Survey sees a drift away from religion in America

Survey sees a drift away from religion in America
The percentage of Christians in the US declined, while that of people with 'no religion' almost doubled.
By Jane Lampman | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
from the March 10, 2009 edition

Christianity's hold on many Americans is slipping, losing out not to other faiths but to "no faith."

Today, 76 percent of the US population call themselves Christians, compared with 86 percent in 1990, according to the third American Religious Self-Identification Survey (ARIS), released Monday by Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. Among Christians, the survey confirms that many are shedding denominational loyalties for a more generic Christian allegiance.

One in every 5 US adults chose not to identify a religious identity: 15 percent chose "no religion" and the other 5 percent declined to name one.

In the traditional Roman Catholic stronghold of New England, for instance, the number of Catholic adherents fell by 1 million between 1990 and 2008, with most of those moving to "no religion." Catholics dropped from 50 percent to 36 percent of the region's population. New York state lost 800,000 Catholics.

"The decline of Catholicism in the Northeast is nothing short of stunning," says Barry Kosmin, a principal investigator for the ARIS surveys of 1990, 2001, and 2008. "There is a correlation between the decline of Catholic identity and the rise of 'the nones,' " as the survey dubs the "no religion" group.

In a major surprise, the Northeast now surpasses the Pacific Northwest as the least religious part of the country. The "nones" represent 34 percent of the population of Vermont, 29 percent in New Hampshire, and 22 percent in Maine and Massachusetts.

Nevertheless, Catholics maintained their one-quarter share of the population, thanks mostly to immigration in the South and West, particularly in California and Texas.

The "no religion" group has gained 20 million adults since 1990 and is the only group to have grown in every state, though at a much slower pace in recent years than in the 1990s. Only 10 percent of that group explicitly identifies as atheist or agnostic.

Denominational drop

During this same 18-year period, the number of Christians rose by 22 million, but their proportion declined. The survey found that most of that growth occurred among those who call themselves either nondenominational Christian, born again or evangelical Christian, or simply "Christian," declining to add a more specific affiliation.

Nondenominational Christians, generally associated with the rise of megachurches, increased from less than 200,000 in 1990 to more than 8 million today. Those opting for generic "Christian" account for 14 percent of the population. "Denominationalism, or Christian brands, have eroded since 1990 – even Protestant doesn't mean anything anymore," says Dr. Kosmin.

The evangelical or born-again label has spread to some Catholics and mainline Christians. "There's a kind of fashion for the term," Kosmin says. No definition was given for the label, but 34 percent of people identify as born again.

Mainline denominations (i.e., Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopal) showed the greatest losses, declining sharply in numbers and dropping from 18.7 percent of the 1990 population to 12.9 percent today.

"It looks like the two-party system of American Protestantism – mainline versus evangelical – is collapsing," says Mark Silk, director of Trinity's Public Values Program.

As the US population rose by 30 percent between 1990 and 2008, Pentecostals (3.5 percent) and Mormons (1.4 percent) held on to their shares, while some smaller Protestant denominations grew slightly.

Non-Christian faiths recorded the fastest overall rate of growth (50 percent) after the "nones," but represent only 4 percent of Americans. The number of religious Jews (1.2 percent of the population) actually declined by 15 percent, with most of the loss involving young ethnic Jews choosing "no religion."

Buddhism rose to 0.5 percent of the population. The Muslim community doubled in the 1990s, but growth has slowed since; 1.35 million, or 0.6 percent of the population, now identify as Muslim.

New religious movements and groups such as Wiccans are also growing, and account for 1.2 percent of Americans.

Age and gender differences

For the first time, the ARIS 2008 survey included a question on beliefs about God, and the findings suggest some Americans may not share fully the theology of the groups with which they identify.

A little less than 70 percent believe "definitely in a personal God," with 12 percent believing "in a higher power but no personal God." Some 2.3 percent say there is no God, while 10 percent either don't know or don't think there is a way to know.

When asked about religious rituals, 30 percent of married respondents said they were not married in a religious ceremony, and 27 percent of all respondents said they do not expect to have a religious funeral when they die.

With regard to gender, the "no religion" group is the most heavily male (60 percent) among all the groups, while Pentecostals (58 percent) and Baptists (57 percent) have the highest female participation.

Age composition fluctuates considerably within religious groups. Baptists, Jews, and Pentecostals have the highest proportions of those 50 or over (more than half). Muslims and Eastern religions have the youngest, reflecting immigration. Today, 60 percent of Americans are under 50 years of age.

