When contemplating the history of religion in America from a certain perspective (say, the perspective of Bill Maher, Sam Harris or Christopher Hitchens) it would be easy to crack up over its absurdities, sneer at its defiance of logic and science, or fume over its hypocrisies and authoritarian dangers. All true enough, sadly. But there is another strain of American spirituality, one that is more attuned to the enlightened thinking of the Founders and the freedom we celebrate on Independence Day.
Fundamentalists, Christian supremacists and biblical literalists have made so much noise in the past few decades that they would appear to be in the ascendancy. In truth, quieter, subtler and more pervasive forces have given the nation a religious makeover. If you look at surveys from reputable pollsters like Gallup and Pew, you can see it gathering strength over time, especially since the baby boomer generation came of age and started searching for meaning outside the borders of both conventional religion and conventional secularism. Those studies point to these trends:
A skeptic might ask how these assertions square with surveys showing that more than 90 percent of Americans believe in God. Those polls seldom ask the obvious follow-up question: What do you mean by God? In fact, most Americans see God -- if they use the G word at all, and fewer and fewer do -- as a nonpersonal energy or universal intelligence, more of an It than a He, and more like the Force of Star Wars than the human-like deity of medieval paintings and fundamentalist sermons.
If this seems more like Eastern spirituality than conventional Western religion, it is no coincidence. The core teachings of Hinduism and Buddhism have helped shape our spiritual landscape ever since the first English texts on Asian religion found their way to folks like John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. That our founding thinkers -- and countless open-minded citizens after them -- saw something of value in those teachings says as much about the true spirit of America as it does about the East. In researching my own book on the subject, I was struck by the remarkable compatibility of ancient yogic insights and the American values of individual autonomy, freedom of inquiry and pragmatism. That's why Swami Vivekananda, the first Indian guru to impact the West, wrote a poem called "To the Fourth of July." (That he died on that date -- as did Swami Prabhavananda, who mentored Aldous Huxley, Christopher Isherwood and other influence makers -- is fitting to mention on this occasion.)
Americans are romantics and idealists who abhor stagnation and never settle very long for complacent certainties. At the same time, we are practical, evidence-based problem-solvers. Those qualities apply to matters of the spirit as well as to worldly affairs. It may not always seem that way amid the desperate raging of fanatics, science deniers and theocratic thumpers of Bibles and Qurans, but those values eventually prevail.
No fact summarizes my argument more succinctly than this: The fastest growing category of American religion, particularly among young adults, is "spiritual but not religious." That the land of the free gave birth to such a designation makes perfect sense, and those who identify with it should not be dismissed as frivolous or noncommittal, as certain critics have contended. They are, for the most part, serious questers who are not inclined to take on faith either religious dogma or facile secularism. They are mystics and idealists who also happen to be rational, pragmatic and independent. What could be more American?
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Statistics on Religion in America Report -- Pew Forum on Religion ...
Religion in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
David Briggs: Is Religion In America in Decline?
Are there dangers in being 'spiritual but not religious'? - CNN
Spiritual, But Not Religious- Beliefnet.com
Survey: 72% of Millennials 'more spiritual than religious ...
40+ % of Americans believe the earth to be less than 10,000 years old, that there were actually two people named Adam and Eve who parented us all, that all life on earth was saved, 2x2, on a big boat from a worldwide flood. There's good evidence that these things aren't true...but for many,,,evidence is not required.
Something in the human psyche is prone to mysticism, superstition, magic, and the supernatural. This probably has to do with the fact that the human brain is pretty much the same today as it was 100,000 years ago.
Reason is a much better guide for life in the 21st century than is mythology and superstition. The lack of any evidence in support of anything supernatural...suggests...there's nothing supernatural in existence. But...humans are a gullible bunch of beings...(sigh)
We have not seen such assaults on teaching science as we have in the past few years. Christian activists all over the country are trying to get Creationism taught as a science in our public schools. Not as a philosophy, as a science.
