Christian Subversion And Missionary Activities - 6

[acharya]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8591331.stm



Christians discriminated against, senior bishops warn





Lord Carey called on the government to end its "discrimination"

Senior Church of England Bishops have accused the government of discriminating against Christians while treating other faiths more leniently.

In a letter to the Sunday Telegraph, they claim traditional Christian beliefs are being sidelined.

They highlight the case of an NHS nurse who was moved from front-line duties after refusing to remove her cross.

The government said it was committed to valuing the contribution Christians made within British society.

'Deeply concerned'

Signatories of the letter include the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, and the Bishops of Winchester and Blackburn.

[acharya]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...00927.html



US geneticist wins $1.5 million religion prize





By BRETT ZONGKER

The Associated Press

Thursday, March 25, 2010; 11:25 AM

WASHINGTON -- A one-time priest who later became an evolutionary geneticist and molecular biologist and helped scientifically refute creationism with his research was honored Thursday with one of the world's top religion prizes.



Francisco J. Ayala, 76, a U.S. citizen originally from Spain, will receive the 2010 Templeton Prize, valued at $1.53 million, the John Templeton Foundation announced at the National Academy of Sciences.



It is the largest monetary award given each year to an individual and honors someone who made exceptional contributions to affirm spirituality. Officials increase the value each year to exceed the Nobel Prize.



"I see religion and science as two of the pillars on which American society rests," Ayala told The Associated Press, saying the United States is one of the world's most religious countries. "We have these two pillars not talking, not seeing they can reinforce each other."







Ayala is a notable choice because he opposes the entanglement of science and religion. The former Dominican priest is adamant that science and religion do not contradict each other.



"If they are properly understood, they cannot be in contradiction because science and religion concern different matters, and each is essential to human understanding," he said in remarks prepared for the acceptance ceremony.



Ayala is a top professor of biological sciences at the University of California, Irvine. His pioneering genetic research led to revelations that could help develop cures for malaria and other diseases.



In January, he co-authored a paper that established gorillas and chimps may serve as reservoirs for parasites that cause human malaria, showing that even if a vaccine is developed, humans will be vulnerable to re-infection.



Ayala has long worked to foster dialogue between religion and science and said tension between the fields has subsided over time.



In 1981, Ayala was an expert witness in a U.S. federal court challenge that helped overturn an Arkansas law mandating the teaching of creationism alongside evolution. Three years later, the National Academy of Sciences asked Ayala to serve as principal author of "Science, Evolution and Creationism," which categorically refuted creationism and intelligent design.



He has said efforts to block religious intrusion into science equate with "the survival of rationality in this country."



"The Bible is not a textbook about science," he said. "It's not introductory astronomy."

[Husky]

^





Just like islamism has been implementing Sharia in the part of Nigeria under its control, christianism has been forcing the Christian Sharia in Uganda.



www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/the-role-of-us-evangelists-in-ugandas-kill-the-gays-bill-20100111-m2lf.html

via http://christianaggression.org/item_disp...1263492633

The role of US evangelists in [color="#FF0000"]Uganda's 'kill the gays' bill[/color]



Posted January 14, 2010





Jan 2, 2010

The Sydney Morning Herald

Source Link



A law proposing execution for homosexuals exposes a murderous fantasy.



A recent proposal in Uganda to legislate the execution of homosexuals has sparked international outrage. Although the Government has since revised its prescribed sentence from death to life imprisonment, the bill remains striking for its overt hostility towards gays.



The move is more than just a Ugandan oddity - it is the embodiment of a murderous fantasy, cherished by fanatics in the West, to extinguish homosexual life altogether.



It is easy for the West to dismiss the bill as a local phenomenon, emblematic of African opposition to ''civilised progress''. Deeply religious and protective of traditional family structures, Uganda has long been hostile to homosexuality.



But a disturbing link has been revealed between Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill and US evangelism.

[color="#800080"](Has nothing to do with "US" christianism. Murderous intent against homosexuals, "witch-craft", ..., is biblical, it is christoislamic. Again, see Leviticus etc in the babble.)[/color]

According to The New York Times, three US evangelists travelled to Uganda last March and spoke at a conference that conference organiser Stephen Langa said was about ''the gay agenda - that whole hidden and dark agenda''.



The Americans were invited to speak about ways of ''curing'' gay people. It appears that their denunciations of homosexuality as a threat to family values added fuel to the fire. They were heard by thousands, including the future architects of the kill-the-gays bill.



The Americans have since sought to distance themselves from the bill. They insist their message is one of love, not murder. But the desire to eradicate homosexuality from human existence lies at the heart of the anti-gay movement, whether it is practised in Uganda or the West.



Central to the modern anti-gay movement is the proliferation of so-called ''ex-gay therapies''. These encourage individuals to ''convert'' from their homosexual behaviour, implying that being and acting gay somehow involves a choice.



