Christianity in Decline
Here’s an interesting article on the decline of Christianity in the United States, in which the author speculates on the reasons for the erosion: the Cold War, 9/11, and the Internet.
I would suggest that Americans’ spiking interest in politics is a big deal here, and there are numerous forces driving this:
• If nothing is done in the public sector to mitigate climate change, young people know that they are going to face great misery as they age. If anything, religion works against our efforts here, as the bible explicitly states that only God can harm the Earth.
• If we don’t pay attention to it, there is a good chance the United States’ democracy will collapse, as it almost did following the 2020 presidential election and the attempted coup. The fact that the religious right favors Trump does not play well with even moderately intelligent people.
• COVID-19 is probably not the last pandemic that will shape how we live, work, go to school, etc. Praying doesn’t seem to help, though epidemiologic science does.
• Christianity is even more disconnected from the teachings of Christ than it’s been in the past, and many of its most visible leaders are some of the worst people imaginable.
As people apply reason to find solutions to the existential threats they face and become more attuned to science, they come to realize that religion doesn’t add value to their lives.
Of course, some people say that religion and science can coexist peacefully, but that’s never seemed true to me. As I once told one of my nephews, “You can’t have your metaphysical cake and eat it too. You either believe in things that are provably true, or you don’t. The choice is yours to make.”
At left is a post that’s going around Trump’s social media platform “Truth Social.” A few points:
I don’t think educated people are offended by shirts like this as much as they are amused.
As I’m sure readers are aware, some of these posts are inspired purely by images that are distributed on social media. I really love the one to the left.
Re: the meme here, let’s be honest. Until a few years ago, the idea of removing controversial books from school libraries never occurred to anyone. We didn’t need book police to determine what was right or wrong for our children, simply because we trusted our teachers and other faculty members.
Yes, McDonald’s can pay its employees in the states more, but it doesn’t have to, so it won’t.
Our culture is deeply rooted in guns and violence. And, as a nation taken as a whole, we seem to have very little capacity to pull ourselves out.
My wife and I recently returned home after escorting my 96-year-old mother from a senior living facility in Hawaii to one we’re sure she’ll like far better in Richmond, VA, where she’ll be surrounded by numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
I just met a hydrology engineer who works for the U.S. Forest Service, which is an agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture; it administers the nation’s 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands, managing 193 million acres of land.
A friend from college who resents “woke” culture sent the meme here.
