Monday, March 9, 2009
America is Less Religious- Say it Ain't So!
Yes, I'm afraid that it's true: More Americans say they have no religion. Apparently, we are re-joining the rest of the world, except for the expanding Islamic nations. The AP reports:
A wide-ranging study on American religious life found that the Roman Catholic population has been shifting out of the Northeast to the Southwest, the percentage of Christians in the nation has declined and more people say they have no religion at all.
Fifteen percent of respondents said they had no religion, an increase from 14.2 percent in 2001 and 8.2 percent in 1990, according to the American Religious Identification Survey.
My, oh my! What has become of us? Apparently our endemic motto, 'God Bless America' hasn't been too successful. Where is Kate Smith when you need her? No doubt, we're all going to Hell in a hand basket. Cue the choir, pass out the hymnals.
Northern New England surpassed the Pacific Northwest as the least religious region, with Vermont reporting the highest share of those claiming no religion, at 34 percent. Still, the study found that the numbers of Americans with no religion rose in every state.
More a-theists, fewer Republicans. That explains why there is a dearth of GOPers in New England, why it has become so blue on the political map. Heathens!
Here's a sobering statistic: About 12 percent of Americans believe in a higher power but not the personal God at the core of monotheistic faiths. Twelve percent? Holy cow! Holy smoke, too!
So the Bible-thumpers are pretty much on their own here in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Judas priest, who could have imagined that?
Well, actually it was predictable, as far as our 'founding fathers' noted back when they planned this non-religious nation in the first place. Apparently we were slooooooooow learners, eh?