Jesus Christ wasn't a Christian and if results from the American Religious Institute survey are correct, then it would appear, neither are many Americans. According to polling data from the 2001 ARIS study, American identification with Christianity has suffered a loss of percentage points in the last 11 years. Christine Walker, writer from the Huffington Post, reported in her 2008 article, "The Great Evangelical decline," that half of the southern Baptist churches will have shut their doors by 2030 if the current decline in membership continues."
Highlighting these changes in the cultural faithscape, former U.S. President, Jimmy Carter recently joined growing numbers of Americans, cutting ties with traditional Christian Churches. He says his reasons are because of his opposition to sexism within the southern Baptist community.
"I personally feel the Bible says all people are equal in the eyes of God, that women should play an equal role int he service of Christ in the church."(qtd in Atlanta Journal-Constitution.) Mr. Carter is not alone in these views. Some congregations quit two years ago when the southern Baptists declared that wives should "submit graciously" to their husbands. Baptists share their views towards women's roles in the church with other Christian religions.
In October last year, the vatican issued a strong warning to those supporting the ordination of women priests. Father Bourgeois of Georgia, received a warning letter from the vatican's doctrinal watchdog, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the faith. They advised him that if they did not receive a written recant, he would be excommunicated within 30 days.
Shrinking numbers of American nuns over the last few decades has spawned an investigation by the vatican into "Sister Leadership" matters. The doctrinal assessment comes as a result of the vatican's belief that American nuns are not sufficiently promoting the Church's line on homosexuality and other issues.
Not everyone agrees that Christian America is in crisis. Writers, William C. Symonds, Brian Grow and John Cady in their "Business Week" essay, "Earthly empires," claim gallup polls revealed a "rising fascination with spirituality in the U.S." They suggested events of September 11th, along with rising numbers of aging baby boomers, (as you get older your spiritual interest grows), accounted for the sudden mass soul search.
They cite examples of the southern Baptist billions pumped into building theme styled churches to support their claim. Cowboy worshippers, biker chapels, and mega churches are part of the new glory glamour. Children's pastor from the main campus of Goreshcel's Life Church believes "kids are bringing their parents to church," and so justifies the creation of a 3D Christian theme park, "toon town."
Other evangelical entrepreneurs had plans underway for the construction of "Bible park USA" in Tennessee, and for traditional Christian tourists, Jesus is crucified 6 days a week at Orlando's "Holy land" park.
Inspite of their optimism, Symonds, Grow and Cady have neglected to acknowledge it's more likely that non Christians will outnumber Christians by the year 2042. Ironically it could just be that their enthusiastic claims for Christian success, may in fact, account for the waning interest of the formerly faithful. They've possibly outlined the reasons for the nation's empty pew syndrome.
Perhaps people don't want commercialized Christianity? Perhaps they've had enough of McJesus style worship? Perhaps after the scandals of pedophile priests in the Catholic church, they don't want to, (as the Goreschel New Life Church pastor suggested), have their children
used as targets? Perhaps the three male writers have misunderstood why half of the American population are possibly disatisfied with a dated religious patriachal system? Women don't want to have to break another glass ceiling, especially one made of stained glass. Maybe gays want inclusion rather than to be used as religiously sanctioned scapegoats for hate? And perhaps the baby boomers seek something more spiritually significant than "Holy Land USA" to find deeper life meaning?
Mike Harton, writer with the "Richmond Times Dispatch" in Virginia, wrote recently in his article, "Churches facing the boomer challenge," that "boomers are eclectic in their sources of
spiritual cues and do not fit the required conformity of many congregations." In contrast to
the claims made by Symonds, Grow and Cady, Harton observes that baby boomers are less loyal to the faith traditions of their parents.
As for using the examples of Christian theme parks to prove the alleged swell of evangelical
interest, - that's like saying Chucky Cheese is responsible for the renewed interest in goat's milk fetta.
Both Christian amusement parks have run into trouble. The Orlando Business journal reported in January this year, that the fifteen acre "Holy Land Experience" was suffering from financial losses due to less than hoped for attendances. They sold out to Californian Christian company, "Trinity Broadcasting Network." A spokesman for the network said they had no plans for expansion of the park.
Meanwhile in Tennessee, residents in Rutherford county opposed the construction of "Bible Park USA." It would seem that hell hath no fury than a Christian entrepreneur scorned, because developers have since filed a $2million dollar federal lawsuit against the county claiming their zoning application was "improperly denied."