It all sounds harmless enough. Ex-gay therapies have sprung up around the world, including in Australia, and are often connected to religious institutions. The American Psychological Association recently granted that some individuals, torn between their faith and their sexuality, might ultimately choose their faith and so find appropriate support in ex-gay therapy.



The prevailing view among ex-gay therapists is that theirs is a modern technology that offers unhappy homosexuals a happy alternative to their life of misery. The assumption is that homosexuality makes you miserable. Yet surely it is not being homosexual but the prevailing atmosphere of homophobia that makes some people miserable. Abundant proof exists that, in the 21st century, openly gay people can live full and happy lives.



The ''choice'' advocated by ex-gay therapists is ultimately a restatement of traditional anti-gay prejudice. Evangelicals and ex-gay therapists may use the language of pluralism, of ''choice'', to advance their arguments, but they do so only to oppose pluralism in practice.



''Curing'' gay people and incarcerating or executing them both treat homosexuality as a crime requiring surveillance. Each regards homosexuality as a moral problem in need of a medical or social cure. Yet the anti-gay advocates are the ones who appear to be in torment - they suffer from denial.



Take the example of Richard Cohen, a US ex-gay therapist who, now married with children, claims to have converted from homosexuality. The author of several books, including Coming Out Straight: Understanding and Healing Homosexuality, Cohen spoke at an anti-gay conference in Uganda last April.



Cohen claims his attitude towards gays is loving. On US television last month, he sought to disavow any relationship between his appearance in Uganda and the tabling of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill one month later. ''Since the 1950s, the Ugandan government has punished people for engaging in homosexual behaviour, so this is not new,'' Cohen declared.



What Cohen, who was struck off the American Counselling Register in 2003 for ethical reasons, did not explain was why he attended an anti-gay conference in a country that punishes gay people. As he is fond of saying, everybody has a choice.



It used to be easy to identify homophobia. But now even homophobes fail to recognise their prejudice. Bigotry is reassuringly cosseted by an evangelising rhetoric of love, and reinforced by a medicalising language that veils the savagery of its aims.



Ugandans rightly recognise Western homophobes as allies. Events in Uganda expose the fraud of ex-gay therapy. Anti-gay advocates may not all espouse murder, but the ramifications of their words are lethal.



Our outrage at Uganda should extend to the entire anti-gay movement.



Adrian Phoon is a Sydney writer.

This is christianism. Enough with the apologetics that's trying to somehow make this into a feature of uniquely American evangelical christianism. The babble - that terrorist manual - is what threatens gay people with execution. And hence it is the faithful christians - those who listen to the commandments of the deranged non-existent terrorist gawd of the babbling bible - who carry out its threats and orders.

American/evangelical christianism is simply more serious about obeying the demonic non-existent 'gawd' character of the bible.



It's hypocritical to pretend that islamic sharia - adherence to terrorist koranic laws - is somehow different from christianism where the same is expected: strict adherence to the biblical gawd's commandments. Uganda is very christian now. As is known, their christian political-militant outfit Lord's Resistance Army, LRA, (comparable to the NLFT, NSCN/Nagaland-for-Christ christoterrorists) has been trying to enforce christianism - full christianism, aka christian sharia - the same way the Taliban of Nigeria or Afghanistan etc have been trying to enforce islamic sharia. There is no difference.

http://freetruth.50webs.org/D4b.htm#HolyWarsInAfrica

The LRA is fighting for a Christian theocracy. Since March 2002 an agreement between Uganda and Sudan, which allows Uganda to pursue the LRA on Sudanes territory, is in force. Sudan was actively supporting the LRA before. The agreement is prolonged until the end of the year. All in all, 15,000 Ugandan troops are stationed in Sudan. Besides the military pressure, Uganda offers the LRA an amnesty, which is accepted mainly by former child soldiers. Until July, 246 out of the last 1,000 out of originally 3,000 LRA fighters accept the amnesty. From June 2002 to June 2003 the LRA abducts about 8,400 children, which adds up to some 20,000 since the start of the conflict. Due to the conflict 850,000 people have become refugees.

-- Heidelberg Institute on International Conflict Research (Germany), report

Christianism is NOT more enlightened, less "medieval" than islam or whatever excuse the ignorant pseculars aka christoconditioned today peddle. Because if christianism gets the chance to obtain total control, it will pursue it and take it. And it will then get christianism fully implemented down to the last letter. E.g.

- An American beauty pageant contestant - news posted in this thread not too long back - also quoted the bible's threats against gay people to denounce their rights. When [color="#0000FF"]True Christians (the more a christian adheres to the bible, the truer a christian they are, *because* the babble=the "word of gawd")[/color] get full power, the modern Uganda is what results.

