Well, here it is, the day after, happy Good Friday. This lifelong Catholic is once again considering how I would treat the bargain, suffer a horrifically painful death in exchange for an eternal existence as an all powerful deity, judge of all who ever lived, master of the universe. May as well bring the blunt nails, and put me on a skewer, let's get this brief ordeal over with, then the sooner I respawn, and.....
As fascinated as I am by organized religion (and religious architecture) I have little to no use for it. Honestly, I also have little to no use for famous atheists like Sam Harris, Ricky Gervais, and Christopher Hitchins.
This is a generalization, because people are atheists for many reasons, but I still find it compelling. I forget where I read it, but it encapsulates two major perspectives among atheists. One is along the lines of "how can I believe your g-d is one of love and peace when so many of his followers are full of hate and his holy text so full of war?" The kind of questioning that emerges from being told one too many times that you're going to burn in hell because of who you love, or that any unjust suffering you experience is due to his "mysterious ways."
The other I find among the Hitchins, Gervais, Im-a hero-because-I'm-an-atheist crowd: "I reject as primitive superstition your childish belief that I may suffer exactly one consequence for my actions, and even then only after im dead!"
One's religious identity can be a slippery notion. If your cultural environment involves compulsory, institutional brandings, and you receive the Sacraments of Baptism, Confession, Eucurist, and Confirmation, and other indoctrinations and grooming, without your consent, before you're twelve, you're kind of stuck with being Catholic. Every family wedding, every family funeral, it kind of shapes your world view, permanently. I'm Catholic. But what do I think? How do I act?
I believe the point of practicing religion is to be the best person you can be. I admire and respect people who pursue this end. And, though it may not always seem like it, I'm trying to be a good person, the best I can be....but I'm strictly freestyling.
“Meanwhile, Muslim Americans and Jewish Americans have actually started attending a tiny bit more frequently during that time.” - Might be the need to seek sanctuary, comfort, solace and support from all the hatred thrown their way, much of it from those in the smaller percentage points mentioned above, but that’s just a guess. 🤷🏻♀️
Or it is the religious genocidal war breaking out that is stoking religious fervor. Seeing lots of people you identify with dying tends to make people emotional.
I wouldn't call attending "a tiny bit more frequently" religious fervor. Besides, this article is about religiosity in the US and being Jewish is not the same as being Israeli, nor vice versa.
I'm guessing Gallup didn't take into account the number of Christians who actually revere and follow Jesus: social justice warriors who work tirelessly and often for free to help unhoused, oppressed, and at-risk populations everywhere, and who have read the church(es) correctly for the filthy non-Christian frauds they are and so wouldn't be caught dead in one of their buildings.
There definitely ARE those kinds of Christians out there. And probably a lot of them are too busy doing the Lords' work to be sitting around in a church listening to a hypocrite minister/priest/pastor blab on about what he thinks they should be doing.
Ta, Evan. The Shul of New York is a great community packed with social justice warriors and kind, loving people. We have no building and no dues (although the Shul first met at the Orensanz Foundation and still has in-person services there at times). This pagan has felt at home there from the first, because all are welcome, from atheists to Zoroastrians (we'd love for one to come). Great music always.
I stopped participating in church activities as a young teen. Belief was hard to come by as I got older. When I did stop going to church, my parents accepted my decision. It had simply become irrelevant. Now people are leaving the churches because too many of them are actively toxic.
It is one of the points where I agree with Gandhi: "I like your Christ, but I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
Edit to add: Apparently that quote was never proven to be from Gandhi. No matter, I like the quote because of the text itself, the association with Gandhi is irrelevant.
Catholic attendance went down to zero in the pandemic and has never fully come back. The regulars learned they could skip weeks or months and not have the pits of hell open under them. This Sunday a lot of families will come in as if they are coming to a museum. The priest will gently chide them. The occasional visitors will expect it and the regulars will feel vindicated.
I never missed mass and sang in the church choir but the pandemic added onto the pedophile priests scandal did me in. They have continued to get rid of ethnic parishes and have reduced the number of masses like crazy. Do make going to mass as inconvenient as possible. That's the ticket.
Lol. As an every-Sunday Catholic kid growing up, I would marvel at the enormous SRO crowds every Xmas and Easter and think to myself, "Who the hell are all these people?"
Well, here it is, the day after, happy Good Friday. This lifelong Catholic is once again considering how I would treat the bargain, suffer a horrifically painful death in exchange for an eternal existence as an all powerful deity, judge of all who ever lived, master of the universe. May as well bring the blunt nails, and put me on a skewer, let's get this brief ordeal over with, then the sooner I respawn, and.....
As fascinated as I am by organized religion (and religious architecture) I have little to no use for it. Honestly, I also have little to no use for famous atheists like Sam Harris, Ricky Gervais, and Christopher Hitchins.
This is a generalization, because people are atheists for many reasons, but I still find it compelling. I forget where I read it, but it encapsulates two major perspectives among atheists. One is along the lines of "how can I believe your g-d is one of love and peace when so many of his followers are full of hate and his holy text so full of war?" The kind of questioning that emerges from being told one too many times that you're going to burn in hell because of who you love, or that any unjust suffering you experience is due to his "mysterious ways."