Americans' penchant for switching religions, revealed in a 2008 Religious Landscape Study by Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, makes it difficult to project trends into the future.

"When people grow up, will they really stay" in their group? Kosmin asks. And now that "a good fraction of the population is being raised outside the religious orbit," what does that mean for religious institutions?

ARIS interviewed 54,461 adults in either English or Spanish for the survey, which has a margin of error of less than 0.5 percent. It can be found at americanreligionsurvey-aris.org.







Find this article at:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0310/p01s02-ussc.html

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0310/p01s02-ussc.html

Pastor Killed, 2 Hurt in Illinois Church Shooting

Pastor Killed, 2 Hurt in Illinois Church Shooting


Monday, March 09, 2009





An Illinois pastor was shot and killed, and two parishioners injured after an unknown gunman opened fire during Sunday services at the First Baptist Church in Maryville, Ill.

The gunman walked down the church aisle and briefly spoke to the pastor before shooting during the 8:15 a.m service. Rev. Fred Winters used the Bible he was reading from to shield himself from the first round of bullets being pumped at him, a parishioner told FOX News.

The gunman's .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol jammed after the fourth shot was fired. The suspect then started stabbing himself with a four-inch knife, Ralph Timmins of the Illinois State Police told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Timmins said the gunman slashed two parishioners when they tried to subdue him.

The newspaper reported late Sunday a source close to the case confirmed the gunman as Terry Joe Sedlacek, 27, who developed mental illness after Lyme disease attacked his brain.

Rev. Winters was shot three times, and was pronounced dead at Anderson Hospital.

The gunman and one stabbing victim, 39-year-old Terry Bullard, underwent surgery at St. Louis University Hospital, spokeswoman Laura Keller said. Bullard was in serious condition, she said.

The other victim, Keith Melton, was treated and released from Gateway Regional Medical Center, spokeswoman Kate Allaria said. A man who answered the phone at a listing for Keith Melton in Troy identified himself as Melton's stepson and said Melton had been stabbed but was going to be fine.

Illinois State Police say they are 99 percent sure they have the identity of the suspect, but have not released his name pending possible charges. They have confirmed he is 27-years-old and from Troy, Ill.

The Rev. Mark Jones, another pastor at First Baptist, said he did not recognize the gunman, who Jones saw briefly before he pulled his weapon. Jones then went into an adjacent room and did not see the shooting, though he heard a sound like miniature fire crackers.

"We have no idea what this guy's motives were," Jones said outside the church. "We don't know if we'll ever know that."

Police said there were about 150 people in the church at the time of the shooting.

Linda Cunningham was sitting near the back of the church when the gunman walked up the aisle. She told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch she figured the man was confused about what time the service started because of daylight savings time.

Cunningham told the Post-Dispatch she, as well as others, didn't recognize the gunman.

Some parishioners believe the gunman used church bulletins to conceal his weapon.

"All you could see was confetti" Cunningham told the Post-Dispatch.

The church has an average attendance of more than 1,200 and was officially organized on March 4, 1945, according to their Web site.

Click here to read more on this story from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Click here to read more on this story from MyFOX2Now.com in St. Louis.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.



http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,506820,00.html

Are We Alone in This Universe?

Are We Alone in This Universe?



The Kepler telescope, which launches this week, will search for habitable planets in the Milky Way galaxy.
(Courtesy NASA)


Telescope to Search for Habitable Planets That Have Water
By GINA SUNSERI
HOUSTON, March 5, 2009—


Are we alone in the universe or is there life out there waiting to be discovered?

NASA is getting ready to launch the Kepler telescope on an ambitious, first-of-its-kind mission: to search for Earth-size planets in our galaxy, orbiting stars at the right distances to have water on their surface.

These planets are too small and too difficult to be seen with past telescopes. But they are precisely the kinds of planets on which life could exist.

Kepler is NASA's $600 million telescope, scheduled to launch this week from the Kennedy Space Center. Its potential is enormous, according to astronomer Debra Fischer of San Francisco State University.

"What excites me is for the first time, we are going to have a mission that can take a full census of the kind of planets that exist around other stars," she said. Jon Morse, NASA's top astrophysicist, believes Kepler will revolutionize what we know about the universe.

"Kepler will push back the boundaries of the unknown in our patch of the Milky Way Galaxy," Morse told ABC News. "And its findings may fundamentally alter humanity's view of itself."

Kepler's telescope will work by detecting starlight, and analyzing minute changes in brightness in the galaxy while scanning space for planets like Earth. Kepler will trail Earth as it orbits the sun, on a mission that will last from three-and-a-half years, possibly going as long as six years.

