Guest Post from Mom: Response to My Prior Post "Bible Stuff"

Good information. About 19% of Americans now are self- declared "nones". This term is being used to describe both non believers in god and believers who do not associate with any religion or describe themselves as religious. Many of these "nones" are on the evolutionary path toward being non believers, secularists, humanists etc. and are moving away from a belief in a higher power.

Why? Not sure but many find that there is a disconnect between the messages of love that are supposed to be the basis of Jesus words in the new testament, and the judgementalism, bigotry, and outright hate expressed by many who say they are religious. [Interjection:  Philosopher Anne Rice refers to this as Conflicted Religious Identity Syndrome (CRIS) and is reflected by people who are increasingly "quitting Christianity" in favor of following the loving, all-inclusive, serving and peaceful teachings of Jesus and other great philosophers. Sadly today, Christianity and Jesus are often not synonymous.] It has been shown that religious people respond to crisis such as floods, hurricanes etc. in a humanitarian way, reaching out to others to help, but often return to a false piety in their daily living.

Organizations such as the Rationalist Society, Freedom From Religion, etc. are there for people to think through their beliefs from a different perspective. These and many others, support those who were reluctant to "come out" as it were, as atheists and non believers for fear of rejection by society. Now people are talking, sharing, and reasoning together.

I do believe for some, religion serves a real purpose of support and help in need and to feel someone cares about them in their daily lives. They form communities of like believers who share ritual and connections. Often they continue to believe out of fear of not believing. However, for some reason or other, the "nones" are now the third largest "religion" in the world behind Catholics and Muslims.

Can it be that organized religion has failed to resonate with so many because they recognize that religion is not required for good and moral living, that it has failed to carry out the pious messages from the pulpit and been used to promote the antithesis of love? Or has religion simply become irrelevant and meaningless as anything but adherence to a set of rules set up by a denomination to keep a flock together?

Under all the preaching, pontificating, evangelizing, analyzing, praying and struggling, is the simple need for community. How that comes about and survives will be more important to the future that ancient texts and stained glass windows. Since nearly one third of all young people describe themselves today as "nones" it seems the world is moving in a direction away from church and will need guidance and support from groups other than churches to provide community, love, and help.

This is a challenge for us all.


Mom   Disclaimer: The foregoing message, while interesting, is the opinion of the author (Mom) and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of this station, its parent companies, or of any of its affiliates, including its siblings, children and wife. Love to all.