How WOKE killed Christianity in America

[Phil1111 691]

Well MAGA, trump and the perversions of Woke are killing the Christian religion in America. About time.

More and more Christians are leaving the religion. Abandoning the religious ideals that led to the new trump USSC. The abortion positions of the GOP, its gun perversions. All about time.

• "More Americans also are turning away from Christianity and are seeing themselves as unaffiliated with any religion or as religious "nones," even as some conservative Republicans seek to inject more religion into schools and public life.

By the numbers: The nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute survey of people across the country found that a quarter of Americans (24%) say they've changed religious traditions or denominations over their lifetime or recently.

• That's a 50% jump from 2021, when 16% said they had switched, the survey found.
• People who are members of other non-Christian religions (38%) or religiously unaffiliated (37%) were the most likely to say that they had switched from a different religious tradition.
• About one in four Protestants of color (28%), white evangelical Protestants (25%), and Hispanic Protestants (24%) say they previously practiced or followed another religious tradition.

The intrigue: The survey found that the Catholic Church had lost the highest percentage of followers (39%) to the group without a religious affiliation."

[johnhking1 41]

I think religion has declined long before woke.  I live in a very rural area where the small villages are 7 to 10 miles apart.  That is about as far as a horse could go without stopping.  Within 20 miles of where I live, 9 churches have closed.

[riggerrob 501]

32 minutes ago, johnhking1 said:

I think religion has declined long before woke.  I live in a very rural area where the small villages are 7 to 10 miles apart.  That is about as far as a horse could go without stopping.  Within 20 miles of where I live, 9 churches have closed.

What about people like me who only "shifted" their religious affiliation.

As a child, I attended Anglican services every Sunday morning, then Sunday school at the United Church of Canada. At arm's length, I cannot see a difference between Anglican/Church of England/Episcopalian and the Holy Mother church of Rome (aka. Catholic). UCC has become marginally more liberal, but back during my childhood, the Anglican and United Churches sang from the same hymn book. Anglicans and United were main-stream Protestant or marginally conservative in my home town. Nowadays, UCC has become more liberal in an effort to attract a wider variety of parishioners, with lesbian ministers, same sex marriages, etc.

I did attend church during my twenties and thirties because I was too hung-over on Sunday mornings or too busy skydiving. As I approached age 50, I paid off my debts and decided that I no longer needed to work 8 days per week. The dear departed Larry Yon suggested that I attend the Unitarian-Universalist Church of Riverside, California. That suggestion stuck. Later I researched my family background to discover that some of my ancestors built the first Universalist Church in Canada (Huntingville, Quebec) back in 1845. So I have come full circle in my religious practices.

 

[JerryBaumchen 874]

5 hours ago, Phil1111 said:

Well MAGA, trump and the perversions of Woke are killing the Christian religion in America. About time.

More and more Christians are leaving the religion. Abandoning the religious ideals that led to the new trump USSC. The abortion positions of the GOP, its gun perversions. All about time.

• "More Americans also are turning away from Christianity and are seeing themselves as unaffiliated with any religion or as religious "nones," even as some conservative Republicans seek to inject more religion into schools and public life.

By the numbers: The nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute survey of people across the country found that a quarter of Americans (24%) say they've changed religious traditions or denominations over their lifetime or recently.

• That's a 50% jump from 2021, when 16% said they had switched, the survey found.
• People who are members of other non-Christian religions (38%) or religiously unaffiliated (37%) were the most likely to say that they had switched from a different religious tradition.
• About one in four Protestants of color (28%), white evangelical Protestants (25%), and Hispanic Protestants (24%) say they previously practiced or followed another religious tradition.

The intrigue: The survey found that the Catholic Church had lost the highest percentage of followers (39%) to the group without a religious affiliation."

Hi Phil,

IMO it is a very welcome shift.

For me, all religions are as phony as a $3.00 bill.

