Protestants no longer the majority in U.S

[KP3243]

I think rosary before Mass is traditional for the very reason you mention, so I find the explanation offered to be a little hard to understand. Aren’t coffee and doughnuts typically offered after Mass in order to promote socializing?

I don’t have any suggestions, but you might want to discuss this matter in the Spirituality forum.
forums.catholic-questions.org/forumdisplay.php?f=19

I bet some of the regulars there have some ideas. That might be the place to discuss smndtupidisaftr’s objection, which seems a valid concern.

Thank you!

 

[mab23]

huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/09/no-religion-pew-report_n_1949598.html

So the title of this article seemed like a bit of a no-brainer to me. We know that religious affiliation is on the decline in much of the country. But what struck me as interesting is how many people prefer to self-define God and His rules. It seems to me that this is faith in its most non-committal form. I couldn’t help but think of Revelation 3:16, “And you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I am going to vomit you from my mouth.” Is it possible this is the lukewarm attitude that was revealed to John? I pray for a fire to be lit in all of our bellies, that we might love and serve with fervent desire, hopeful love, and undying grace.

people want to be luke warm in a sense to justifying not having an responsibilities , its cowardly IMHO

 

[ProVobis]

Not that I want to start a fight, but this “tradition” is not respectful of those who want to pray and be in silence before Mass as the GIRM demands.

The GIRM/IGMR does not apply in the EF. However, your point taken.

 

[Dubay]

I still stay Catholics and a good majority or Protestants can compromise and re-unite.

We agree on so many primary beliefs and disagree on secondary beliefs. So should not be that hard.

 

[Elisabeth51]

I think this is exactly it. I went to a Protestant school for elementary and middle school, then a Catholic high school, and then a secular college. My faith grew deepest after college, believe it or not. I never heard a word about St. Thomas Aquinas in high school, I never heard about what the Mass was about, I never learned much about the catechism or natural law. What turned on the faith for me was my own private study. Seriously. The problem has to be the education and the experience.

I don’t want to turn this into another Mass debate, but when you take the sacredness out of the liturgy and instead replace it with banal music and the whims of the priest (like having everyone stand around the altar), then what are you really experiencing that’s different from the world? Sure, the Eucharist, of course, but it never got much emphasis in my education. The music should be uplifting and the rite should be rich and with traditional reasons for everything. I came out of high school feeling bored with Catholicism and the Mass.

It’s my strong opinion that the revival of Catholicism begins by offering something DIFFERENT than the world; the Church will not add to its numbers by trying to imitate the world. When it comes to being like the world, the world always wins. The Church must offer something different, something rich and edifying. Pop music the culture of “we must get through Mass as quickly as possible so ignore the smells and bells” seems to really be pushing people away from the Mass.

Agreed.

 

[robwar]

I work with someone who is not apart of any religion and told me that she doesn’t need any faith to pray to God and that God will hear her. Her husband is a Buddhist monk and left the Catholic Church he was raised in because “he saw too much attending Catholic school”.
We have a lot of work to do. Moral relativism results in this. Sadly, people see an institutional church (any kind) as irrevelant and corrupt. I think that is why the you tube video “I love Jesus but hate religion” is such a big hit and struck a cord. Practice and attendance in a faith is divorced from what one may believe in one’s heart and just like my co-worker, they believe why do I need religion, just pray and God will hear me.

 

[Tigg]

I believe this study and doubt that anyone would dispute we are living in an age of apostasy.

 

[theyoungmonk]

I. Her husband is a Buddhist monk

Sorry to go off topic but how is he a Monk if he is married, as a convert from buddhism I am pretty sure I remember that Buddhist Monks take vows of celibacy?