- Catholicism too would usurp full power - Vatican has never given up its absolute power claims - except that it is prevented from doing so now due to semi-secularised rule.



In the past, when the True Church had absolute power, there were the inquisitions to deal with disobedience. Fortunately, at present the catholic church has been curtailed so it has to resort to its pressure power and the threat of excommunication and "hell" to 'persuade' its manipulable and intimidated sheep to comply.

E.g. of these plan/choice B methods at work in Philippines:



http://christianaggression.org/item_disp...1268454317

Philippine health chief, church fight over condoms



Posted March 12, 2010



TERESA CEROJANO

March 8, 2010

Associated Press

Source Link http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/arti...gD9EAAOP80



MANILA, Philippines — On Valentine's Day, Philippine government health workers hit the streets of Manila to hand out roses and condoms to passers-by.



The message was clear in a country with a relatively small but rapidly growing HIV-positive population: Avoid unprotected sex.



[color="#0000FF"]It didn't get far.[/color] Within days, leaders of the powerful Roman Catholic Church began urging the faithful to reject condoms, reigniting a long-running battle over contraception in the overwhelmingly Catholic nation.



Bishops issued angry statements slamming the Valentine's Day distribution as immoral and [color="#FF0000"]called for the resignation of Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral, who ordered the campaign.[/color] [color="#0000FF"]One archbishop said that Cabral already "has one foot in hell."[/color]



The bishops called for a ban on condom advertisements last week.



"The condom business is a multimillion dollar industry that heavily targets the adolescent market at the expense of morality and family life," said Bishop Nereo Odchimar, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines. He called fidelity and premarital chastity "the only effective way to curb the spread of AIDS."



On Monday, about 100 people protested against the church's position, carrying two baskets of inflated condoms and paper roses as they picketed outside the Bishops' Conference building in downtown Manila. They held a placard reading, "Bless our reproductive right."

[color="#800080"](Comment on this is at end.)[/color]



The Catholic church is a powerful voice in a nation beset with poverty and political instability. Politicians court bishops' blessings and usually tiptoe around issues such as promoting contraception.



The bishops mobilized protests that toppled late dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 and President Joseph Estrada in 2001 on corruption allegations.



More recently, the church has spearheaded opposition to a reproductive health bill that calls for contraceptives to be provided in government hospitals and sex education to be taught in public schools. The bill is languishing in the House of Representatives.



Cabral, the health secretary, said she doesn't take the church's word lightly. "They are very powerful and they can sometimes be vicious," she said.



But the Harvard-trained cardiologist, who was reshuffled to the Health Department from the Social Welfare Department in January, shrugged off the flak as something that comes with the territory.



"I feel it is just a job that I have to do because as the secretary of health I know that it is going to be very difficult for our country if we let ... (AIDS) become an epidemic," she told The Associated Press.



The number of diagnosed HIV/AIDS cases rose to four a day in November and December, up from one or two during the first 10 months of 2009, according to the Health Department. In January, 143 new cases were diagnosed, the largest number recorded in a month.



Without intervention, the nearly 4,600 cases recorded in the Philippines as of January could soar to 30,000 in three years, Cabral said.



The figures may be the tip of the iceberg. Cabral said health officials estimate that for every new case recorded, 10 are missed. About 95 percent results from sexual transmission.



The Health Department's program follows the ABC formula: abstinence, be faithful and use a condom.



The church rejects contraception, which it says causes abortion. The bishops claim that condoms contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS, saying they have a high failure rate and create a false sense of security.



According to the World Health Organization, scientific evidence shows that latex condoms provide 80 percent or greater protection against HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.



Under President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the national government does not distribute contraceptives and leaves it to local governments to decide how to deal with HIV/AIDS and reproductive health.



Condoms are sold at grocery and drug stores, but for those who cannot afford them — a third of the country's 90 million people live in poverty — free distribution often depends on where they live.



For now, Cabral has Arroyo's backing, although deputy presidential spokeswoman Charito Planas said the health secretary was reminded to consult the president and the Cabinet on any future condom distributions.



With national elections coming in May, the church is campaigning against politicians who promote birth control. Family planning advocates are calling on voters to ditch candidates opposed to allocating government funds for contraceptives.

About the philippino catholics - aka heretics - who

held a placard reading, "Bless our reproductive right."

Obviously they do not know christianism=the christian bible/gawd. Because they're wrong: the non-existent monstrous gawd of christianism won't bless any such thing. The bible gives them no rights (except full rights to murder heathens/homosexuals/'witches', etc). Instead, what christianism would do is get its very real cannibal sheep to destroy or else render powerless all those who flout christian "morality" laws (including the heretic philippinos).