During the mission, Kepler will measure changes in the brightness of more than 100,000 stars, every 30 minutes, searching for "winks" in light that happen when a planet passes in front of its star.

That is how Kepler will know when it has found another Earth.

The Hubble Space Telescope, which has a different mission, can't do this.

"Hubble is really amazing for reviewing the structure of the universe [and] formation of galaxies," Fischer said.

"Hubble can't afford to do what Kepler is doing. Kepler has a smaller telescope and will stare at only one field, a large area of the sky in the constellations Cygnus and Lyra."



At Least Three Years to Find Another Earth
Fischer said that will take years.

"The hardest thing is going to be finding Earths around a star," she added. "If Kepler is flying for three years, an Earth in the habitable zone would take [a] year's orbit to spot, so it will take three transits in three years to detect another Earth.

Kepler may not find ET but it may find ET's home.


Copyright © 2009 ABC News Internet Ventures



http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Space/story?id=7010234&page=1

Americans Pick Obama as Personal Hero; Jesus Comes Second

Americans Pick Obama as Personal Hero; Jesus Comes Second
By Michelle A. Vu
Christian Post Reporter
Sat, Feb. 21 2009



President Barack Obama’s popularity overwhelms that of Jesus Christ, Martin Luther King, and Mother Teresa, according to a new poll that shows Obama as the person Americans named as their hero.




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President Barack Obama’s popularity overwhelms that of Jesus Christ, Martin Luther King, and Mother Teresa, according to a new poll that shows Obama as the person Americans named as their hero.

American adults (age 18 and over) spontaneously named President Obama as the person they admire enough to call their hero in a Harris Poll that did not provide a list for respondents to choose from.

The Harris Poll, released on Thursday, was conducted on 2,634 U.S. adults between Jan. 12 to 19, 2009 – just ahead of President Obama’s inauguration.

“The fact that President Obama is mentioned more often than Jesus Christ should not be misinterpreted,” The Harris Poll clarified in its report. “No list was used and nobody was asked to choose between them.”

Following Barack Obama, the next most popular personal heroes are Jesus Christ, Martin Luther King, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Abraham Lincoln, John McCain, John F. Kennedy, Chesley Sullenberger, and Mother Teresa, respectively, to round out the top 10 people Americans say they admire and would call their hero.

In the top 20 list, God held the No. 11 spot while evangelist Billy Graham tied with former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt for the 13th slot.

Respondents gave multiple reasons for their choice of heroes, including: doing what’s right regardless of personal consequences (89 percent); not giving up until the goal is accomplished (83 percent); doing more than what other people expect of them (82 percent); overcoming adversity (81 percent); and staying level-headed in a crisis (81 percent).

Only 14 percent of Americans said they admire either their mother or father enough to call them their hero. In contrast, nearly half (49 percent) said a public figure is someone they admire and consider a personal hero.

The public also named several well-known figures that they no longer consider their hero, which includes Colin Powell, George W. Bush, John McCain, Bill Clinton and John F. Kennedy. In 2001, Bill Clinton topped the list for a similar survey conducted by Harris Poll.

Among other observations made by the poll’s conductors, six of the top ten heroes are dead (including Jesus Christ); the top 10 list includes five presidents; and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ranks higher in the 2009 list (No. 12) than her husband, former President Bill Clinton (No. 16).

Since the 2001 list, several people have dropped off the list completely, including Pope John Paul (was 18th), Jimmy Carter (was 20th), Nelson Mandela (was 21st), Michael Jordan (was 9th), Princess Diana (was 16th), and Tiger Woods (was 23rd).

Michelle A. Vu
Christian Post Reporter

http://christianpost.com/Society/Polls_reports/2009/02/americans-pick-obama-as-personal-hero-jesus-comes-second-21/index.html
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ELUANA ENGLARO DEAD

Eluana Englaro dead
Published: February 11, 2009


Speaking on the floor of the Senate, Itay's Health Minister has announced that long term coma patient Eluana Englaro is dead only four days after doctors began a "gradual" reduction in her food and water intake.
The announcement was made as the Italian Senate debated a bill that would have saved Englaro's life.

Although no cause of death has been announced, earlier news reports indicated that Englaro's intake of nutrients was being replaced with a heavy dose of sedatives. Palliative medication in high doses can cause a patient to die prematurely.

The news follows public statements by Englaro's physician that she has enjoyed almost perfect physical health during the 16 years following her car accident in 1992, which left her bedridden and in a minimal state of consciousness. She was 38 years old.