 

[_Abyssinia]

Catholic Church has to evangelise to these people

Poll in Canada found most do not consider religion important 2/3 believe in God

 

[_Abyssinia]

I work with someone who is not apart of any religion and told me that she doesn’t need any faith to pray to God and that God will hear her. Her husband is a Buddhist monk and left the Catholic Church he was raised in because “he saw too much attending Catholic school”.
We have a lot of work to do. Moral relativism results in this. Sadly, people see an institutional church (any kind) as irrevelant and corrupt. I think that is why the you tube video “I love Jesus but hate religion” is such a big hit and struck a cord. Practice and attendance in a faith is divorced from what one may believe in one’s heart and just like my co-worker, they believe why do I need religion, just pray and God will hear me.

Spiritual but not religious is popular. It leads back to moral relativism

Jason Behke who made ‘I love religion, but not Jesus’ did an interview on Huckabee show in which he said he went to Church so his video does not make sense but it is out there now

 

[robwar]

Sorry to go off topic but how is he a Monk if he is married, as a convert from buddhism I am pretty sure I remember that Buddhist Monks take vows of celibacy?

I did ask her that and apparently the branch he was into does not require the monks to be celibate or even vegetarian. He went to Korea to be ordained. I think the Tibetan kind (Dalai Lama) require celibacy.

 

[_Abyssinia]

Yes, a 2010 Pew report predicted that the percentage of Protestants in the US would soon dip below 50%.

That same report also indicated that the number of native-born US Catholics is declining even faster. The only reason the percentage of Catholics has not fallen is due to large numbers of immigrants from Latin America.

While those Americans who are unaffiliated with any particular religion have seen the greatest growth in numbers as a result of changes in affiliation, Catholicism has experienced the greatest net losses as a result of affiliation changes. While nearly one-in-three Americans (31%) were raised in the Catholic faith, today fewer than one-in-four (24%) describe themselves as Catholic. These losses would have been even more pronounced were it not for the offsetting impact of immigration. The Landscape Survey finds that among the foreign-born adult population, Catholics outnumber Protestants by nearly a two-to-one margin (46% Catholic vs. 24% Protestant).

Why have Catholics left?

 

[Rence]

So the title of this article seemed like a bit of a no-brainer to me. We know that religious affiliation is on the decline in much of the country. But what struck me as interesting is how many people prefer to self-define God and His rules.

Yes of course. When people are afforded freedom to make choices, they will make choices. They may not make the choices you and I would make, but they will make choices they would make. Religious affiliation is on the decline because people do not want to be limited by the confines of a particular religion. They want to live their lives the way they want to live it not the way someone else would dictate to them how they should live it. What it boils down to is that they don’t believe in any religion, and don’t trust the religion they were born into to be right/correct, so they try to live as they believe they should as their heart and conscience tells them. Since people are not forced to abide by the rules of a religion in our society, they have the freedom to live the way they choose for themselves to live.

 

[stevekehl]

I did a paper on this report. Originally done in 1999, the survey showed about 19 % of the U.S. claim no religious affiliation. Pew then did a follow up on the non-affiliated respondents and found only 25 % of them, roughly 4 -5% of the overall population, claimed to be atheist or agnostic. On the other hand, 40% of non-affiliatates said faith was at least somewhat important to them. Some famous atheists seized on this survey to pronounce “logic and reason” on the rise nad religion will soon be dead (Christoher Hitchens, Bill Maher, Sam Harris). But this sort of thing has been said before. Thomas Jefferson predicted Unitarianism would be the predominant religion of America Nietzsche and Freud both predicted the death of religion, and Time Magazine asked "Is God Dead?"in the mid sixties. So much for earthly wosdom.

