Religion Update

When it comes to spirituality, no one has a monopoly on Truth.

   Religion and politics don't mix. Whenever it has been tried, the result has been bigotry, discrimination and violence.
   One result of this politicization of religion, as some have put it, is that many Americans are dropping out of formal church affiliation in favor of what pollsters call "none of the above."
   Two months ago, we posted some thoughts on religion, politics and freedom from religion, noting that there are many other faiths active in America besides Christianity, and rebutting the notion that America is a Christian nation.
   The posting challenged the claim that America is a Christian nation, pointing out that there are an estimated 9 million Jews, 2.7 million Muslims, 1.4 million Buddhists, 586,000 Hindus, 582,000 Native Americans, 186,000 Sikhs, 340,000 Wiccans, 342,000 Pagans, 35 million Atheists and Agnostics, 31 million who say they are Non-Religious, and 12 million who refused to answer. Not to mention the millions of others who are Zoroastrian, Confucian, Shinto, Tao, Baha'i, or the odd Druid here and there. And those numbers are probably ten years old or more.
   Comes now a report from the Pew Research Center citing a sharp decline in the percent of Americans identifying themselves as Christian, while the unaffiliated and those adhering to other faiths continue to grow.
   In seven years, from 2007 to 2014, the Pew report said, "the Christian share of the population fell from 78.4 percent to 70.6 percent, driven mainly by declines among mainline Protestants and Catholics."
   Moreover, "the unaffiliated experienced the most growth, and the share of Americans who belong to non-Christian faiths also increased," Pew reported.
   For details, go to http://pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study.
   In short, the Christian share of the population is fading, while the number of organized religion dropouts is rising.
   Why? Some blame the politicization of religion, so some folks are disillusioned with the idea of using religion as a political weapon. Moreover, the Pew researchers point out that the numbers cited by churches themselves may be unreliable, because they don't delete dropouts from the list. Once a member, always a member, seems to be the policy. And the U.S. Census doesn't ask about religious affiliation.
   Want some numbers? Those calling themselves "unaffiliated" rose by 6.7 percentage points, Catholic identifiers declined by 3.1 percentage points, mainline Protestants dropped 3.4 points, and Evangelicals faded nearly a full point (0.9).
   Meanwhile, those of non-Christian faiths showed an increase from 4.7 percent to 5.9 percent. And the percentage of Americans describing themselves as atheist, agnostic or "nothing in particular," according to the Pew survey, "jumped more than six points, from 16.1 percent to 22.9 percent."
   So what does it all mean? It means it's time to rethink notions about religion-based politics. When it comes to spirituality, no one has a monopoly on Truth.