Why are Americans so religious?
January 5, 2008 by Luci
Is the separation of state and church is our downfal?
The separation of church and state allows religious freedom, whereas religious freedom was not allowed in any large country anywhere else in the world. It allowed religions to diversify and adapt and evolve and compete for adherents. The most persuasive ideologies like Catholicism, evangelical Christianity and fundamentalist Christianity won, and the other competitors were the losers.
Go to a large church in the United States, and the services are like rock concerts with thousands singing and clapping and dancing.
Keeping religious symbols also feeds the monster, as well as the commercialism of Christmas and Easter which perpetuates Christianity.
We are a nation of religious hypocrites, alongside very vocal fundamentalist extremists. The majority seem to be cultural Christians who like the warm, fuzzy notions that come along with a god belief meanwhile ignoring whatever they don’t like. Sure, they’ll profess to be Christians because it’s traditional and more socially acceptable, and then rarely set foot inside a church, read a Bible, engage in whatever extramarital sex they prefer, and go to the bar to get loaded. But still, they are good “Christians” who consider themselves to be believers.
Then, of course, we see the guilt of this hypocrisy when this majority of cultural Christians enable the radical fundamentalists, who seem to thrive in our government, through notions like removing evolution/teaching creationism in schools or a gay marriage ban. It achieves a false sense of piety when they get to persecute minorities via what they claim is a religious morality that they themselves often disregard. And they seem to keep getting nuttier and nuttier; it’s depressing, especially in the face of the next election and Huckabee so likable and popular.
I've wondered the same thing. Sometimes I think we would be better off if they just went ahead and declared the US a christian nation. The fighting that would ensue while deciding which branch of christianity we are and the religious leaders going berserk over the fact that churches could now be subject to scrutiny and tax would be hilarious.
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I’ve wondered the same thing. Sometimes I think we would be better off if they just went ahead and declared the US a christian nation. The fighting that would ensue while deciding which branch of christianity we are and the religious leaders going berserk over the fact that churches could now be subject to scrutiny and tax would be hilarious.
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"..a.nd go to the bar to get loaded."
What's drinking got to do with being christian or not?
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“..a.nd go to the bar to get loaded.”
What’s drinking got to do with being christian or not?
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Well, Moschops, your body is SUPPOSED to be the "temple of God." Excessive alcohol consumption, or getting dunk, would be considered a desecration of that temple considering the damage that it does to your body. Never mind the impaired thought processes and the decisions that come afterwards….
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James reply on November 4th, 2008 1:38 pm:
IF alcohol consumption (which I am not a pro-drikner) is a “sin” and defiles the body. Why was Jesus’ first miracle turning water into wine?
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TJM Admin reply on November 4th, 2008 3:49 pm:
It was “new” wine, James. IE non-alcoholic, like Welch’s. And we do know that alcohol does, indeed, damage the body. All the talk about the benefits of red wine have more to do with the anti-oxidants found in the skin of the red grape, not from the fermentation process.
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Well, Moschops, your body is SUPPOSED to be the “temple of God.” Excessive alcohol consumption, or getting dunk, would be considered a desecration of that temple considering the damage that it does to your body. Never mind the impaired thought processes and the decisions that come afterwards….
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Drinking is fine, but I believe I said: "go to the bar to get loaded", which means getting drunk.
If you feel that getting drunk in a bar is acceptable; fine by me.
Just don't drive afterwards.
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Drinking is fine, but I believe I said: “go to the bar to get loaded”, which means getting drunk.
If you feel that getting drunk in a bar is acceptable; fine by me.
Just don’t drive afterwards.
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Why, indeed? Well, this is the way I see it:
The pilgrims started out praying that they wouldn't be eaten by sea monsters on the way over, or throw up their innards. They made it.
Then they started praying they wouldn't die of starvation since they were too dumb to bring enough food with 'em (until the aborignals living here pulled their asses outta the fire – talk about no good deed going unpunished!). Again, they made it.
