Are Christians ostracized in Seattle? (Tacoma, Olympia: apartment, neighborhood, construction)

[Inkpoe]

Originally Posted by burgerbun

Ira, the 35% is the number who are Christians and go to church. It would seem that the other half of people who self identify as Christians simply don't belong to a church (but that's fairly common all over the us. A very large number of believers don't attend regular church services. It's not just a Seattle thing).

How did you gather that? The 37% link shows how it breaks down: 15% are Catholic, others are other smaller denominations (LDS, Pentecostals, Lutherans, etc). It doesn't say anything about attendance.

The bigger number is for the metro, which I can believe. People are more accepting about religion in the suburbs than Seattle Proper.

[seattlenextyear]

Originally Posted by rockyinyourradio

I am very acquainted with Mars Hill and Pastor Mark Driscoll and I never have heard him preach that women are below men.. at least not in a serious way that I'm aware of.

The overt sexism and homophobia of the pastor is well known:

http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/c...t?oid=12172001

[angelenogirl]

I can't get that page to load. Can someone give me the tl;dr on Mars Hill? I've seen the place, but is it like Scientology or something?

[seattlenextyear]

Originally Posted by angelenogirl

I can't get that page to load. Can someone give me the tl;dr on Mars Hill? I've seen the place, but is it like Scientology or something?

No, it's just a very conservative "reformed" Evangelical Megachurch. They're really good at marketing and pretending to be hip. They also have a lot of locations, both in Seattle and the suburbs.

There is a "survivor" blog, so I'm assuming more than one person has been harmed by the doctrine: Mars Hill Refuge


Any worse than any other fundamentalist church? Probably not. But still a fairly ubiquitous force in the Seattle metro area.

[Inkpoe]

Originally Posted by angelenogirl

I can't get that page to load. Can someone give me the tl;dr on Mars Hill? I've seen the place, but is it like Scientology or something?

Basically its like what Seattlenextyear says, the articles talks about Mark Driscoll (and Mars Hill) sexism and homophobism. Mars Hill is pretty much a "Christian" group... just with Mark Driscoll's interpretation.

The link loaded up on my computer without a problem, and its nothing new. I've heard the same stories. The media here is quick to print any negative commentary about Mars Hill. It could be justified. I don't know because I've never actually ran into a member and have a discussion. It is rather curious because my understanding is that there's a huge MH following. Perhaps Seattlenextyear would know, but I could've swore there was even a MH book that talked about sexual positions that caused an uproar here years ago.

[angelenogirl]

Originally Posted by seattlenextyear

No, it's just a very conservative "reformed" Evangelical Megachurch. They're really good at marketing and pretending to be hip. They also have a lot of locations, both in Seattle and the suburbs.

There is a "survivor" blog, so I'm assuming more than one person has been harmed by the doctrine: Mars Hill Refuge

Any worse than any other fundamentalist church? Probably not. But still a fairly ubiquitous force in the Seattle metro area.

Ah, thanks.

[burgerbun]

Originally Posted by Inkpoe

How did you gather that? The 37% link shows how it breaks down: 15% are Catholic, others are other smaller denominations (LDS, Pentecostals, Lutherans, etc). It doesn't say anything about attendance.

The bigger number is for the metro, which I can believe. People are more accepting about religion in the suburbs than Seattle Proper.

It says in the fine print that those are people who consider themselves affiliated with a religion. I've known tons of people who self identify as Christian but say they aren't religious, don't follow religion, don't believe in religion, etc. It would be interesting to see the actual poll question. I have a really hard time believing 2/3 of any us city is atheist/agnostic.

[CarawayDJ]

Originally Posted by burgerbun

It says in the fine print that those are people who consider themselves affiliated with a religion. I've known tons of people who self identify as Christian but say they aren't religious, don't follow religion, don't believe in religion, etc. It would be interesting to see the actual poll question. I have a really hard time believing 2/3 of any us city is atheist/agnostic.

Same here. Also, often ignored are all of the new age spirituality believers on the West Coast. The PNW has a large number of them. I don't know where they get counted. They may not follow a mainstream religion but they are most definitely not atheist. They will not answer "yes" to a poll question about following any mainstream religion, but they absolutely believe there is a spiritual realm and that you exist beyond death. I think this describes a growing number of people nowadays. They really aren't sure about accepting any mainstream religion as being fact, but believe there is something to our existence beyond our physical being. True atheists represent a small minority in America.

[Ira500]

Originally Posted by angelenogirl

I can't get that page to load. Can someone give me the tl;dr on Mars Hill? I've seen the place, but is it like Scientology or something?

They play loud rock and roll music, and Driscoll is famous for yelling and cursing.
It seems like every time a church closes, it reopens as a Mars Hill Church, so they must be pretty good at attracting people.

[Inkpoe]

Originally Posted by burgerbun

It says in the fine print that those are people who consider themselves affiliated with a religion.

I did see the fine print, but I don't get how you got attendance out of "affiliation".

I've known tons of people who self identify as Christian but say they aren't religious, don't follow religion, don't believe in religion, etc. It would be interesting to see the actual poll question. I have a really hard time believing 2/3 of any us city is atheist/agnostic.

Yes, I know tons that are "Spiritual". But this poll wouldn't include them in. I can very much believe Seattle being 2/3 being either atheist, agnostic or "Spiritual". (With "Spiritual" taking a huge component of that 2/3.)