YMMV,

Jerry Baumchen

[johnhking1 41]

1 hour ago, JerryBaumchen said:

Hi Phil,

IMO it is a very welcome shift.

For me, all religions are as phony as a $3.00 bill.

YMMV,

Jerry Baumchen

Maybe it would be appropriate for the Popes picture to be on the $3.00 bill.

[BartsDaddy 3]

6 hours ago, riggerrob said:

What about people like me who only "shifted" their religious affiliation.

As a child, I attended Anglican services every Sunday morning, then Sunday school at the United Church of Canada. At arm's length, I cannot see a difference between Anglican/Church of England/Episcopalian and the Holy Mother church of Rome (aka. Catholic). UCC has become marginally more liberal, but back during my childhood, the Anglican and United Churches sang from the same hymn book. Anglicans and United were main-stream Protestant or marginally conservative in my home town. Nowadays, UCC has become more liberal in an effort to attract a wider variety of parishioners, with lesbian ministers, same sex marriages, etc.

I did attend church during my twenties and thirties because I was too hung-over on Sunday mornings or too busy skydiving. As I approached age 50, I paid off my debts and decided that I no longer needed to work 8 days per week. The dear departed Larry Yon suggested that I attend the Unitarian-Universalist Church of Riverside, California. That suggestion stuck. Later I researched my family background to discover that some of my ancestors built the first Universalist Church in Canada (Huntingville, Quebec) back in 1845. So I have come full circle in my religious practices.

 

Not really related to your post, But damn I miss Larry. He was a good person.

[RonD1120 54]

Intersting to me, none of the churches mentioned above focus on a relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and being born again. Without a shared subjectively verified experince there isn't much to hold one's faith.

[ryoder 1,063]

2 hours ago, JerryBaumchen said:

Hi Phil,

IMO it is a very welcome shift.

For me, all religions are as phony as a $3.00 bill.

YMMV,

Jerry Baumchen

"He looks like he could change a nine-dollar bill in threes."

-- George Kennedy in "The Eiger Sanction"

[JoeWeber 1,866]

17 minutes ago, RonD1120 said:

Intersting to me, none of the churches mentioned above focus on a relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and being born again. Without a shared subjectively verified experince there isn't much to hold one's faith.

The LGBTQ experience is shared and subjectively verified. Why aren’t you gay?

[gowlerk 1,610]

30 minutes ago, RonD1120 said:

Intersting to me, none of the churches mentioned above focus on a relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and being born again. Without a shared subjectively verified experince there isn't much to hold one's faith.

Yes Ron, we know. Only your religion offers hope of salvation. Anyone who believes anything different is condemned to eternal damnation. Heard it all before and it is kind of sickening to hear it some more. 

[jakee 981]

52 minutes ago, RonD1120 said:

Without a shared subjectively verified experince there isn't much to hold one's faith.

How interesting. Your position is that if one has not literally heard the voice of god speaking directly to them, as you have, then there's no reason to believe in god or be religious?

[SkyDekker 900]

1 hour ago, jakee said:

Your position is that if one has not literally heard the voice of god speaking directly to them,

I have heard "oh god" and "oh god yes" screamed once or twice. Does that count as a religious experience?

[jakee 981]

1 minute ago, SkyDekker said:

I have heard "oh god" and "oh god yes" screamed once or twice. Does that count as a religious experience?

Does religion have anything that good?

[Phil1111 691]

2 hours ago, gowlerk said:

Yes Ron, we know. Only your religion offers hope of salvation. Anyone who believes anything different is condemned to eternal damnation. Heard it all before and it is kind of sickening to hear it some more. 

I'd add: Condemned to the laws, mores, as passed by a minority of voters. Per GOP enabled legislatures and GOP enabled judicial mandates.

For fellow believers anything. For nonbelievers, hell and the law.

[wolfriverjoe 1,094]

6 hours ago, RonD1120 said:

Interesting to me, none of the churches mentioned above focus on a relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and being born again. Without a shared subjectively verified experience there isn't much to hold one's faith.

