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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?
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.
Well, I wondered that. The other aspect I noticed was that Jamaica seems to be keeping the Church going here (1) And there are 'hide the ape - men fossils' ministers of Africa. But perhaps they are getting too much exposure.
I read that, during the Civil war (yours, not ours) right at the last minute, there was a great Confederate revival movement. Presumably a despairing hope that God would help them to win. It is notable that The South is a glowing -red source of Bible - literalism. It is also possible that the sheer lack of any one Church having a grip on the government allowed a dozen competing sects to evangelize in a way that was just not seen in Europe.
Oddly, perhaps the founding father's desire to keep religion out of politics has led to the present situation
(1) apart from vestigial conservative lip - service C of E and keep God in the Lords party.
It also may be that for about 50 years our greatest rival was a god-less communist state. That created an atmosphere in which Christianity was considered patriotic, and atheism unpatriotic. Emotionally, there's still a lot of people who feel that atheism is un-american.
Why is it whenever I hear the word "Pastor" I think of the word "creepy"?
Why is it whenever I hear something like "inappropriate" and "child" in a sentence, somewhere else in the sentence is "church" or "bible" or "pastor"?
Why is it whenever I hear the word "Pastor" I think of the word "creepy"?
Simple prejudice or bigotry, or lazy thinking influenced by TV crime-dramas. Nothing too mysterious or meaningful in it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Charles
Why is it whenever I hear something like "inappropriate" and "child" in a sentence, somewhere else in the sentence is "church" or "bible" or "pastor"?
Because that's what your mind remembers. I think it's called "cognitive bias" or "selective memory" or something. It's like how people get "a bad feeling" and nine times out of ten nothing happens. However because the one time in ten it does happen they say "whenever I have that feeling something bad happens." They forget the other nine because it doesn't mean anything to them.
Many/Most cases of molestation involve sports coaches, school teachers, etc who have no connection to the clergy. Still there is probably some tendency for molesters or pedophiles to seek out jobs that allow them private conduct with children. Pastor would among those as would daycare worker, Little League Coach, elementary school teacher, and maybe psychotherapist.
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?
Because it's only been a few hundred years since the hostile takeover of this country (mostly by force) from it's rightful owners...and that was the belief of the vast majority of the perpetrators....which they pushed and promoted like crazy. Even going so far as using the tactic of "deception" and pretending and purporting (even drawing up documents saying they weren't/wouldn't...even though they were) that wasn't what they were doing.
Because it's only been a few hundred years since the hostile takeover of this country (mostly by force) from it's rightful owners...and that was the belief of the vast majority of the perpetrators....which they pushed and promoted like crazy. Even going so far as using the tactic of "deception" and pretending and purporting (even drawing up documents saying they weren't/wouldn't...even though they were) that wasn't what they were doing.
So, of course, it still has a strong foothold.
I thought you were one of the Christians here. Also wouldn't all this be just as true of Australia?
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