TruthBook Religious News Blog

by Elizabeth Hovde, Oregonian columnist
Friday April 10, 2009, 3:00 PM

A couple NEWSWEEK articles -- published just in time for Easter, the pinnacle of the Christian calendar -- are creating some controversy and mixed feelings.

The first, by Jon Meacham, is titled, "The End of Christian America." Check it out. It discusses surveys that show the percentage of self-identifying Christians has fallen 10 points in two decades time while the number of people calling themselves atheists or agnostics has increased about fourfold from 1990 to 2009.

Christians still make up the majority of Americans (76 percent of Americans in the survey still identify as Christians), but other faiths are on the rise and there has been an increase in the number of people who are religiously unaffiliated. And those people are more apt to identify with being "spiritual" rather than "religious." Meacham writes that the present belief system out there "is less about the death of God and more about the birth of many gods. The rising numbers of religiously unaffiliated Americans are people more apt to call themselves 'spiritual' rather than 'religious.'"

The next article, "One Nation Under God?," by Daniel Stone, reiterates that the U.S. remains a deeply religious nation. But Stone writes:

"A nation facing problems of biblical proportions appears to be looking less and less to religion for answers. According to a new NEWSWEEK Poll, the percentage of Americans who think faith will help answer all or most of the country's current problems dipped to a historic low of 48 percent, down from 64 percent in 1994. "The poll also shows changing perceptions about the religious makeup of the United States and its politics. Since Barack Obama took office earlier this year, the number of people who consider the U.S. a Christian nation has fallen to 62 percent, down from higher numbers during the Bush administration (69 percent last year and 71 percent in 2005)."

He adds:

"Americans' personal beliefs about religion haven't changed much in the last 20 years. The number of Americans with faith in a spiritual being--nearly nine in 10 -- has not changed much over the past two decades, according to historical polling. Seventy-eight percent said prayer was an important part of daily life, an increase of 2 points since 1987. Eighty-five percent said religion is 'very important' or 'fairly important' in their own lives -- a number that hasn't changed much since 1992. Nearly half (48 percent) described themselves as both 'religious and spiritual,' while another 30 percent said they were 'spiritual but not religious.' Only 9 percent said they were neither religious nor spiritual."

Christ is a champion of underdogs, offering endless mulligans to those who dare to believe in something much greater than themselves. He lived a life worth celebrating, worth remembering, worth affiliating with.

Labels: America, Christianity, Daniel Stone, Easter, Elizabeth Hovde, Jon Meacham