Symonds, Grow and Cady point out how former President George W. Bush and the republican right enjoyed support from the evangelical movement. This maybe true, but the writers fail to connect some important dots. If, as they said, "ranks of Americans who express no religious preference had quadrupled since 1991," could it be possible that George W. Bush and his government played a role in the drops of numbers of faithful? Did people become disenchanted during his Presidency? Did they lose faith after September 11th due to the way he reacted to events? The Christian tenet, "love thy neighbor" certainly did not play a part in this famous methodist's foreign policy.
"Newsweek's" published poll results, revealed that the number of people who considered the U.S. as a Christian nation in 2005 was 71%. That number fell during the Bush era to as low 62% in April this year. While Symonds, Grow and Cody proudly lauded, "the triumph of evangelical Christianity was profoundly reshaping many aspects of American politics and society," they did not say how.
"We were duped," argues Christine Wicker. "All the hype proclaiming an evangelican resurgence was merely that- hype, a furious shout from a faith losing it's grip, manipulation by a relatively small grop of dedicated, focussed, political power seekers."
So, while the old time relgious crusaders clutch at straws, building super dooper Jesus Lands, Virgin Mary-go-rounds, guilt trips and talking in tongue towers; while world harvest churches rape their congregations for what little tithes they can get, the majority of Americans are leaving the church pews in quiet steady droves.
Not surprisingly, one of the nation's fastest growing religions is Wicca, a neo pagan nature based religion. With the growing concerns for environment, and rising numbers of women disillusioned by the misogynistic machinations of a fading patriachal power system, more are turning to the Goddess worshipping spiritual traditions. The original inhabitants of this land, the Native Americans share similar belief structures. Perhaps America has finally come full circle and is about to embrace what truly is the "old time religion?" If so, could this be America's national Karma?
If this trend continues, America will no longer be "one nation under God," but perhaps,
"one nation under the Goddess."
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Bail out the rich
What do you do when there's a leak in the boat?
Bail out! It doesn't matter who created the hole, cos if you don't bail out, then everybody on board drowns. This is why I believe that bailing out the auto giants, "big three", GM, Chrysler and Ford, that dynamic duo of housing, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, and indeed the banks,"the big lot of 116", and, -oh hell, any ol' millionaire who's having a tough time. (Let's give Donald Trump a coupla squillion while we're at it, he could do with a new toupee.).If we don't bail these guys out we sink too. That's what we're told. (Apparently none of us can swim!)
With the average American 16,000 dollars in debt (excluding mortgages), and over all consumer debt up 20% since 2000, allegations that the nation's populace are financially illiterate may be fair. The obvious solution is to make sure the averageAmerican has no way to get their hands on any more money. Give it to the CEO's!
The way to look after the little guy, is to save the big guy first! That trickle down theory is the warm wet flow down the trouser leg of a Hank Paulson onto the rest of us....eventually.
Remember that savings and loans crisis of 1987-1989? They were bailed out for a relatively cheap 250 billion. And who profited in the end? The Wall streetbankers who were able to snap up some of those institutions at bargain prices whenthey eventually turned healthy, thanks to the bail out. And now, with a trillion dollar bail out rescue plan, it's inevitable that Wall street will profit again. They couldn't do it without us.
We're the little guy, the taxpayers, the rescuers. We're the powerful ones. Without us where would they be? We can't let the plantation go down. What we've got to accept is that America was, is and always will be a slave based economy. The credit companies, banks and institutions profit from our debt and misery. Should the average American prosper, the entire system might collapse.The illusion of freedom is there, but those of us at the bottom of the financial tier are still bound by invisible chains. We might not like the masters, but the fact is, if the plantation does goes down, where do we go? China?
Already China's premier, Wen Jiabao has expressed concerns about its massive holdings of Treasuries and other U.S. debt, appealing to Washington to safeguard their value. Certainly when AIG received it's bail out and offered it's top executives million dollar bonuses, China must have felt reassured. They knew the money was not in danger of falling into the wrong hands, that of the average financially illiterate, debt ridden American working class! By helping the capitalists, perhaps China presents it's case for communism? It doesn't need to go to war to do this, just lend money.
Why do we stop at money anyway? If we really want to bail out the rich, let's give them more. 47 million Americans have no medical insurance. There's a wonderful crop of organs to be harvested, blood to be drawn; a ready made market for human body parts for the rich just waiting to be exploited in that section of the populace. Like money, what the heck does the average American know what to do with an extra kidney anyway? Give to the needy. The rich are needy for more. Let's all give them our first born children too.