 

[_Abyssinia]

Report by National Council of Churches 2011 said Presbyterian, Methodists and Lutheran Church have lost members but Pentecostal churches members are surging. Mormons and Jehovah’s witnesses are growing

Churches with morel iberal views on a range of issues have declining membership while Churches who are more traditionalist members are increasing

 

[_Abyssinia]

No religious idenity is a bad omen

Bill Donohue assesses the survey data on religious affiliation published today by the Pew Research Center:

In the last five years, Americans who are unaffiliated with any religion have grown from approximately 15% to 20%, the largest single block of which are young people under 30 (one-third of young people fall into this category). But the atheists have nothing to celebrate: only 6% of Americans identify themselves as atheist or agnostic, while 14% reject those labels. Indeed, almost seven in ten (68%) of all the unaffiliated overall say they believe in God. One statistic that has not changed since 1987 is the percent of Americans who pray daily, 76%.

The spike in the ranks of the “nones” (those who say they do not identify with any religion) is particularly noticeable among white, affluent, college grads who are single. It is not without significance that two-thirds of the “nones” say churches “focus too much on rules.”

Young and single. White and affluent. These are the demographic characteristics we would expect from those who have an aversion to rules. Which explains why they favor abortion rights, gay marriage, and the Democratic Party.

The tendency toward self-absorption among the “nones” is a social liability. We know from the work of Arthur C. Brooks, and more recently from Robert D. Putnam and David E. Campbell, that the most charitable Americans are the religiously affiliated; the most miserly are the “nones.” Those who ascribe to a religion are more generous with their time (voluntarism, blood drives, etc.) and money than the unaffiliated. To this extent it does not bode well for the dispossessed that the “nones” are on the rise.

A more religiously affiliated nation, then, is in the best interest of everyone, especially the poor and the needy.

 

[Dale_M]

Why have Catholics left?

There is a big article on it here:

pewforum.org/uploadedFiles/Topics/Religious_Affiliation/faithinflux_3.pdf

Here are some excerpts:

Former Catholics are about evenly divided between those who have become Protestant and those who are now unaffiliated with any religion, with fewer now adhering to other faiths. Among Catholics who have become Protestant, most now belong to evangelical denominations, with fewer associated with mainline Protestant denominations and historically black churches.

Almost half of Catholics who are now unaffiliated (48%) left Catholicism before reaching age 18, as did one-third who are now Protestant. Among both groups, an additional three-in-ten left the Catholic Church as young adults between ages 18 and 23. Only one-fifth who are now unaffiliated (21%) and one-third who are now Protestant (34%) departed after turning age 24.

Among people who were raised Catholic, both former Catholics and those who have remained Catholic report similar levels of childhood attendance at religious education classes and Catholic youth group participation. Additionally, one-quarter of lifelong Catholics say they attended Catholic high school, somewhat higher than among former Catholics who have become Protestant (16%) but roughly similar to former Catholics who have become unaffiliated (20%).

So it seems to happen to Catholics when they are young, but religious education or participation in youth groups do not seem to make a difference, at least on a national level.

There is more at the link.

 

[robwar]

I did a paper on this report. Originally done in 1999, the survey showed about 19 % of the U.S. claim no religious affiliation. Pew then did a follow up on the non-affiliated respondents and found only 25 % of them, roughly 4 -5% of the overall population, claimed to be atheist or agnostic. On the other hand, 40% of non-affiliatates said faith was at least somewhat important to them. Some famous atheists seized on this survey to pronounce “logic and reason” on the rise nad religion will soon be dead (Christoher Hitchens, Bill Maher, Sam Harris). But this sort of thing has been said before. Thomas Jefferson predicted Unitarianism would be the predominant religion of America Nietzsche and Freud both predicted the death of religion, and Time Magazine asked "Is God Dead?"in the mid sixties. So much for earthly wosdom.

Your comments reminded me of a t-shirt I saw once. On the front “God is dead” Nietzsche then on the back “Nietzsche is dead” God.

 

[Timothy_Garber]

I believe this study and doubt that anyone would dispute we are living in an age of apostasy.

And ignorance.

 

[Timothy_Garber]

Your comments reminded me of a t-shirt I saw once. On the front “God is dead” Nietzsche then on the back “Nietzsche is dead” God.

I want this t-shirt. Do they still exist?