Then they prayed some more to Jeebus that their muskets would be enough to kill all the aboriginals whose land they'd stolen (in his name), and found out that small pox worked better. It was god's will. Apparently. Once again, they made it.
Then they prayed that between Napolean, Parliament, and crazy 'ol King George, that the British would be bogged down long enough so that they could slap together a half-assed defense network (with the help of the aboriginals that they hadn't already killed or diseased). Plus when King George later died that convinced them that their prayers were working. So, again they made it.
Then they prayed that their slaves wouldn't revolt and rise up in the middle of the night and kill them in their beds. And they figured out that by teaching the slaves about the Big, Bad, JuJu-Monster god that they worshipped would smite them if they ever laid a hand on their slavemasters was the way to go. And of course they taught the slaves that their god WANTED THEM to be slaves because Noah's grandson saw him drunk and naked in his tent (its a long story). And so they had to go to church all the time in order to keep that ruse going so the slaves would keep believing in it too. And once again them damned prayers got through to Jeebus and they made it. Oh, and they also made-out with the slaves too. Jeebus turned his head away when they did that though.
And after all that "evidence" and with so many lucky breaks falling their way, they became convinced that it was because of those great prayers and their religiosity. So it got to be a kind of a regular thing to pretend be all religious and stuff after all that. And besides, them being such sooperstitious bastards and wanting to keep the good luck thing going, they prayed before, during, after and in-between everything they did after that!!! Except sex.
And that boys and girls is how America became god's country and why his people are so religious. And so stupid.
Amen.
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Why, indeed? Well, this is the way I see it:
The pilgrims started out praying that they wouldn’t be eaten by sea monsters on the way over, or throw up their innards. They made it.
Then they started praying they wouldn’t die of starvation since they were too dumb to bring enough food with ‘em (until the aborignals living here pulled their asses outta the fire – talk about no good deed going unpunished!). Again, they made it.
Then they prayed some more to Jeebus that their muskets would be enough to kill all the aboriginals whose land they’d stolen (in his name), and found out that small pox worked better. It was god’s will. Apparently. Once again, they made it.
Then they prayed that between Napolean, Parliament, and crazy ‘ol King George, that the British would be bogged down long enough so that they could slap together a half-assed defense network (with the help of the aboriginals that they hadn’t already killed or diseased). Plus when King George later died that convinced them that their prayers were working. So, again they made it.
Then they prayed that their slaves wouldn’t revolt and rise up in the middle of the night and kill them in their beds. And they figured out that by teaching the slaves about the Big, Bad, JuJu-Monster god that they worshipped would smite them if they ever laid a hand on their slavemasters was the way to go. And of course they taught the slaves that their god WANTED THEM to be slaves because Noah’s grandson saw him drunk and naked in his tent (its a long story). And so they had to go to church all the time in order to keep that ruse going so the slaves would keep believing in it too. And once again them damned prayers got through to Jeebus and they made it. Oh, and they also made-out with the slaves too. Jeebus turned his head away when they did that though.
And after all that “evidence” and with so many lucky breaks falling their way, they became convinced that it was because of those great prayers and their religiosity. So it got to be a kind of a regular thing to pretend be all religious and stuff after all that. And besides, them being such sooperstitious bastards and wanting to keep the good luck thing going, they prayed before, during, after and in-between everything they did after that!!! Except sex.
And that boys and girls is how America became god’s country and why his people are so religious. And so stupid.
Amen.
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I touched on this same subject on the <a href="http://www.freeinfidel.com/?p=57" rel="nofollow">FreeInfidel blog</a> today. Religiosity in advanced cultures generally declines as the wellbeing of citizens increases. That wellbeing includes: standards of living and healthcare, job security, social security, prosperity (for all) etc. The comforts and services traditionally provided by the church are no longer needed, and the fears that life brings are must diminished.