Although euthanasia is illegal in Italy and Englaro's body functions were not dependent on machines, her father received a decision from Italy's final appeals court in 2008 allowing him to remove hydration and nutrition in order to kill her. The ruling was based on the notion that food and water constitute "medical treatment," which can be withheld at the patient's discretion.

Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition International denounced Englaro's killing and expressed puzzlement at her quick death.

"To intentionally dehydrate a person to death dehumanises them because it denies them the basic care due to a human person. We turn them into an object," he told LifeSiteNews.

"Everybody deserves basic care, which includes food, fluid, and warmth as long as it is necessary to sustain life. This is not extraordinary treatment."

"We ask the question, how did she actually die? She wouldn't have died in just a few days of dehydration," he added.

Vatican press office director Fr Federico Lombardi said in a statement that Eluana was "a person who we loved much and who in the last months became a part of our lives," Zenit says.

"Now that Eluana is at peace," he said, "we hope that her case, after so many discussions, will be a motive for serene reflection and a responsible search for the best way to accompany the weakest, with love and careful attention, with the due respect for the right to life."

He quoted Pope Benedict who on Sunday called for the care of those "who can in no way take care of themselves, but depend entirely on the care of others."

"But the physical death is not the last word for Christians. In the name of Eluana, we will continue to seek the most effective path to serve life," he concluded.

The Italian bishops, who had repeatedly asked that Eluana be kept alive, expressed their "great pain" at the death of the Italian woman. They said they hoped her death unites "those that believe in the dignity of the person and the inviolable value of life, above all when it is defenseless."

The bishops added, "We call all not to flag in this passion for human life from conception until natural death."

Euronews reports some Catholic activists have called for an autopsy. They fear that doctors may have tried to accelerate her death before a law passed forcing them to start feeding her again.

In another story, the Korean Catholic Church did not oppose the removal of a respirator from a terminally ill comatose grandmother.

Park Jung-woo, spokesman for the Life and Ethics Committee at the Archdiocese of Seoul of Catholic Church said that "extending painful treatment just to extend time waiting for death is meaningless."



http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=11668

Al-Qaeda would blow up ‘Christ’s burial site’ says Israeli election favourite Net

Al-Qaeda would blow up ‘Christ’s burial site’ says Israeli election favourite Netanyahu


By Damien McElroy in Jerusalem

Telegraph

Benjamin Netanyahu, the favorite to win next month’s Israeli general election, yesterday predicted al-Qaeda would blow up the purported burial place of Jesus Christ, if the country relinquished control of Jerusalem.

Mr Netanyahu, who claimed to have forecast the destruction of the Twin Towers by Islamic extremists in 1995, said terrorists would target the Church of the Holy Sepulchre - Christianity’s holiest site.

“Radical Islam is willing and will want to attack the symbolic heart of the Christian religion,” he said. “This will incur a chain reaction we can’t even envision. We will witness an escalation of religious conflict above and beyond the regional conflict we have now.”

The leader of the Right-wing Likud opposition recalled that he had warned Islamic terrorists would detonate a nuclear device in the Manhattan World Trade Centre complex in a 1995 book, six years before the September 11 attacks.

He claimed that the destruction of the Holy Sepulchre would trigger a clash between religions, much greater than the “regional conflict” that currently wracks the Holy Land.

Israel annexed Jerusalem after the 1967 war and has overseen a massive expansion of the city’s Jewish population.

The church on the Hill of Calvary is the site of the death and resurrection of Jesus and the Holy Sepulchre, according to the New Testament. It attracts tens of thousands of pilgrims each year and is a spiritual focal point for all the Roman and Eastern rite churches in the city.

Any discussion of returning part of Jerusalem to the Palestinians, who also claim it as their capital provokes sharp divisions in Israeli politics. The February elections were called after Tzipi Livni, the foreign minister and new leader of the Kadima party, failed to form a government to replace outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert because she would not rule out negotiations on the division of Jerusalem.

Mr Netanyahu, who boasts of closing down Palestinian offices in Jerusalem and expanding the number of Jewish building projects during previous terms in government, said Likud would not discuss sovereignty over Jerusalem.

But he forecast that the most radical groups among Israel would gain a foothold to wage attacks on Israel. He said: “If we move out of even one piece of Jerusalem, Hamas moves in, Iran would have a base to attack us in the heart of our capital.” It emerged yesterday that the size of Jewish settlements on the West Bank had grown by 69 per cent in 2008. Activists with Peace Now reported that Israel’s army was quietly promoting the establishment of new settlements, as well as the expansion of existing outposts.

