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Religion, Spirituality, Philosophy

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AndyinPA
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Religion, Spirituality, Philosophy

#1

Post by AndyinPA »

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... cs-decline
Gallup began asking Americans about their church membership in 1937 – and for decades the number was always above 70%. That began to change in 2000, and the number has steadily dropped ever since.

Some of the decline is attributable to changing generations, with about 66% of people born before 1946 are still members of a church, compared to just 36% of millennials.

Among other groups Gallup reported, the decline in church membership stands out among self-identified Democrats and independents. The number of Democratic church members dropped by 25% over the 20 year period, with independents decreasing by 18%. Republican church members declined too, but only by 12%.

David Campbell, professor and chair of the University of Notre Dame’s political science department and co-author of American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us, said a reason for the decline among those groups is political – an “allergic reaction to the religious right”.
"Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought. To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears… To be led by a liar is to ask to be told lies." -Octavia E. Butler
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Re: Religion, Spirituality, Philosophy

#2

Post by AndyinPA »

https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion ... tionalism/
A new Bible that includes the U.S. Constitution and the Pledge of Allegiance is generating controversy before it has even hit the market.

The “God Bless the USA Bible” is expected to go on sale in September, in time to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to a Nashville-based marketer who will distribute the book.

It has already prompted cries of blasphemy and concerns that the book will promote Christian nationalism, the idea that America is and should remain a Christian nation.

The Bible will also include lyrics from singer Lee Greenwood’s hit song “God Bless the USA,” which topped pop charts after Sept. 11, 2001. Using the historic King James Version, the “God Bless the USA Bible” has about 600 preorders for $49.99 and will ship in September, said Hugh Kirkpatrick, who said he wanted to inspire unity in the country.
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Re: Religion, Spirituality, Philosophy

#3

Post by northland10 »

:brickwallsmall:
101010 :towel:
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Re: Religion, Spirituality, Philosophy

#4

Post by Foggy »

Funny, I can't remember any mention in the Bible of the United States of America. In fact, I heard that when the Europeans discovered this continent, some 1,500 years after Jesus came and went, there were a whole lot of people living here already, and NONE of them were Christians. :shock:

'Course, mine is the KJV. There must have been some editing in there. :confuzzled:
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Re: Religion, Spirituality, Philosophy

#5

Post by Slim Cognito »

I guess we should be relieved trump didn't manage to brand it.

I was raised in a typical religious family, nothing extreme, went to church every Sunday. It was kinda fun. Then one day, in Sunday School, we were taught a new song. I now know it was a gospel song, and the lyrics were fine if you were an adult who understood the context, but I was maybe 8. The title was Fire Next Time and one line was "No more water but fire next time." I came away scared to death, if I did one little thing wrong in the eyes of God, he would set me on fire.

As a life-long insomniac (dating back to infancy) I spent way too many sleepless nights terrified of what would happen to me if I misbehaved, not from my parents but from God. But least I didn't have to worry about him drowning me.

The story of the Ark is always presented as some adorable children's story with lots of animals, a happy family and a rainbow. After learning these song lyrics, something unlocked in my brain and I realized that all these innocent babies and kittens and puppies and kids like me were drowned because somebody did something stupid. So I became terrified I would get set on fire if I did something stupid. And would he burn my friends and family? I literally replayed that in my head when eying the cookie jar. My parents used to talk about how well-behaved I was when young. They had no idea what was going on in my head.

Needless to say, it was my first step to atheism.

The second was when I made it to what we called Jr. High. I discovered books on Wicca, which is pretty typical for tweens. I checked out every book I could get my hands on but had to keep them hidden from my parents like a guy stuffing Playboys under his mattress.

Link to lyrics of the song Fire Next Time

https://www.elyrics.net/read/m/milton-b ... yrics.html
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Re: Religion, Spirituality, Philosophy

#6

Post by AndyinPA »

That's a familiar story. I grew up in the same kind of mainline church and got some of the same messages. I always felt like someone was looking over my shoulder and judging me.

My SIL in agnostic at best and my granddaughter has never been in a church other than to attend a wedding or funeral. Religion makes no sense to her at all. It's not so much that her dad opines on it; he doesn't. She was just never indoctrinated to it, so she came to her own decision on it at a pretty young age, and she decided it was a silly concept.
"Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought. To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears… To be led by a liar is to ask to be told lies." -Octavia E. Butler
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Re: Religion, Spirituality, Philosophy

#7

Post by roadscholar »

At some point I finally asked a pastor

"So you're saying that a Hindu or Pagan or whoever that has lived a good life and never hurt anyone is going to burn in Hell for all eternity because he never accepted Jesus?"