The other I find among the Hitchins, Gervais, Im-a hero-because-I'm-an-atheist crowd: "I reject as primitive superstition your childish belief that I may suffer exactly one consequence for my actions, and even then only after im dead!"
Church of Our Lady of the Wayside, Kilternan, County Dublin.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/CNgZc2hrMDUnKWpx5
How Catholic are you if you don't go to Mass? My mom would laugh and say you ain't.
I'm a stone atheist, but if I believed in the RCC I would attend. I guess people live with their casual hypocrisies.
One's religious identity can be a slippery notion. If your cultural environment involves compulsory, institutional brandings, and you receive the Sacraments of Baptism, Confession, Eucurist, and Confirmation, and other indoctrinations and grooming, without your consent, before you're twelve, you're kind of stuck with being Catholic. Every family wedding, every family funeral, it kind of shapes your world view, permanently. I'm Catholic. But what do I think? How do I act?
I believe the point of practicing religion is to be the best person you can be. I admire and respect people who pursue this end. And, though it may not always seem like it, I'm trying to be a good person, the best I can be....but I'm strictly freestyling.
I promise you, I wish you well. All of you.
Happy Easter!
“Meanwhile, Muslim Americans and Jewish Americans have actually started attending a tiny bit more frequently during that time.” - Might be the need to seek sanctuary, comfort, solace and support from all the hatred thrown their way, much of it from those in the smaller percentage points mentioned above, but that’s just a guess. 🤷🏻♀️
Or it is the religious genocidal war breaking out that is stoking religious fervor. Seeing lots of people you identify with dying tends to make people emotional.
I wouldn't call attending "a tiny bit more frequently" religious fervor. Besides, this article is about religiosity in the US and being Jewish is not the same as being Israeli, nor vice versa.
Oh no it isn't, but it is an indirect side-effect.
The first thing I did when I went away to college was stop going to church. Never looked back.
I'm guessing Gallup didn't take into account the number of Christians who actually revere and follow Jesus: social justice warriors who work tirelessly and often for free to help unhoused, oppressed, and at-risk populations everywhere, and who have read the church(es) correctly for the filthy non-Christian frauds they are and so wouldn't be caught dead in one of their buildings.
Jimmy Carter, for glaring instance.
There definitely ARE those kinds of Christians out there. And probably a lot of them are too busy doing the Lords' work to be sitting around in a church listening to a hypocrite minister/priest/pastor blab on about what he thinks they should be doing.
Ta, Evan. The Shul of New York is a great community packed with social justice warriors and kind, loving people. We have no building and no dues (although the Shul first met at the Orensanz Foundation and still has in-person services there at times). This pagan has felt at home there from the first, because all are welcome, from atheists to Zoroastrians (we'd love for one to come). Great music always.
Raised Catholic myself, currently atheist, but considering looking into Zoroastrianism since I like the idea of their funerary rites.
Feed the birds.
As Clemenza said: "Leave the BS. Take the funerary rites."
During (Jesuit) High School I liked mass because that is when the girls would dress up.
Do Jesuit schools still teach kids to think? I've always loved that about them.
Can you blame Jews for not going to synagogue after what happened in Pittsburgh?
Almost HALF the people surveyed cited rampant anti-LGBTQ+ ideologies as their reason for leaving church.
Why, why, WHY is Christianity picking that hill to die on?
Because apparently our mere existence proves that their Sky Daddy doesn't actually exist. Thus they view our acceptance as an existential crisis.
I stopped participating in church activities as a young teen. Belief was hard to come by as I got older. When I did stop going to church, my parents accepted my decision. It had simply become irrelevant. Now people are leaving the churches because too many of them are actively toxic.
I have a even bigger commentators, both left and right, who lament this shift and lament "what are people going to replace religion with???"
I don't know. What do cancer patients do to replace their tumors?
I would suggest weaning oneself off christianity by instead practicing the teaching of Christ. That would be a good substitute.
It is one of the points where I agree with Gandhi: "I like your Christ, but I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
Edit to add: Apparently that quote was never proven to be from Gandhi. No matter, I like the quote because of the text itself, the association with Gandhi is irrelevant.
FYI, Unitarian is properly Unitarian-Universalists, (UU's); they merged years ago. Very different from most other churches discussed.
Catholic attendance went down to zero in the pandemic and has never fully come back. The regulars learned they could skip weeks or months and not have the pits of hell open under them. This Sunday a lot of families will come in as if they are coming to a museum. The priest will gently chide them. The occasional visitors will expect it and the regulars will feel vindicated.
I never missed mass and sang in the church choir but the pandemic added onto the pedophile priests scandal did me in. They have continued to get rid of ethnic parishes and have reduced the number of masses like crazy. Do make going to mass as inconvenient as possible. That's the ticket.
Lol. As an every-Sunday Catholic kid growing up, I would marvel at the enormous SRO crowds every Xmas and Easter and think to myself, "Who the hell are all these people?"
I go myself, but I think it's probably good overall that people are dropping out. I hope it reflects disgust with white Christian nationalism.