The development appears to violate Israel’s official promises to restrict the unrestrained growth of the settlements.

It is another damaging blow to Tony Blair’s credibility as international envoy to the conflict. Since taking up office Mr Blair has negotiated the dismantlement of just one Israeli army checkpoint but the total number has gone up to 699 from 521.

http://wakeupfromyourslumber.com/node/10407

The Presentation of the Lord - Feast

* Monday, 2 February 2009
The Presentation of the Lord - Feast



Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 2,22-40.

When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, they took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord,
just as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord,"
and to offer the sacrifice of "a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons," in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.
Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, awaiting the consolation of Israel, and the holy Spirit was upon him.
It had been revealed to him by the holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Messiah of the Lord.
He came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to perform the custom of the law in regard to him,
he took him into his arms and blessed God, saying:
Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word,
for my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you prepared in sight of all the peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel."
The child's father and mother were amazed at what was said about him;
and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, "Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted
(and you yourself a sword will pierce) so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed."
There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived seven years with her husband after her marriage,
and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple, but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer.
And coming forward at that very time, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.
When they had fulfilled all the prescriptions of the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.
The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.






02 February
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The Presentation of Child Jesus in the Temple



THE law of God, given by Moses to the Jews, ordained that a woman, after childbirth, should continue for a certain time in a state which that law calls unclean, during which she was not to appear in public, nor presume to touch anything consecrated to God. This term was of forty days upon the birth of a son, and double that time for a daughter. On the expiration of the term, the mother .vas to bring to the door of the tabernacle, or Temple, a lamb and a young pigeon, or turtle-dove, as an offering to God. These being sacrificed to Almighty God by the priest, the woman was cleansed of the legal impurity and reinstated in her former privileges.

A young pigeon, or turtle-dove, by way of a sin-offering, was required of all, whether rich or poor; but as the expense of a lamb might be too great for persons in poor circumstances, they were allowed to substitute for it a second dove.

Our Saviour having been conceived by the Holy Ghost, and His blessed Mother remaining always a spotless virgin, it is evident that she did not come under the law; but as the world was, as yet, ignorant of her miraculous conception, she submitted with great punctuality and exactness to every humbling circumstance which the law required. Devotion and mal to honor God, by every observance prescribed by His law, prompted Mary to perform this act of religion, though evidently exempt from the precept. Being poor herself, she made the offering appointed for the poor; but; however mean in itself, it was made with a perfect heart, which is what God chiefly regards in all that is offered to Him. Besides the law which obliged the mother to purify herself, there was another which ordered that the first-born son should be offered to God, and that, after its presentation, the child should be ransomed with a certain sum of money, and peculiar sacrifices offered on the occasion.

Mary complies exactly with all these ordinances. She obeys not only in the essential points of the law, but has strict regard to all the circumstances. She remains forty days at home; she denies herself, all this time, the liberty of entering the Temple; she partakes not of things sacred; and on the day of her purification she walks several miles to Jerusalem, with the world's Redeemer in her arms. She waits for the priest at the gate of the Temple, makes her offerings of thanksgiving and expiation, presents her divine Son by the hands of the priest to His Eternal Father, with the most profound humility, adoration, and thanksgiving. She then redeems Him with five shekels, as the law appoints, and receives Him back again as a sacred charge committed to her special care, till the Father shall again demand Him for the full accomplishment of man's redemption.

The ceremony of this day was closed by a third mystery—the meeting in the Temple of the holy persons Simeon and Anne with Jesus and His parents. Holy Simeon, on that occasion, received into his arms the object of all his desires and sighs, and praised God for being blessed with the happiness of beholding the so-much-longed-for Messias. Re foretold to Mary her martyrdom of sorrow, and that Jesus brought redemption to those who would accept of it on the terms it was offered them; but a heavy judgment on all infidels who should obstinately reject it, and on Christians, also, whose lives were a contradiction to His holy maxims and example. Mary, hearing this terrible prediction, did not answer one word, felt no agitation of mind from the present, no dread for the future; but courageously and sweetly committed all to God's holy will. Anne, also, the prophetess, who in her widowhood served God with great fervor, had the happiness to acknowledge and adore in this great mystery the Redeemer of the world. Simeon, having beheld Our Saviour, exclaimed: "Now dismiss Thy servant, O Lord, according to Thy word, because my eyes have seen Thy salvation."

This feast is called CANDLEMAS, because the Church blesses the candles to be borne in the procession of the day.



Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]






http://www.dailygospel.org/www/main.php?language=AM&localTime=02/02/2009