Report Casts Sobering Look at Christianity in U.S.
Thursday's USA Today reported on the most recent survey conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. It's results are sobering. Syncretism appears to be on the rise. Devotion to one clear faith is fading. More than a quarter of the respondents who attend religious services say they do so at more than one place occasionally.
A portion of the story appears below. To read the entire article, click here.
More U.S. Christians mix in 'Eastern,' New Age beliefs
Going to church this Sunday? Look around.
The chances are that one in five of the people there find "spiritual energy" in mountains or trees, and one in six believe in the "evil eye," that certain people can cast curses with a look — beliefs your Christian pastor doesn't preach.
In a Catholic church? Chances are that one in five members believe in reincarnation in a way never taught in catechism class — that you'll be reborn in this world again and again.
Elements of Eastern faiths and New Age thinking have been widely adopted by 65% of U.S. adults, including many who call themselves Protestants and Catholics, according to a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life released Wednesday...
Among the findings:
•26% of those who attend religious services say they do so at more than one place occasionally, and an additional 9% roam regularly from their home church for services.
•28% of people who attend church at least weekly say they visit multiple churches outside their own tradition.
•59% of less frequent church attendees say they attend worship at multiple places.
Read the complete story here.
posted by Liz Cutler Gates at Friday, December 11, 2009
2 Comments:
i found this a helpful perspective.
It really makes no difference what "religion in America" is.
What is scary is that over 75% of people "in the church" only know John 3:16…. and it ends there.
They only know "I accept you as my Savior" and then they incorporate that somehow into the same secular world which they have always lived. That is frightening.
The message that Jesus brought was radical and opposite of how the world thinks and so He is to revolutionize our lives by… getting to know Him personally.
John 3:16 is for the world but the scary version is that over 75% of the church is Matthew 13:22 "people who hear the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful." In other words they become frozen in the midst of trials with tossing sleepless nights... all peace is gone.
How can I say this… because I see how the church reacts to worries of this life. Their lives and fortunes trump their God so when they "loose control" of property, possessions or health and family they feel all is lost… all joy is gone. Till that moment, Jesus was a daily passing thought.
They were not taught weekly in our church to know how to "rejoice in the midst of darkness" and maintain peace that knows no end. To not look with your "eyes" and "lean not to your own understanding" but rather in all thing humble yourself and worship praise a holy and all powerful God who IS in control… when they loose control. They do not know how to make the Lord their All because it is not taught.
This intimacy with God is not intellectual but rather daily worship, the Word, praise and prayer and is to be taught in our church…. before trials… so that when trials arise "the Church" knows where to go… where we have always gone each day. Where we read, fall to worship and sing songs of praise to the savior whom we intimately know… not just know about.
We are to reach the world with John 3:16 but teach the church the power of the risen "personal" Lord that we daily meet on our face…. so that Matthew 13:22 will not choke the church off in the many troubling times that we live and that may be to come. We are to reflect a different image than the world.
This is maturity… to know our God the constant provider intimately… not the knowledge of Him.
When trials come will "knowledge" save you and bring you joy? Teach the Church… daily intimacy with the Lord.
The church is not a program, He did not just live 2000 years ago and the Bible is not just a history book… HE IS ALIVE... KNOW HIM daily and He will bring you joy in the midst of despair.
marlin oyer
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