Organized religion waning?

[progressoid]

Recent conversations with my parents and a couple intern pastors has me reconsidering the state of faith in Amurica.

They are not fundies by any stretch; more of the 'average' church goer. However, they have similar concerns that attendance and involvement in church functions has drastically declined in recent years. They are deeply concerned about the future of their churches.

Perhaps this flare up of fundy mentals is just a dire attempt to resurrect their base (insert rim shot for bad pun). And as the Catholic church veers to the right I expect more than a few Catholics to get that monkey off their backs.

Maybe, just maybe we are on the cusp of a new enlightenment.
Hey I can dream can't I?

[Lars39]

1. These SBC articles are encouraging....

http://www.sbc.net/redirect.asp?url=http://www.bpnews.net/

FIRST-PERSON: Returning to our glory days?
Jun 1, 2005
By Freddie Gage

<snip>
In 2004, only 287 SBC churches out of 43,000 reported baptisms of 100 or more. Sadly, 11,000 churches did not baptize anyone and 20,000 did not baptize a single teenager. We need to face the music that we actually baptized fewer than 10,000 teenagers from a lost pagan culture of 34 million teenagers. We must face the embarrassment of how few lost people we are reaching.<snip>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You'll have to do a search of the SBC archives for this one:

FIRST-PERSON: Is church membership too easy?
May 31, 2005
By Todd E. Brady
JACKSON, Tenn. (BP)--When was the last time your church denied membership to an aisle-walker? If Thom S. Rainer’s research is correct, the answer to that question may be related significantly to your church’s effectiveness in evangelism.

Noting the disturbing evidences of a decline in evangelism within the Southern Baptist Convention since the onset of the conservative resurgence in 1979, Rainer -- who serves as dean of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary’s Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth -- certainly has given us reason for pause.

Under the headline “A Resurgence Not Yet Realized: Evangelistic Effectiveness in the Southern Baptist Convention Since 1979,” Rainer traces statistical data related to evangelism in the SBC from 1950 to 2003. Within the scope of his research, a particular eye is focused on the SBC’s evangelistic effectiveness since 1979. His disconcerting conclusion -- published in the latest issue of the Southern Baptist Journal of Theology -- is that the right turn in our convention “has not resulted in a greater evangelistic effectiveness in the denomination.”

Looking back over the last 25 years, members of the Southern Baptist Convention have much for which to be thankful. As Rainer points out, the six seminaries are faithfully led by those with conservative theologies. The denomination’s engagement with the culture is evident as clear statements of biblical values are regularly proclaimed.<snip>

[progressoid]

2. That is encouraging

And Kudos to you for trudging through that site!

Too much of that and my heart pressure rises & I start to get a tension headache.

[Lars39]

4. I try to go there every few days to suss out what they're up to.

Creepy cults wanting a theocracy. :brr:

[Kolesar]

5. I read one "essay" there and it left me bewildered

http://www.bpnews.net/bpcolumn.asp?ID=1850

I am hardly schooled in biblical christianity (trained as a catholic) so Smith's terminology baffles me. Nonetheless, I see that so much of their writing is just repetition of the same old concepts with nary a doubt.

He's a bigot too. He can call Star Wars a hodge podge of New Age and Eastern Religion, but he has no business saying Lucas' religion is "confused":

"Before they begin their light-saber duel, Anakin -– newly renamed Darth Vader by his new master -– declares to Obi-Wan, “If you’re not with me, you’re my enemy.” Obi-Wan replies, “Only a Sith deals in absolutes.”

There it is: worldview. In this case, it’s pluralism –- the belief that there is more than one understanding of ultimate reality.

Emblematic of the confused religion of Lucas and the hodge-podge of New Age and Eastern philosophies that “Star Wars” is wrapped around, in the mouth of Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi is the assertion that absolutes -– definitive truth -- can be associated only with the Sith -– the bad guys. Never mind that the very claim itself is an absolute!"

[Lars39]

6. I've personally classified them as a cult.

It's going to be "interesting" to see how far they go.

[trotsky]

3. It's one thing we can feel good about.

The battle of secularism vs. religion is much like the one between liberalism vs. conservatism. The former ALWAYS wins against the latter. Always. Sure there may be setbacks from time to time, but the direction of social progress, as humans learn more and experience more, invariably points to liberal secularism. We'll win eventually!

[GOPFighter]

7. This is what keeps me going every day!

The firm belief that secularism eventually wins out over religiona and liberalism eventually wins over conservatism is what allows me to stay upbeat about all this crap going on. I'm convinced America's current obsession with religion and fascist politics will fade away, or more likely, will be crushed by a backlash.

[Kolesar]

8. Be the accelerant

I have pretty much given up hobbies to develop a local activist group (in a topic unrelated to secularism). We are not going to dispatch this 21st century fascism without a lot of work.