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Astonishingly enough, this born-again Christian finds herself agreeing with Art Deco, a self-professed atheist, that Wilson has had a terrible effect on how people view Christianity. I suspect, though, that we differ on how important that is; while Wayne notes the information below with tongue firmly planted in cheek, I'm pretty much heartbroken. I can't speak for him, of course, but as for me -- well, I see how Wilson proclaims, in word and deed, a Gospel that bears little resemblance to Christ's message, and I think it's a lamentable truth that too many people on the Palouse shrink back not just from Wilson, but from the Christ he represents.<br><br>It won't show up in statistical tables, but if even one person turns his or her back on Jesus Christ and his message because of the bad behavior of Doug Wilson, that's a tragedy, one that merits notice but evidently isn't enough to shake the complacency and willful ignorance of Moscow's evangelicals.<br><br><font style="" color="#8064a2"><font style="font-size: 12pt;" size="3"><font style="" face="Verdana">Keely<br>www.keely-prevailingwinds.com<br></font></font></font><br><br><br><br><hr id="stopSpelling">From: deco@moscow.com<br>To: vision2020@moscow.com<br>Date: Tue, 22 Sep 2009 08:56:02 -0700<br>Subject: [Vision2020] USAToday: People with 'no religion' gaining on major denominations<br><br>
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<div><font size="2">Thank you Cultmaster Douglas Wilson for contributing
motivation for the trend below.</font></div>
<div><font size="2"></font> </div>
<div><font size="2"></font> </div>
<div><font size="2"><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-09-22-no-religion_N.htm">http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-09-22-no-religion_N.htm</a></font></div>
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<td><span class="ecxinside-head"><strong><font size="6">People with 'no religion'
gaining on major denominations</font></strong>
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<div id="ecxbyLineTag" class="ecxbyline">By Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY</div>
<div class="ecxbyline"> </div>
<div class="ecxinside-copy">Americans who don't identify with any religion are now
15% of the USA, but trends in a new study shows they could one day surpass the
nation's largest denominations — including Catholics, now 24% of the
nation.</div>
<p class="ecxinside-copy"><i>American Nones: Profile of the No Religion
Population</i>, to be released today by Trinity College, finds this faith-free
group already includes nearly 19% of U.S. men and 12% of women. Of these, 35%
say they were Catholic at age 12.</p>
<p class="ecxinside-copy"></p>
<div class="ecxinside-copy"><b>FAITH & REASON: </b><a href="http://content.usatoday.com/communities/religion/post/2009/03/63756713/1">What's your religious path: Any, many, one or none?</a></div>
<p class="ecxinside-copy">"Will a day come when the Nones are on top? We can't
predict for sure," says lead researcher Barry Kosmin.</p>
<p class="ecxinside-copy">But if Nones, now 22% of all adults ages 18 to 29, continue
to gain among young adults, to draw more people "switching out" from
denominations and to replace more religious older people, researchers forecast
one in five Americans will be Nones in 20 years.</p>
<div id="ecxtagCrumbs"></div>
<p class="ecxinside-copy">"Trends clearly favor this," Kosmin says. But he also
notes, "There could be a Great Awakening (massive Protestant revival) or
immigration may bring in more Catholic believers."</p>
<p class="ecxinside-copy">Kosmin and Ariela Keysar of Trinity College, Hartford,
Conn., directed three editions of the <a href="http://www.americanreligionsurvey-aris.org/">American Religious
Identification Survey</a> over 18 years. The <a href="http://www.americanreligionsurvey-aris.org/reports/ARIS_Report_2008.pdf">2008
ARIS (pdf)</a>, based on a sampling of 54,000 U.S. adults, also burrowed in for
a closer look at 1,106 Nones, who answered extra questions about their beliefs
and behaviors and views on God.</p>
<p class="ecxinside-copy"></p>
<div class="ecxinside-copy"><b>ARIS: </b><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-03-09-american-religion-ARIS_N.htm">Most religious groups have lost ground in USA</a></div>
<div class="ecxinside-copy"><b>'NONES': </b><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-03-09-aris-survey-nones_N.htm">Now 15% of population</a></div>
<p class="ecxinside-copy">The report finds:</p>
<p class="ecxinside-copy">•Not all Nones are alike. Half (51%) still believe in God
or a higher power.</p>
<p class="ecxinside-copy">•Nones also are the only major U. S. faith group that's
majority male. Even when girls grow up with unbelieving parents, they're more
likely to find a faith as adults than their brothers.</p>
<p class="ecxinside-copy">"Women are also less skeptical than men and less drawn to
irreligious and anti-religious views. They are more likely to reject a secular
upbringing," Kosmin says.</p>
<p class="ecxinside-copy">"There is a lot of 'churning' going on but Nones gain much
more from switching (people leaving religion) than from natural growth (children
emulating unbelieving parents)," he says.</p>
<p class="ecxinside-copy">•The percentage of atheist Nones — who say there's no such
thing as God — hasn't budged in years.</p>
<p class="ecxinside-copy">"It's not as though dozens of people at the Methodist
Church read (atheist Richard) Dawkins and suddenly decided God doesn't exist,"
says Kosmin.</p>
<p class="ecxinside-copy">"There are so many misconceptions about who the Nones are.
They're not New Age searchers or spiritual or even hardened atheists," says
Kosmin.</p>
<p class="ecxinside-copy">"They're a stew of agnostics, deists and rationalists. They
sound more like <a title="More news, photos about Thomas Jefferson" href="http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/People/Historical+Figures/Thomas+Jefferson">Thomas Jefferson</a> and <a title="More news, photos about Tom Paine" href="http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Thomas+Paine">Tom
Paine</a>. Their very interesting enlightenment approach is like the Founding
Fathers' kind: Skeptical about organized religion and clerics while still
holding to an idea of God."</p>
<p class="ecxinside-copy">One quirky fact: 33% of Nones claim Irish ancestry,
although the U.S. Census says only 10% of the USA does.</p>
<p class="ecxinside-copy">"We have no idea why," he says. "Maybe you could ask (Fox
newscaster) <a title="More news, photos about Bill O'Reilly" href="http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/People/Journalists,+Media,+Academia/Bill+O%27Reilly">Bill O'Reilly</a>.</p>
<p class="ecxinside-copy">In some way, researchers found Nones are very much like the
overall, largely religious, U.S. population. There's no statistical difference
on education, or income or marital status. They are just as likely to be
divorced as anybody else.</p>
<p class="ecxinside-copy">"Nones are not a fringe group anymore and are now part of
Middle America. They're present in every socio-demographic group, Keysar
concludes in their report.</p></div> <br /><hr />Microsoft brings you a new way to search the web. <a href='http://www.bing.com?form=MFEHPG&publ=WLHMTAG&crea=TEXT_MFEHPG_Core_tagline_try bing_1x1' target='_new'>Try Bing™ now</a></body>
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