Interesting to me is the idea that you can have that 'personal relationship' with Jesus, while blatantly ignoring just about everything he taught.

Helpful hint: Matthew 7:21-23.

[RonD1120 54]

8 hours ago, wolfriverjoe said:

Helpful hint: Matthew 7:21-23.

That is a scary thought. None of my brothers or sisters have accused me of being in violation. However, I have to work out my salvation with the fear of God in mind. Only He can condemn a soul. Imagine dying, standing in front of Jesus Christ, realizing that you spent a lifetime rejecting Him, and hearing Him say, "I never knew you."

[jakee 981]

24 minutes ago, RonD1120 said:

Imagine dying, standing in front of Jesus Christ, realizing that you spent a lifetime rejecting Him, and hearing Him say, "I never knew you."

Apparently he was a nice guy, so I can’t imagine why he’d have a problem?

 

And again, you’ve literally just said that you don’t see any reason for anyone who hasn’t physically heard the voice of god to have faith in god. So in that hypothetical situation where he’s saying he didn’t know me, that’s on him.

Edited May 18 by jakee

[kallend 1,345]

14 hours ago, jakee said:

How interesting. Your position is that if one has not literally heard the voice of god speaking directly to them, as you have, then there's no reason to believe in god or be religious?

Those on hallucinogens often report hearing voices speaking to them out of nowhere.

[wolfriverjoe 1,094]

1 hour ago, RonD1120 said:

That is a scary thought. None of my brothers or sisters have accused me of being in violation. However, I have to work out my salvation with the fear of God in mind. Only He can condemn a soul. Imagine dying, standing in front of Jesus Christ, realizing that you spent a lifetime rejecting Him, and hearing Him say, "I never knew you."

Of course they haven't.

They are exactly the same as you.

[gowlerk 1,610]

1 hour ago, kallend said:

Those on hallucinogens often report hearing voices speaking to them out of nowhere.

Culturally I was raised Anglican, while it was never a big part of my life and at 9 years old I realized it was all fake, those early fables drilled into me have never completely gone away. In the '70s at 17 years old one night I had a moderately bad acid trip. I began to worry that I would never come down and it was frightening me. Even though I did not and still do not believe I can clearly remember asking Jesus to help me come down. He did not speak back to me, but indeed the drug wore off after a spell and it was all good. That was my only come to Jesus moment and it taught me something about the nature of belief. It is a big part of my understanding how and why some people choose or even need to believe in these powerful myths. 

[ryoder 1,063]

6 minutes ago, gowlerk said:

Culturally I was raised Anglican, while it was never a big part of my life and at 9 years old I realized it was all fake, those early fables drilled into me have never completely gone away. In the '70s at 17 years old one night I had a moderately bad acid trip. I began to worry that I would never come down and it was frightening me. Even though I did not and still do not believe I can clearly remember asking Jesus to help me come down. He did not speak back to me, but indeed the drug wore off after a spell and it was all good. That was my only come to Jesus moment and it taught me something about the nature of belief. It is a big part of my understanding how and why some people choose or even need to believe in these powerful myths. 

In my late teens, I knew a guy who like to take an acid trip on the weekends. One Monday evening he was coming down from a trip, and came to the realization that earlier that day (while still under the influence), he had visited the local recruiting office and made preparations to sign up for the army.

That scared him so bad, that he swore off of acid.

[normiss 422]

5 minutes ago, ryoder said:

In my late teens, I knew a guy who like to take an acid trip on the weekends. One Monday evening he was coming down from a trip, and came to the realization that earlier that day (while still under the influence), he had visited the local recruiting office and made preparations to sign up for the army.

That scared him so bad, that he swore off of acid.

I didn't know what acid was until joining the Navy. The mail clerk in boot camp had it mailed to him, tucked under the stamps on letters. I still can't imagine tripping while in boot camp.