christian guy" since a good number of people I know think of Christians as weird. I imagine back in the 70s, people would more likely refer to an athiest as "that athiest guy" and consider him more the weirdo. I live in the DC area by the way.
founding principles of the country. thats why on your money they are talking about god.
what is hot and new is godlessness. its comes with too much of the good life, like last 40 years.
not to worry that is slippin away fast.
there is a reason people get on their knees and pray.
I was raised in a Pentecostal church and the one truth that I've learned is that it is difficult to speak your mind about what issues you may have with the church. That is why I do not attend anymore and thankfully, despite those 'christians' I still have faith in God. However, I consider myself spiritual...never religious. I see church as a clique and if you don't belong to one, you will be made to feel like an outcast. I think the way that some of them behave is very unchristian and would make Jesus ashamed of them. I believe these people chase people away from God instead of inspiring them to seek Him.
I have people knocking on my door trying to convert me every other month...people feel comfortable not only telling you about their beliefs, but trying to convince you to join in with them. I think that's pretty nervy. It's intrusive and if I wanted to visit your church, I would seek you out. I don't need you coming to my house. Whenever I come across someone who has nothing to talk about other than their church, I walk away. There's more to life than proselytizing, much more.
I actually read somewhere that many of the studies that show that Americans are more religious than Europeans are flawed because Americans claim they are more religious than they really are. When Europeans are asked to tell how often they go to church they give honest answers. Americans on the other hand report that they go to church much more frequently than they do, probably because they have the mentality that it is a good thing and they don't want to seem like bad people.
Also, Libnani, how do you know that a non Christian could not be elected president? Are you simply basing that off of some stupid survey? I saw an interesting interview of Christopher Hitchens (famous atheist) were he addressed those surveys saying, if you asked people in 1975 if they would elect a divorced Hollywood actor for president what do you think they would say? If a good candidate came along who was not religious or was Jewish or whatever I think a majority of Americans would look at their ideas and morals rather than their religion.
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