Some foolish suggestions from economists say the problem is not with the banks and institutions but with the housing market. They point out that the best place to start remedying the Nation's economic woes is to begin by addressing the problems there. By putting money back into the hands of the average American and bailing them out of their mortgage and housing debts, institutions risk losing out from their crisis profiteering. That can't happen. The working class are only guaranteed their right to the pursuit of happiness in the constitution. Nowhere does it say they have the right to actually be happy.
As our numbers of homeless grow, (currently estimated to be 3.5 million) and poverty rates increase (35.9 million living below the poverty line), so will the optimism of our nation's wealthy. For the more the numbers of a recession wearied populace grows, the more the wealthy have available to exploit. The more they cutback on education spending, the less likely it is for the average American to be able to literate in any area of life. Uneducated, with no medical insurance, home or money, yet powerful enough to bail out a multi billion dollar institution? Bail out the rich? Ofcourse we say yes.
The poor are too sick and tired to say "no", and thanks to the education system, to illiterate to spell it.
Bail out! It doesn't matter who created the hole, cos if you don't bail out, then everybody on board drowns. This is why I believe that bailing out the auto giants, "big three", GM, Chrysler and Ford, that dynamic duo of housing, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, and indeed the banks,"the big lot of 116", and, -oh hell, any ol' millionaire who's having a tough time. (Let's give Donald Trump a coupla squillion while we're at it, he could do with a new toupee.).If we don't bail these guys out we sink too. That's what we're told. (Apparently none of us can swim!)
With the average American 16,000 dollars in debt (excluding mortgages), and over all consumer debt up 20% since 2000, allegations that the nation's populace are financially illiterate may be fair. The obvious solution is to make sure the averageAmerican has no way to get their hands on any more money. Give it to the CEO's!
The way to look after the little guy, is to save the big guy first! That trickle down theory is the warm wet flow down the trouser leg of a Hank Paulson onto the rest of us....eventually.
Remember that savings and loans crisis of 1987-1989? They were bailed out for a relatively cheap 250 billion. And who profited in the end? The Wall streetbankers who were able to snap up some of those institutions at bargain prices whenthey eventually turned healthy, thanks to the bail out. And now, with a trillion dollar bail out rescue plan, it's inevitable that Wall street will profit again. They couldn't do it without us.
We're the little guy, the taxpayers, the rescuers. We're the powerful ones. Without us where would they be? We can't let the plantation go down. What we've got to accept is that America was, is and always will be a slave based economy. The credit companies, banks and institutions profit from our debt and misery. Should the average American prosper, the entire system might collapse.The illusion of freedom is there, but those of us at the bottom of the financial tier are still bound by invisible chains. We might not like the masters, but the fact is, if the plantation does goes down, where do we go? China?
Already China's premier, Wen Jiabao has expressed concerns about its massive holdings of Treasuries and other U.S. debt, appealing to Washington to safeguard their value. Certainly when AIG received it's bail out and offered it's top executives million dollar bonuses, China must have felt reassured. They knew the money was not in danger of falling into the wrong hands, that of the average financially illiterate, debt ridden American working class! By helping the capitalists, perhaps China presents it's case for communism? It doesn't need to go to war to do this, just lend money.
Why do we stop at money anyway? If we really want to bail out the rich, let's give them more. 47 million Americans have no medical insurance. There's a wonderful crop of organs to be harvested, blood to be drawn; a ready made market for human body parts for the rich just waiting to be exploited in that section of the populace. Like money, what the heck does the average American know what to do with an extra kidney anyway? Give to the needy. The rich are needy for more. Let's all give them our first born children too.
Some foolish suggestions from economists say the problem is not with the banks and institutions but with the housing market. They point out that the best place to start remedying the Nation's economic woes is to begin by addressing the problems there. By putting money back into the hands of the average American and bailing them out of their mortgage and housing debts, institutions risk losing out from their crisis profiteering. That can't happen. The working class are only guaranteed their right to the pursuit of happiness in the constitution. Nowhere does it say they have the right to actually be happy.
As our numbers of homeless grow, (currently estimated to be 3.5 million) and poverty rates increase (35.9 million living below the poverty line), so will the optimism of our nation's wealthy. For the more the numbers of a recession wearied populace grows, the more the wealthy have available to exploit. The more they cutback on education spending, the less likely it is for the average American to be able to literate in any area of life. Uneducated, with no medical insurance, home or money, yet powerful enough to bail out a multi billion dollar institution? Bail out the rich? Ofcourse we say yes.
The poor are too sick and tired to say "no", and thanks to the education system, to illiterate to spell it.
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