Couple of quick thoughts. This might explain why Republicans are so adept at playing on those moral issues. They speak, at least in part, to people who deeply want to see themselves as "moral values" or "family values" voters even if they really are not. Second, obviously, I know an awful lot of people who actually do attend church. I know they aren't lying. But, as the article suggests, if the numbers of Americans attending church were accurate, we would have more churches and more growing churches.
My favorite quote came at the end:
Whatever the reason for the disparity, here's the bottom line: For many Americans, church attendance is a central part of their lives. For others, it's a waste of time. If you're in either of these groups, more power to you. But in the spirit of Christmas and the truthteller whose message we celebrate, surely believers and atheists can agree on what to tell folks who talk Jesus but walk Santa: Enough with the two-faced posturing.Kind of sums it up.
4 comments:
I recall a recent survey that seemed to show that those who call themselves atheist have grown rapidly in the last decade or so. I don’t think that the numbers of non-believers is growing, but instead, the number of non-believers who are willing to admit it is growing.
Let’s face it; it is acceptable to discriminate against non-believers/atheists. Because of fear of discrimination/disapproval, atheists lie about their faith/non-faith, which makes the U.S. look more faithful than we really are. I am willing to bet that Atheism is the second largest "religious group" in the U.S. and would also guess that the numbers of atheists actually exceeds those who call themselves evangelical.
As I am not an atheist, I am not going to claim any knwledge of what it is like to be one and what kinds of discrimination they find.
What kind of discrimination do they find? I have worked with dozens over the years and they have been pretty open in the workplace about their beliefs and what they thought about religion in general. I suppose it would depend on the setting, but given what I typically hear about so-called religious people from most of the people I work with, I wouldn't be all that open about any beliefs.
If I had to guess, I would say that atheists aren't as big of a group as agnostics or occasional Christians.
"I suppose it would depend on the setting, but given what I typically hear about so-called religious people from most of the people I work with, I wouldn't be all that open about any beliefs."
Where I used to work, everyone could be mutually respectful about religion, regardless of a person’s beliefs, but where I am now I keep my religion and politics to myself. (As it should be.)
Where I work now, I have been told twice, I should go to church. If I hear it again, I will either take formal action or verbally bitch-slap one of the people doing it.
“If I had to guess, I would say that atheists aren't as big of a group as agnostics or occasional Christians.
I agree. I went back and found the Pew study on this subject. It was not atheists that are nearing 20% of the population, but a category referred to as “nones”. These are atheists, agnostics and those who don’t necessarily adhere to any organized religion, but aren’t atheist either. When asked what their religion is, they answer: “none”.
Where I work now, I have been told twice, I should go to church.
Wow, that is out of control. I have known a few of these types over the years, but they have surprisingly never said anything to me. Maybe they guessed I already went to church, but I tend to keep my religion and politics to myself also.
I work with a fair number of twentysomethings and they seem more likely to be more outspoken on religion and politics. I don't know if it is because they haven't learned workplace tact or if it is just a generational thing.
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