"That is true."

"OK, that's insane. I'm done."
The bitterest truth is more wholesome than the sweetest lie.
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Re: Religion, Spirituality, Philosophy

#8

Post by Lani »

Yep. All of the above for us. Sunday school scared the hell out of me, with the Noah story being the worst thing I learned. Same thing happened to my kid. One day at school, he heard about a god that killed almost everything on earth. He ran into the house, scared, told me we needed a stronger god to protect us. He picked Ganesha.
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Re: Religion, Spirituality, Philosophy

#9

Post by roadscholar »

Our favorite. We keep a very nice bronze Ganesh above the fireplace insert. So he gets warm sometimes. 🙏

I lived at a Kripalu ashram in Napa Valley for a couple years. Hung around with numerous Seekers. All along I’ve felt that something, maybe something inherent in the universe, has been urging us from the beginning toward betterness, on myriad frequencies, but human nature leaps on it, colors it, hoards it, translates it, misprizes it, and by the time we’re done you can barely discern the seed.

Then just recently I started listening to the body of Joseph Campbell’s work on Audible. I knew about him due to his influence on the inclusion of a spiritual element in Star Wars. But I barely realized what he has done; he connects all the dots. Native American Spirits to the Tao, Mythology to Metaphysics, James Joyce to Jesus, Shiva to the Maya, Baptism to the Buddha.

An astonishingly insightful corpus. Campbell does something I like to do too: boil stuff down to a pure idea. His advice for how to live is such: “Follow your bliss.”
The bitterest truth is more wholesome than the sweetest lie.
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Re: Religion, Spirituality, Philosophy

#10

Post by Atticus Finch »

How small is the Christian heaven? Well there be no people who died before the time of jesus. No people who died in the Americas before 1492. No people who died in Africa before the European Imperial Powers brought Christianity to Africa. Of course no Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Zoroastrians, Wiccans, Jews and atheists.
You don't need religion to have morals. If you can't determine right from wrong then you lack empathy, not religion.
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Re: Religion, Spirituality, Philosophy

#11

Post by Phoenix520 »

I live in the community of Ganesha Hills. 😊 It was started in the late 19teens by artists and teachers and scientists in an area where multiple Indian tribes gathered every year for several weeks.

Ganesha is my favorite. I had to live here.

I watched those Joseph Campbell interviews with Bill Moyers and thought I had died and gone to heaven. They’ve recently taken all his lectures off of iTunes. I had yet to find them again. Audible, you say? Hurrah!
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Re: Religion, Spirituality, Philosophy

#12

Post by neonzx »

AndyinPA wrote: Sun May 30, 2021 9:51 am That's a familiar story. I grew up in the same kind of mainline church and got some of the same messages. I always felt like someone was looking over my shoulder and judging me.

My SIL in agnostic at best and my granddaughter has never been in a church other than to attend a wedding or funeral. Religion makes no sense to her at all. It's not so much that her dad opines on it; he doesn't. She was just never indoctrinated to it, so she came to her own decision on it at a pretty young age, and she decided it was a silly concept.
I got tossed around in different religious circles as a kid. But my favorite place was a Russian-Greek Orhodox church was when this one offered bread (where they tear if off the loaf and actual wine -- not those paper wafers catholics like to count as bread.
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Re: Religion, Spirituality, Philosophy

#13

Post by Lani »

I have my son because of Ganesha. (That's our story, and we're sticking to it.)

I was supposed to go on a Mediterranean/African cruise and have a wedding on the boat. My fiance began changing, controlling, etc., as the day approached. I said bye! He became a stalker, even hired a private investigator. I decided to get off island for a couple of weeks since I had already planned for the cancelled wedding/vacation.

Friends offered advice, and one suggested going to Bali and showed me a guide book. It fell open to a photo of Ganesha carved in stone. I said ok, I'll make my mission finding Ganesha. I week later I was walking a few miles on dirt roads and through rice paddies. I found the narrow, winding path to Ganesha. A boy had taken his grandmother there to leave an offering, and I waited a respectful distance until they left. I had some coins in my pocket which I gave to Ganesha. To my surprise, I asked to have child. Then I thought "now what?"

Walked back to Ubud, tired, dirty, sweaty, and stopped in an empty cafe for a bite to eat and Sumatran coffee. Then a guy walked in and asked if I minded him sharing the table as he sat down. He told me that he has walked past the cafe when suddenly he had to turn around and go inside. The rest is family history. Fast forward about 12 months and our baby was born.

