Why Does America Have So Many Christian Loonies? (translation, Muslims, contradiction)

[Glacierx]

Originally Posted by LuminousTruth

Jesus (i think) says don't judge (or you'll be judged). And Paul says judge because you are chosen Christians.
When they say it is the big book of multiple choice they really mean it, that is how it was designed to be as "catholic" ("universal/generally accepted") as it could be.

Context is very important. In some instances it's important to judge, and in others it isn't. I grew up in a hippie environment, and I am thankful for many of the things my parents taught me, but the "judge not lest ye be judged" philosophy is just stupid beyond belief. The key is to judge fairly such that you should be judged if the shoe were on the other foot.

[Derek41]

Originally Posted by Meester-Chung

man of those churches are legalistic cults that preach works salvation

Most Fundamentalist churches do not teach that. (and I am not one of them)
Many of the so-called Megachurches are Pentecostal in nature, which is just a slightly different flavor to mainstream Evangelicals.
This is the same in other countries as well as America.

[Derek41]

Originally Posted by Thomas R.

America did not have a state church and was settled by many "low-church" Protestants. The two things allowed for more fragmenting and experimentation. Although I think Brazil, Nigeria, the Philippines, and South Africa has some odder Christian groups than we do.

You hit the nail on the head there.
Most Protestants here would be "high church", which is the traditional Church of England.
There are still Baptists etc, and many other Evangelicals would be Pentecostal or charismatic in nature.
Pentecostalism is also quite prevalent in developing countries as you mention, as the major form of Evangelical Christians.

[OzzyRules]

Originally Posted by Arach Angle

america has many types of loonies. when the next religion takes Christians place they will have so many loon balls.

Is there a precedent for that? One religion being replaced by another.

[jp03]

Originally Posted by Visvaldis

What in American society cultivates the vast numbers of christian weirdos? Is it the education system? Traditions? Parents? Peer Pressure?

How about FEAR OF WHAT COMES NEXT. The thought of nothing is to frightening for people to bear even if that is the likely answer.

[Arach Angle]

Originally Posted by OzzyRules

Is there a precedent for that? One religion being replaced by another.

Alexander the great wiped a people and its religion off the map. I forget the name. What religion were the Hittites? Babylonians? or any of the old groups in the old testament bible? what was china's mythology before Buddhist?

I must say i don't really know, its not my area.

But in this case, I was just talking about the majority. When the next religion becomes the majority then it will have the majority of loonies was my point.

[Matadora]

Originally Posted by Visvaldis

Christians reside and worship in many nations. But what other nation can boast of such a great number of fundies as America?
America has the mega-churches, a powerful christian media,
more evangelists than all nations put together, more people that reject science to favor creationism, more religious people in positions of authority (politics), more religious people with weapons that occasionally use them to eliminate others, etc.
What in American society cultivates the vast numbers of christian weirdos? Is it the education system? Traditions? Parents? Peer Pressure?

Let me state a few facts and then let's look at the Successful Societies Scale and how they correlate to these facts.

Fact: The most religious countries reject Evolution and conversely the least religious countries accept Evolution.

Fact: The most successful societies are the least religious; and conversely the most religious societies are the least successful societies.

Let’s examine the causation for this trend.

Let’s look into the factors that make people become religious in the first place.

One of those factors is the Social Dysfunction of the society in which people live.

I have attached a 2009 study by Gregory Paul, The Chronic Dependence of Popular Religiosity upon Dysfunctional Psychosociological Conditions

***When Paul correlated the countries on their degree of religiosity, he found that with the exception of Ireland, those that are least religious enjoyed the most prosperity and the highest levels of socioeconomic functioning. Other sociologists have found the same correlation. ***

Let’s analyze the graph in Figure 25 on page 21 of the PDF. This is a graph representing 17 first world countries.

The X axis represents the % of people who absolutely believe in god.