The way to fix education is to cut its funding. Makes sense to me.
Other than recently, I don't remember the likes of Terry Jones who burned the Qur'an, or the Phelps Family who protest against gays at the funerals of dead soldiers. I would say those are some pretty extreme examples of disrespect for other's traditions and beliefs.
The bad guys do feel threatened.
We heard more about violent racism during the civil rights struggle than we did during, say, the Reagan years, but it was during the 60s that the most progress was made.
"Independence: To a greater extent than ever, people make their own choices and think of spirituality in individual terms rather than as a matter of membership in a particular organization or tradition."
Christian charlatans with their followers abound at a greater extent than ever. I now have 27 televangelical TV stations. As disgraced as Jim Bakker was, he now has a new thriving show with a new Tammy Faye hocking everything from timeshares in Branson, MO to Armageddon survival kits to zircon jewelry - all for a "love gift" of course.
We have cults where people are willing to kill themselves, rather than renounce the tenets of their leaders. No matter how ridiculous those tenets are. It is called cognitive dissonance.
We have people who are willing to follow a religion started by a science fiction writer. And guess who is at the heart of that religion? Aliens of course.
More to come.
To use an imperfect analogy, there is plenty of music out there to choose from. It would be silly to dwell on the Miley Cyruses or Justin Biebers.
For decades these groups have worked towards domination through politics and social conventions, and while their churches grow in some areas of the country, as this article proves, their numbers are dwindling and their ideas are increasingly seen as restrictive and ignorant. That's a good thing.
They are also free to jump off a cliff. People do things for a reason.
"much like the obnoxious atheist left"
Are they obnoxious because you disagree with them? The minority have to speak up or their rights get stomped on. Whats your excuse?
"Don't you just love the US? I do, even with you "progressives" living in it."
Yes I do love the United States. Progressives are just as American as you are, so get off your high horse you obnoxious xtian.
I am Jewish and thus familiar with my own tradition (in addition to an MDiv) and find that "Independence, Fluidity, Intellectual freedom, and Oneness" are readily available to me. My highly diverse group of progressive friends, deeply committed to their own traditions feel the same way.
Truth is Reality Itself......That Which is Always Already The Case.
Reality is Love Bliss......Self Existing, Self Radiant,...... Always, Already.
Adi Da Samraj
http://www.enlightened-spirituality.org/Da_and_his_cult.html
However, those two qualifiers are in doubt today. The matter of "breaks my leg" becomes far more threatening in today's reality because of the extremists in numerous religions who promote violent acts in the concept of "The end justifies the means."
More prevalent today is the issue of "picks my pocket." Jefferson was not exposed to the tax code we have now, and the tax-free money religions gain. It doesn't bother me about places of worship not being taxed, and Americans deducting that from their taxes. But the pursuit of all commercial and ideological activities under a religion's umbrella which are tax-free do bother me.
In the current tax structure, freedom of religion will be more accurately demonstrated in the U.S. when I can donate money to needy people on the street and take that amount off of my taxes.
Would you include the Catholic Worker movement?
I wouldn't single out any movement or religion for yay or nay. But, as all established religions are given a non-profit, tax-free status, I believe it's time we review all religious distribution of funds since we, the U.S. taxpayers, are making up in taxes what the religions are not required to pay.
Of course, I believe all non-profits should be steadily reviewed to assure that they deserve that tax status.
kind regards
Also, Just cause you read trivial gossip about people doesn't mean they or their spirituality *are* that gossip.
mysticism, conspiracy theories, earthquake making machines, karma, bigfoot
The human mind needs to adhere to ideologies that cannot be proved. If it's not God, it'll be something else.
America has avoided the sectarian horrors *precisely because* we are a secularly-governed nation with separation of church and state with freedom of and from religion. Even as it is, most of the *strife* we've had has been in large measure *about* competing authoritarian religions sanctifying slavery and discrimination and oppression and all those things that we have secular government to protect us *all* from.
Try and read the content, here.