A Hindu who knew the story gifted our son with a beautiful large brass statute of Ganesha for his 5th birthday and called him Ganesha's boy.
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Re: Religion, Spirituality, Philosophy

#14

Post by Phoenix520 »

:lovestruck: :lovestruck: :lovestruck:
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Re: Religion, Spirituality, Philosophy

#15

Post by Slim Cognito »

Lani wrote: Mon May 31, 2021 1:55 am I have my son because of Ganesha. (That's our story, and we're sticking to it.)

I was supposed to go on a Mediterranean/African cruise and have a wedding on the boat. My fiance began changing, controlling, etc., as the day approached. I said bye! He became a stalker, even hired a private investigator. I decided to get off island for a couple of weeks since I had already planned for the cancelled wedding/vacation.

Friends offered advice, and one suggested going to Bali and showed me a guide book. It fell open to a photo of Ganesha carved in stone. I said ok, I'll make my mission finding Ganesha. I week later I was walking a few miles on dirt roads and through rice paddies. I found the narrow, winding path to Ganesha. A boy had taken his grandmother there to leave an offering, and I waited a respectful distance until they left. I had some coins in my pocket which I gave to Ganesha. To my surprise, I asked to have child. Then I thought "now what?"

Walked back to Ubud, tired, dirty, sweaty, and stopped in an empty cafe for a bite to eat and Sumatran coffee. Then a guy walked in and asked if I minded him sharing the table as he sat down. He told me that he has walked past the cafe when suddenly he had to turn around and go inside. The rest is family history. Fast forward about 12 months and our baby was born.

A Hindu who knew the story gifted our son with a beautiful large brass statute of Ganesha for his 5th birthday and called him Ganesha's boy.
Best. Story. Evah!
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Re: Religion, Spirituality, Philosophy

#16

Post by Lani »

It gets even more. I returned to Ubed with my boy and chatted with Obama's mom.
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Re: Religion, Spirituality, Philosophy

#17

Post by AndyinPA »

:faint:
"Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought. To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears… To be led by a liar is to ask to be told lies." -Octavia E. Butler
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Re: Religion, Spirituality, Philosophy

#18

Post by Mrich »

This was in the "Dear Abby" column on May 24-
DEAR READERS: A group of distinguished psychiatrists, the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP), needs help from some of you. They are seeking to understand how faith identity -- being spiritual, religious, spiritual but not religious, or neither religious nor spiritual -- positively or negatively impacts mental health and well-being. Below is the URL to an online survey, which will take approximately 10 to 15 minutes to complete. The questions address the following topics:

-- What religious and/or spiritual practices do you participate in, if any?

-- Do you identify as religious, spiritual, both or neither?

-- What are your current levels of anxiety, and what is your current mood?

Readers, your input is important. Understanding your beliefs, including how they affect your mental health, could benefit individuals who need help and haven't gotten it. To participate in this anonymous survey, you must be 18 years of age or older. The URL below will direct you to the online survey. For those who have no internet access but would like to participate, please send a letter to:

GAP Religion/Spirituality Survey

P.O. Box 570218

Dallas, TX 75357-0218

URL: https://yalesurvey.ca1.qualtrics.com/jf ... AMkF2BDLlb

Thank you in advance for helping them out. They are a wonderful, caring group of doctors. -- Love, ABBY
I took the survey - it took about 5 minutes.
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Re: Religion, Spirituality, Philosophy

#19

Post by roadscholar »

Kate520 wrote: Mon May 31, 2021 1:11 am I live in the community of Ganesha Hills. 😊 It was started in the late 19teens by artists and teachers and scientists in an area where multiple Indian tribes gathered every year for several weeks.

Ganesha is my favorite. I had to live here.

I watched those Joseph Campbell interviews with Bill Moyers and thought I had died and gone to heaven. They’ve recently taken all his lectures off of iTunes. I had yet to find them again. Audible, you say? Hurrah!
These are the titles I currently have in my Audible library (not all of them finished):

The Power of Myth: Programs 1-6

The Wisdom of Joseph Campbell

Primitive Mythology: The Masks of God Series

A Joseph Campbell Companion: Reflections on the Art of Living

The Flight of the Wild Gander: Explorations in the Mythological Dimension*

The Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work

Thou Art That: Transforming Religious Metaphor


*This one is concise, poetic, erudite and magnificent. Tat tvam asi!
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Re: Religion, Spirituality, Philosophy

#20

Post by Phoenix520 »

I don’t recognize “The Flight…” by title :dance: Yay! New to me (maybe). Thanks RS. :bighug:
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Re: Religion, Spirituality, Philosophy

#21

Post by Patagoniagirl »

Michio Kaku on his lifelong search for ‘The God Equation’.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/michi ... d-equation

I just bought this book for my Dad for Fathers Day. He is a life-long Presbyterian with a great interest in science and specifically string theory.

