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You really think there are 256 million Christians in the US? How many practicing Christians commit gun violence?
The comment you were replying to was in response to an implicit claim that the increase in gun violence was related to decline in church attendance. Your "logic" has effectively proven TRANSPONDERS' point, which was that that original claim is nonsense, since the percentage of those who don't attend church that commit violent crime is trivial, just like the percentage of those who attend church that commit violent crime is trivial, as you were trying to put forward as defense.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arach Angle
I would say in a country turning socialist.
Which is equally nonsensical as Rafius pointed out above: Both of you are playing the same ridiculous game: Whatever is bad in the world is someone else's fault, when it suits your personal proclivities. Going back to Jimmie's contention: When Jimmie is talking about who is or is not a "practicing Christian" let's make sure that we disqualify anyone claiming to be a Christian who exhibits the lack of compassion for others exhibited by attributing negative attributes to the actual practice of liberalism, which despite blindly pedantic and vapid denials is far closer to what was taught by Jesus than the inanely prurient concerns that most who claim to be "practicing Christians" concern themselves about.
The reality is that most of the people I have known who best embody the label Christian actively disclaim it. One of the most accurate crude filters for who is a Christian would exclude everyone who claims to be Christian. As a deliberately crude filter, it would probably eliminate some people who actually should qualify, but far fewer than the inane filter you have put forward.
This is expected as a result of modern secular education. Especially in societies of multi-cultural background such as today's western world.
Like I said many times, all religions are rooted on an unknown with the question that "what would happen after death".
Modern education has two effects on this unknown. First is that a non-existence can be assumed under the circumstance that no empirical evidence are available. Second, whatever "doesn't make sense" can be ignored. "Does't make sense" sub-consciously means unsupported by common human experiences.
It's like a very much close-minded and fallacious reasoning system has be introduced unnoticeably through our education system. As a result, it's very expected that people will lose their faith after going through the since-childhood secular education.
Our science is experiment/observation based, science is never efficient in exploring outside the 3D time-space we are living in. We can't go to another realm do gather evidence. The question boils down to is it possible for a truth to exist outside our realm, such as one out of the million paranormal claims made by humans. How can humans reach this truth then, especially within our life span? By adapting the educated approach above, it only means that there's no way for us to reach a truth of this kind!
But I think another large reason for decline in church attendance is simply people do not have the time and energy for it any more. That hour and a half during the week or weekend is simply too valuable. Even when I moved from an area where my work commute was 30 minutes to one where my commute was under 15....... I noticed a MASSIVE leap in my quality of life and well being..... and that of my children.
A single hour for church SOUNDS small, but is ever more valuable in our "modern" society.
Which shows just how much they really believe. A good, God fearing Christian would drag their whole family to church on Sunday's, regardless of how tired they are, or whether or not they "had the time". To me, this is, in effect, the same thing as people losing beliefs, as obviously those beliefs are not very important to them, and they hold other things in higher regard.
Please actually read the whole article before posting. It's not that long.
From The Atlantic magazine:
The Surprising Reason Why More Americans Aren’t Going To Church
The standard narrative of American religious decline goes something like this: A few hundred years ago, European and American intellectuals began doubting the validity of God as an explanatory mechanism for natural life. As science became a more widely accepted method for investigating and understanding the physical world, religion became a less viable way of thinking—not just about medicine and mechanics, but also culture and politics and economics and every other sphere of public life. As the United States became more secular, people slowly began drifting away from faith.
Of course, this tale is not just reductive—it’s arguably inaccurate, in that it seems to capture neither the reasons nor the reality behind contemporary American belief. For one thing, the U.S. is still overwhelmingly religious, despite years of predictions about religion’s demise. A significant number of people who don’t identify with any particular faith group still say they believe in God, and roughly 40 percent pray daily or weekly. While there have been changes in this kind of private belief and practice, the most significant shift has been in the way people publicly practice their faith: Americans, and particularly young Americans, are less likely to attend services or identify with a religious group than they have at any time in recent memory.
If most people haven’t just logicked their way out of believing in God, what’s behind this shift in public religious practice, and what does the shift look like in detail? That’s a big question, one less in search of a straightforward answer than a series of data points and arguments constellated over time. Here’s one: Pew has a new survey out about the way people choose their congregations and attend services. While Americans on the whole are still going to church and other worship services less than they used to, many people are actually going more—and those who are skipping out aren’t necessarily doing it for reasons of belief.
This is a correlation without a cause. Religion isn't being "disproven". There is just a lack of people growing up in the church so they learn in 8th grade science class that religion is a lie.
This is expected as a result of modern secular education. Especially in societies of multi-cultural background such as today's western world.
Like I said many times, all religions are rooted on an unknown with the question that "what would happen after death".
Modern education has two effects on this unknown. First is that a non-existence can be assumed under the circumstance that no empirical evidence are available. Second, whatever "doesn't make sense" can be ignored. "Does't make sense" sub-consciously means unsupported by common human experiences.
It's like a very much close-minded and fallacious reasoning system has be introduced unnoticeably through our education system. As a result, it's very expected that people will lose their faith after going through the since-childhood secular education.
Our science is experiment/observation based, science is never efficient in exploring outside the 3D time-space we are living in. We can't go to another realm do gather evidence. The question boils down to is it possible for a truth to exist outside our realm, such as one out of the million paranormal claims made by humans. How can humans reach this truth then, especially within our life span? By adapting the educated approach above, it only means that there's no way for us to reach a truth of this kind!
It's actually opening minds to the fact that myths and mysticism are relics of the past.
Which shows just how much they really believe. A good, God fearing Christian would drag their whole family to church on Sunday's, regardless of how tired they are, or whether or not they "had the time". To me, this is, in effect, the same thing as people losing beliefs, as obviously those beliefs are not very important to them, and they hold other things in higher regard.
I went and asked around over on the Christianity forum and many of them don't take the Bible literally or think being a Christian is about preaching or going to church. I dare say a few of them are further to the left than I am.
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It's not that long.
