Amazing stats, interesting things to ponder, but take some time to think about those that surround you each day as you read the article below.
At work? At school? At events you attend? At church?
Do these pan out in your life? How many people do you know are truly living God’s word day in and day out?
Are you?
I know I struggle with it, the culture of our society is so seductive.
(I don’t necessarily agree with 100% of her assertions, or the harshness of the delivery, but it is an eye-opening exercise and probably most likely true.)
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The United States of Religion
AOL recently printed an article on the religiosity of America as a whole. A Gallup poll taken in 2011 separated people into three main categories: very religious, moderately religious and nonreligious. I’ll give you an overview of the information gathered.
People who stated that religion is an important part of their daily life and who attend religious services every week or nearly every week were considered ‘very religious’ and comprised 40% of the population. Those who said they were ‘moderately religious’ were classified in two ways. Either they said religion is important but they don’t usually attend services or they attend church services but don’t consider religion to be important. These folks comprised 28% of the population.
Why one would bother going to church if religion was not important to them beats me! Maybe it’s the let’s-go-to-church-to-be-seen-because-that-is-what-a-good-person-does crowd, and therefore they feel content that they did their duty to God and can live like hell the rest of the week. After all, we know that “I’m a good person” will absolutely not cut it with a Holy God when “I’m a good person” stands before Him. And, boy oh boy, there are a bazillion “I’m a good person” kind of folks in America. That’s about the only kind of person I talk to!
Then there is the last category. These people are probably the most truthful of the bunch. Religion is not an important part of their daily life and they seldom or never attend religious services and are, of course considered ‘nonreligious.’ They made up 32% of the American population.
As expected, 8 of the 10 most religious states are located in the Bible Belt of the South and are Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, South Carolina, Tennessee, North Carolina and Georgia with Mississippi ranking as the ‘most religious state’ in the Union. The other 2 states in this category are Oklahoma and Utah, the majority of whose residents are Mormon. They were awarded the honor of being ‘the most religious group in America today.’ Oh yay. A twisted, mishmash of bizarre beliefs and blasphemous statements about Jesus Christ represents the most religious group in this country. No wonder the USA is going to hell in a hand- basket!
There are 12 ‘least religious states’ and 6 are in New England. These are New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island with Vermont nabbing the ‘most heathen’ award for the whole country. I guess those folks in Vermont are too busy sucking syrup out of Maple trees to give God much thought.
Other states in the ‘least religious’ category are, Alaska (next door to Russia, what can you expect?), Oregon (The Wicca State), Nevada and Washington (The let’s worship a tree State). The last 2 are the District of Columbia (completely Godless!) and, surprise, surprise, New York.
So what does all this mean? According to Gallup, America remains a generally religious nation, with more than 2/3 of the residents classified as very or moderately religious. These statistics bring up some interesting questions.
What does Gallup even mean when they use the term ‘religious?’ I suppose that would encompass all Christian beliefs which would include the many Protestant denominations and ‘non-denominational’ congregations. Apparently they consider Mormonism to be a religion. What about Scientology and their mother ship? Are they including Muslims? What about Buddhists or Hindus? The Wiccans? The luciferians and plain ‘ol satanists?
And, of course, we can’t forget the Catholics, because NO one can put on some religion like the Catholics! The robes. The ceremonies. The metal thingy’s with incense and smoke being waved about. Genuflecting to a graven image of Christ on the cross. Sprinkling holy water on the faithful. Sitting in a little wooden hut, confessing your sins to some unseen voice who thinks he has the ability to forgive you, along with the seemingly endless hour and a half of men with funny hats, mumbling Latin which no one in the building can understand. Mmmm, Lord knows I love me some Catholics! Now THAT’S what I call a good show of religion!
But, if the majority of America is religious and all these people of varying beliefs are trying to find their way to God or their concept of a transcendent Being, why are we acting so wicked and aborting 4000-5000 babies a day? How does that fit in with the definition of ‘religion?’ Of raising ourselves up to a higher level of being and enlightenment?
What about all the murders, rapes, robberies, cheating, adulteries, gossiping, lying, hating, cruelties, coveting, bullying, making our own gods and on and on? What about all that stuff? How can we say we’re a religious country? We threw God out of our schools in 1962 and we’ve spent the years since trying our best to eradicate any mark or memory of His involvement in the founding of our country.
What precisely is all this religion about if we are overwhelmingly turning our backs on God and even on His chosen people, Israel? We’ve always had Israel’s back, but not now! No, we’ve succumbed to the brain dead lies of revisionist history authored by the Arabs, and are feeling so sorry for the poor, poor displaced Palestinians. If we were truly religious and still worshipping God, we wouldn’t dare abandon the Jews!
I don’t know who this Gallup guy is or why he’s never asked me any questions, but I have to wholeheartedly agree with his poll. America used to be a Godly country, which is much different than being a ‘religious’ people. A good definition of ‘religion’ is mankind’s arrogant, worthless attempt to make himself acceptable to a Holy God by his own efforts or works. Religion is one of the greatest and most destructive lies satan ever hatched in that putrid little brain of his. It is anything but Godly.
No, America has fallen from being Godly to being religious. We have a plethora of gods to worship, command and control. The gods of our religions don’t tell us how to live and don’t expect anything from us so we can toddle off to our churches every Sunday and feel good about ourselves because we’re ‘a good person.’ Somehow, I don’t think America’s gods will be able to save us from the approaching and well deserved wrath of the one true God. You know; the one we used to have before we became religious.
You can reach the author at bensmomi99@gmail.com
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Click on the article title for a link to full original referenced article.
If you have not asked Christ into your life, the essential gospel is that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and that He was raised on the third day (1 Cor. 15:3-4). Believing this is the only qualification for salvation. We are sinners in need of a savior. Jesus died for our sins, and to prove that His death was sufficient for us, God raised Him from the dead on the third day. Believing in our heart that God raised Him from the dead is our assurance that He will raise us, too.
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, (1 Cor. 15:3-4).
myBlessedHope 