I had no knowledge of string theory but after Mister died, I was struck at the absence of another breath that he "was everywhere". I dabbled in some Googling and stumbled upon some "string theory for dummies " articles. When I moved back to my early childhood stomping grounds to be close to my Dad, I was amazed to find he was reading a book on the subject.

I guess we all find out someday.
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Re: Religion, Spirituality, Philosophy

#22

Post by Slim Cognito »

Mrich wrote: Mon May 31, 2021 11:26 am This was in the "Dear Abby" column on May 24-
DEAR READERS: A group of distinguished psychiatrists, the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP), needs help from some of you. They are seeking to understand how faith identity -- being spiritual, religious, spiritual but not religious, or neither religious nor spiritual -- positively or negatively impacts mental health and well-being. Below is the URL to an online survey, which will take approximately 10 to 15 minutes to complete. The questions address the following topics:

-- What religious and/or spiritual practices do you participate in, if any?

-- Do you identify as religious, spiritual, both or neither?

-- What are your current levels of anxiety, and what is your current mood?

Readers, your input is important. Understanding your beliefs, including how they affect your mental health, could benefit individuals who need help and haven't gotten it. To participate in this anonymous survey, you must be 18 years of age or older. The URL below will direct you to the online survey. For those who have no internet access but would like to participate, please send a letter to:

GAP Religion/Spirituality Survey

P.O. Box 570218

Dallas, TX 75357-0218

URL: https://yalesurvey.ca1.qualtrics.com/jf ... AMkF2BDLlb

Thank you in advance for helping them out. They are a wonderful, caring group of doctors. -- Love, ABBY
I took the survey - it took about 5 minutes.
Just took it. Interesting. Kinda hope they contact me.
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Re: Religion, Spirituality, Philosophy

#23

Post by roadscholar »

Y yo tambien.
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Re: Religion, Spirituality, Philosophy

#24

Post by Tiredretiredlawyer »

Lani wrote: Mon May 31, 2021 10:36 am It gets even more. I returned to Ubed with my boy and chatted with Obama's mom.
Best stories evah x a billion!!!!!!!!!!!!! Read them to Hubby. :lovestruck:
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Re: Religion, Spirituality, Philosophy

#25

Post by AndyinPA »

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2 ... re-church/
The church is called Mercy Culture, and it is part of a growing Christian movement that is nondenominational, openly political and has become an engine of former president Donald Trump’s Republican Party. It includes some of the largest congregations in the nation, housed in the husks of old Baptist churches, former big-box stores and sprawling multimillion-dollar buildings with private security to direct traffic on Sundays. Its most successful leaders are considered apostles and prophets, including some with followings in the hundreds of thousands, publishing empires, TV shows, vast prayer networks, podcasts, spiritual academies, and branding in the form of T-shirts, bumper stickers and even flags. It is a world in which demons are real, miracles are real, and the ultimate mission is not just transforming individual lives but also turning civilization itself into their version of God’s Kingdom: one with two genders, no abortion, a free-market economy, Bible-based education, church-based social programs and laws such as the ones curtailing LGBTQ rights now moving through statehouses around the country.

This is the world of Trump’s spiritual adviser Paula White and many more lesser-known but influential religious leaders who prophesied that Trump would win the election and helped organize nationwide prayer rallies in the days before the Jan. 6 insurrection, speaking of an imminent “heavenly strike” and “a Christian populist uprising,” leading many who stormed the Capitol to believe they were taking back the country for God.

Even as mainline Protestant and evangelical denominations continue an overall decline in numbers in a changing America, nondenominational congregations have surged from being virtually nonexistent in the 1980s to accounting for roughly 1 in 10 Americans in 2020, according to long-term academic surveys of religious affiliation. Church leaders tend to attribute the growth to the power of an uncompromised Christianity. Experts seeking a more historical understanding point to a relatively recent development called the New Apostolic Reformation, or NAR.
"Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought. To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears… To be led by a liar is to ask to be told lies." -Octavia E. Butler
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