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I have not read through all the threads, but religion has no place in public schools. Common Judeo-Christian values should be reinforced (ie Do unto others..., Thou shalt not steal, etc), and other common family values should also be reinforced, but otherwise, school is no place for non secular subjects.
School is for learning factual things, not spiritual things.
That was said a lot in the French revolution. Schools must improve to make the fellowship of families reason for the 'Better Business Bureau" to do it's job.
I see nothing wrong with having the bible in the school library's.. along with other religious writings. It is full of just about every type of literature there is from ancient mythology to historical events.
Personally I think bible studies it should be a parental decision just as I think teaching sex education should be by parental decision.
The problem with having it taught would be finding a teacher who would teach, not preach.
Dude! Your faith is grounded in even less than you say mine is! At least I have SOMETHING I can point to as a justification for believing as I do. LOL
But, Jesus also said this: "Because strait [is] the gate, and narrow [is] the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." (Mat 7:14)
Given that, it shouldn't be surprising that Christianity isn't the majority opinion.
Also something which if anyone believes they have reality problems. The Jews wrote all that ignorant, ancient stuff 2000 years ago and they don't even believe it.
I like to fall back on my rock in matters involving Christianity. This is an excerpt from a letter from Thomas Jefferson to John Adams...second president to the third:
"the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter."
That's what the new testament is full of...myths, fables, tales, half truths, etc.
Also something which if anyone believes they have reality problems. The Jews wrote all that ignorant, ancient stuff 2000 years ago and they don't even believe it.
I like to fall back on my rock in matters involving Christianity. This is an excerpt from a letter from Thomas Jefferson to John Adams...second president to the third:
"the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter."
That's what the new testament is full of...myths, fables, tales, half truths, etc.
Well, ol' Tom hasn't been proven right yet and it's been over 200 years!
Well, ol' Tom hasn't been proven right yet and it's been over 200 years!
I know how it must hurt to realize all religion is on a downturn which has been going on for about thirty years now. It's the Internet...just give it a few years. I'm an old man so I won't see it but many who post here will see a time when the grip Christianity has had on this nation will be over.
ISS - Survey finds Christianity on the decline -- even in the South (http://www.southernstudies.org/2009/03/survey-finds-christianity-on-the-decline----even-in-the-south.html - broken link)
Survey finds Christianity on the decline -- even in the South
Christian faith still flourishes in the Bible Belt -- but there, like elsewhere, it's in decline.
That's one of the findings of the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey released this week. The study is especially valuable because it tracks trends over time -- previous reports were done in 1990 and 2001 -- and draws on a rich volume of data (in 2008, questionnaires of 54,400 people).
The percentage of Christians in America, which declined in the 1990s from 86.2 percent to 76.7 percent, has now edged down to 76 percent. Ninety percent of the decline comes from the non-Catholic segment of the Christian population, largely from the mainline denominations, including Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Episcopalians/Anglicans, and the United Church of Christ.
The number of Catholics is declining as well, but not nearly as much largely because losses in the Northeast have been balanced out by a growth of Catholics -- fueled by new immigrants -- in the South and Southwest. (Perhaps Christians have Latinos and other new immigrants to thank from keeping church values alive.)
What's happening in the South is especially interesting. As USA Today illustrates with some very handy flash charts, Southern states still score high in terms of their "religious-ness," although it's not as clear-cut as you'd think. For example, the number of respondents claiming "no religion" grew 7% between 1990 and 2008 in Alabama, South Carolina, Texas and West Virginia.
But at the same time, Protestant religions have seen a dramatic fall in the South. Between 1990 and 2008, the number of non-Catholic Christians has dropped in every Southern state except Louisiana.
I know how it must hurt to realize all religion is on a downturn which has been going on for about thirty years now. It's the Internet...just give it a few years. I'm an old man so I won't see it but many who post here will see a time when the grip Christianity has had on this nation will be over.
ISS - Survey finds Christianity on the decline -- even in the South (http://www.southernstudies.org/2009/03/survey-finds-christianity-on-the-decline----even-in-the-south.html - broken link)
Survey finds Christianity on the decline -- even in the South
Christian faith still flourishes in the Bible Belt -- but there, like elsewhere, it's in decline.
That's one of the findings of the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey released this week. The study is especially valuable because it tracks trends over time -- previous reports were done in 1990 and 2001 -- and draws on a rich volume of data (in 2008, questionnaires of 54,400 people).
The percentage of Christians in America, which declined in the 1990s from 86.2 percent to 76.7 percent, has now edged down to 76 percent. Ninety percent of the decline comes from the non-Catholic segment of the Christian population, largely from the mainline denominations, including Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Episcopalians/Anglicans, and the United Church of Christ.
The number of Catholics is declining as well, but not nearly as much largely because losses in the Northeast have been balanced out by a growth of Catholics -- fueled by new immigrants -- in the South and Southwest. (Perhaps Christians have Latinos and other new immigrants to thank from keeping church values alive.)
What's happening in the South is especially interesting. As USA Today illustrates with some very handy flash charts, Southern states still score high in terms of their "religious-ness," although it's not as clear-cut as you'd think. For example, the number of respondents claiming "no religion" grew 7% between 1990 and 2008 in Alabama, South Carolina, Texas and West Virginia.
But at the same time, Protestant religions have seen a dramatic fall in the South. Between 1990 and 2008, the number of non-Catholic Christians has dropped in every Southern state except Louisiana.
Oh, all that's true alright. I can see it in my own little Oklahoma church.
I used to have 15 or 20 people for my Sunday School class and the Preacher would have 40 to 50 for services, but that's fallen off to as little as 3 or 4 for Sunday School and 12 or 15 for services.
And, we're hardly unique in that regard. Regular attendance is down, confessions of faith are down, baptism's are down and it affects the whole gamut of main-stream, organized Christian churches in America. While something on the order of nearly 80% of American's are self-described Christian's, only about 40% attend services regularly.
That could be because the American church has become lazy and too comfortable. Unchallenged in our faith, and too willing to let someone else do it, we've slid into complacency and think the only thing we have to do personally is shovel more money into more and more "programs," and leave the actual witnessing to those who we think are better "called" to it than us.
Furthermore, too many of us identify our faith with right-wing Republican politics and can't separate the two. Ask a Christian how he defines his faith today and far too many of them will respond with some sort of regurgitation of the latest GOP platform plank. Of course, any time the church takes a position on a hot-button political issue, it immediately alienates everyone on the other side, but who cares about that? We're "standing up for God!"
Or, it could be because this is the beginning of the great "falling away" prophesied to happen in the final days.
Or, it could be because the Gospel message is passe', it no longer resonates in the human heart and is no longer relevant to the modern man, as you suggest.
But, is any of that so, or is it just a uniquely American or western phenomenon?
Right now, the Gospel is spreading like wildfire in the third world and millions are coming to a saving knowledge of the Lord. In China today, there is one evangelist who has brought over 10 million people to the Lord, more than even Billy Graham ever did, but nobody even knows his name, including me, and fewer still have ever heard of the Chinese "Great Awakening."
Additionally, since the earthquake in Haiti, just we Southern Baptist's alone have had over 100,000 professions of faith as a result of our efforts! Other denominations are doing at least as well and the people of Haiti are responding to the Gospel in ways this country hasn't seen since the Civil War. Christ is sweeping the country! I've been to Haiti and seen it with my own eyes! It's really quite astonishing.
Around the world, from Pakistan to Nigeria to the Sudan to Russia to India, God is on the move, so it's a little hard to accept the idea that Jesus Christ no longer matters. Apparently, He still matters a great deal to millions upon millions.
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