The Y axis represents the Successful Societies Scale. It runs from 0 (unsuccessful dysfunctional societies) to 10 (very functional societies).

Successful Societies Scale is a sociological methodology that incorporates 4 dozen indicators of societal conditions such as: homicide, incarceration, juvenile (not just infant) and adult mortality (lifespans are actually shortening in parts of the Bible belt), gonorrhea, syphilis, abortion, teen pregnancy, divorce, income disparity, poverty, long work hours, and resource exploitation, obesity, height (a measure of health), mental health (both treated and untreated), illicit drug use, corruption, mandated maternity leave, gender equality, reading-math-science test scores, upward social mobility, income growth and manufacturing base.

• The U.S. scores lowest in 19 out of 48 indicators, extremely low in seven of those, poorly in eight, and best in just three.
  
• The U.S. scores lowest in the majority of 24 indicators of societal and economic stability.

OK back to the graph in Figure 25. The letters on the graph represent each of the 17 first world countries sampled in this study.

A - Australia
R – AustRia
C - Canada
D - Denmark
E - England
F - France
G - Germany
H - Holland
I - Ireland
T - ITaly
J - Japan
Z – New Zealand
N - Norway
S - Spain
W - SWeden
L - SwitzerLand
U – United States

This graph shows that the most successful societies are the least religious; and that the most religious societies are the least successful societies.

Why does the graph show the US being the most religious? It’s because the US is the most dysfunctional. We don’t have National Healthcare, we have high income inequality, we have high rates of child mortality, we have high rates of teenage pregnancies, and all the other indicators that makes our society dysfunctional.

Why do we have this correlation? Could it be that societies that have a higher belief in god are those that tend to be more dysfunctional? That is saying that if you’re a religious society for some reason this makes your society bad. ***I don’t think so since we really can’t see an inherent reason for that to be true.***

Another explanation is what Karl Marx wrote about: That if you have a Successful Society where people feel taken care of, a society where they get fed when they are old, where they have free medical care, where half of their population is not in prison. A society that lacks all the indicators that make for a dysfunctional society, this type of society has no need for a god. *There exists independent sociological evidence that supports this*.

Karl Marx Quote:

Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.

The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people, is the demand for their real happiness. Religion is what people hold onto when their society is not giving them what they want.

If the graph included the Middle Eastern and Sub-Saharan African countries this graph would plot even more strongly tilting downwards with data points next to the US. These data points would correlate with a high belief in a god and high social dysfunction.

It’s clear that creating a better society is key in making religion go away….this is absolutely and clearly demonstrated in Northern Europe and Scandinavia…which further proves that you don’t have to have a god to have a good moral or highly successfully functioning society.

Research indicates higher levels of non-theism and belief in evolution to be associated with superior social conditions.

***This is why some experts maintain America’s dysfunction is not due to a lack of religion, but our dysfunction is a direct result of it.***

Others say the two enable each another, with societal insecurity causing a widespread belief in a god, which in turn generates societal insecurity in order to perpetuate the widespread belief in a god.

The US has a lot of work to do to rank as a High functioning Successful Society, if we ever achieve a successful society this will in turn will reduce the number of religious loons that we have.

[Rafius]

Originally Posted by Arach Angle

Alexander the great wiped a people and its religion off the map.

Really? Which one.

I forget the name.

[Glacierx]

Originally Posted by Rafius

Really? Which one.

Mormons!

[bryan85]

Originally Posted by Visvaldis

Christians reside and worship in many nations. But what other nation can boast of such a great number of fundies as America?
America has the mega-churches, a powerful christian media,
more evangelists than all nations put together, more people that reject science to favor creationism, more religious people in positions of authority (politics), more religious people with weapons that ocassionally use them to eliminate others, etc.
What in American society cultivates the vast numbers of christian weirdos? Is it the education system? Traditions? Parents? Peer Pressure?

Why does America have so many non believing loonies? I believe Gods Word- period. If that makes me a looney, I hope I get even more crazy!!