The US is unusual among first-world countries in having high levels of poverty, lousy social security, no universal healthcare and so on. Even when the state does provide, it's often by proxy through faith-based organisations. Religion in the US continues to feed off fear & insecurity.
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I touched on this same subject on the <a href="http://www.freeinfidel.com/?p=57" rel="nofollow">FreeInfidel blog</a> today. Religiosity in advanced cultures generally declines as the wellbeing of citizens increases. That wellbeing includes: standards of living and healthcare, job security, social security, prosperity (for all) etc. The comforts and services traditionally provided by the church are no longer needed, and the fears that life brings are must diminished.
The US is unusual among first-world countries in having high levels of poverty, lousy social security, no universal healthcare and so on. Even when the state does provide, it's often by proxy through faith-based organisations. Religion in the US continues to feed off fear & insecurity.
Reply
I touched on this same subject on the <a href="http://www.freeinfidel.com/?p=57" rel="nofollow">FreeInfidel blog</a> today. Religiosity in advanced cultures generally declines as the wellbeing of citizens increases. That wellbeing includes: standards of living and healthcare, job security, social security, prosperity (for all) etc. The comforts and services traditionally provided by the church are no longer needed, and the fears that life brings are must diminished.
The US is unusual among first-world countries in having high levels of poverty, lousy social security, no universal healthcare and so on. Even when the state does provide, it's often by proxy through faith-based organisations. Religion in the US continues to feed off fear & insecurity.
Reply
I touched on this same subject on the FreeInfidel blog today. Religiosity in advanced cultures generally declines as the wellbeing of citizens increases. That wellbeing includes: standards of living and healthcare, job security, social security, prosperity (for all) etc. The comforts and services traditionally provided by the church are no longer needed, and the fears that life brings are must diminished.
The US is unusual among first-world countries in having high levels of poverty, lousy social security, no universal healthcare and so on. Even when the state does provide, it’s often by proxy through faith-based organisations. Religion in the US continues to feed off fear & insecurity.
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Self delusion is for many the only thing allowing them to cope with the hardships of life. Do you want to pay for counseling and perscriptions for $255, 000, 000 people? No? Neither does the government.
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Self delusion is for many the only thing allowing them to cope with the hardships of life. Do you want to pay for counseling and perscriptions for $255, 000, 000 people? No? Neither does the government.
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The difficulty in trying to reason with religious fundamentalists I think is one of the main contributing factors for the overt and terrifying jesufication of the U.S. The zealous theist is fundamentally illogical in their willingness to believe in the absurdities presented to them in scriptures. As long as christian nuts form bigger lobby groups then rational free-thinkers the politicians who need their votes will continue to pander to the masses under the Machiavellian precept that being hated by the few right is better then being hated by the many wrong.
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The difficulty in trying to reason with religious fundamentalists I think is one of the main contributing factors for the overt and terrifying jesufication of the U.S. The zealous theist is fundamentally illogical in their willingness to believe in the absurdities presented to them in scriptures. As long as christian nuts form bigger lobby groups then rational free-thinkers the politicians who need their votes will continue to pander to the masses under the Machiavellian precept that being hated by the few right is better then being hated by the many wrong.
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Yes, it's me.
Passing through, saw this. Fascinating stuff.
I do not think the secular nation is doomed to being ripped apart by religion. If anything, it is the only nation which bears the chance to cleanse itself of religion. A nation with an established church has no competition, as all their competition must go to their own nation. When a state chooses a religion, the religion is the state, period.
Whereas a nation that doesn't pick one can retain some grasp of sanity, if only because nobody agrees.
Who knows?
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Yes, it’s me.
Passing through, saw this. Fascinating stuff.
I do not think the secular nation is doomed to being ripped apart by religion. If anything, it is the only nation which bears the chance to cleanse itself of religion. A nation with an established church has no competition, as all their competition must go to their own nation. When a state chooses a religion, the religion is the state, period.
Whereas a nation that doesn’t pick one can retain some grasp of sanity, if only because nobody agrees.
Who knows?
Reply