After all, in the True Church (I mean catholicism this time), only christian paedophile priests have rights - supreme rights: no threat of excommunication, of hell-fire, of being handed over to the law by the church or of being turned in by their christian victims who *do* live in the very real fear of being excommunicated for breaking their silence. The paedophile priests can instead look forward to being moved to the safety of another parish with full identity protection ensured by the religion that protects them:

Can refer once more to the Vatican's Crimen Sollicitationes document specifying all this.

The World Uncovered: Sex crimes and the Vatican - BBC, October 21, 2006



A secret document which sets out a procedure for dealing with child sex abuse scandals within the Catholic Church is examined by Panorama.

.... Crimen Sollicitationis was written in 1962 in Latin and given to Catholic bishops worldwide who are ordered to keep it locked away in the church safe. It instructs them how to deal with priests who solicit sex from the confessional. It also deals with "any obscene external act ... with youths of either sex." It imposes an oath of secrecy on the child victim, the priest dealing with the allegation and any witnesses. Breaking that oath means excommunication from the Catholic Church.

[color="#FF0000"]Reporting for Panorama, Colm O'Gorman finds seven priests with child abuse allegations made against them living in and around the Vatican City.[/color]

[acharya]

Senior bishops call for end to persecution of Christians in Britain

Christians in Britain are being persecuted and "treated with disrespect", senior bishops have said.



By Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs correspondent

Published: 10:00PM GMT 27 Mar 2010



Nurse Shirley Chaplin with the cross she has been told she must remove at work Photo: APEX

Six prominent bishops and Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, describe the "discrimination" against churchgoers as "unacceptable in a civilised society".

In a thinly-veiled attack on Labour, they claim that traditional beliefs on issues such as marriage are no longer being upheld and call on the major parties to address the issue in the run-up to the general election.



In a letter to The Sunday Telegraph, the bishops express their deep disquiet at the double standards of public sector employers, claiming that Christians are punished while followers of other faiths are treated far more sensitively.

Their intervention follows a series of cases in which Christians have been dismissed after seeking to express their faith. They highlight the plight of Shirley Chaplin, a nurse who was banned from working on hospital wards for wearing a cross around her neck. This week she will begin a legal battle against the decision.

Christians are also increasingly concerned that the Government is ignoring their views on issues such as sex education and homosexuality when introducing new legislation.

A group of 640 head teachers, school governors and faith leaders have signed a separate letter to this newspaper warning that compulsory sex education in primary schools will erode moral standards and encourage sexual experimentation.

They call for the dropping of legislation that will see children as young as seven taught about sex and relationships.

In their letter, the bishops urge the Government to stop the persecution of Christians.

"We are deeply concerned at the apparent discrimination shown against Christians and we call on the Government to remedy this serious development.

"In a number of cases, Christian beliefs on marriage, conscience and worship are simply not being upheld.

"There have been numerous dismissals of practising Christians from employment for reasons that are unacceptable in a civilised country."

In addition to Lord Carey, the letter has been signed by the Rt Rev Michael Scott-Joynt, the Bishop of Winchester; the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the former Bishop of Rochester; the Rt Rev Peter Forster, the Bishop of Chester; the Rt Rev Anthony Priddis, the Bishop of Hereford; the Rt Rev Nicholas Reade, the Bishop of Blackburn; and the Rt Rev Jonathan Gledhill, the Bishop of Lichfield.

Mrs Chaplin will take the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Trust to an employment tribunal this week after she was told last year that she must hide or remove a small cross on her necklace if she wanted to continue working on hospital wards.

While the trust refused to grant her an exemption, it makes concessions for other faiths, including allowing Muslim nurses to wear headscarves on duty.

Mrs Chaplin, 54, has spent all of her career at the Exeter hospital and had never been challenged before over the necklace, which she has worn since her confirmation 38 years ago.

The bishops criticised the way in which Mrs Chaplin had been treated and stated that she should not be prevented from expressing her faith by wearing her cross.

"This is yet another case in which the religious rights of the Christian community are being treated with disrespect," they say.

"To be asked by an employer to remove or 'hide' the cross is asking the Christian to hide their faith.”

The bishops said that it was “deeply disturbing” that the NHS trust’s uniform policy permits exemptions for religious clothing, but appears to regard the cross as “just an item of jewellery”.

They also expressed surprise that the court has asked for evidence to be submitted to verify that Christians wear crosses visibly around their neck.

Mrs Chaplin is being represented by leading human right’s barrister Paul Diamond, who also advised Caroline Petrie, the nurse who was suspended for offering to pray for a patient. She was later reinstated.

Andrea Minichiello Williams, founder and director of the Christian Legal Centre, described the treatment of Mrs Chaplin as “scandalous”.

“This is yet another case of double standards for Christians,” she said.

“It would seem the Exeter Hospital would rather use its money to deny Christians their rights than using its scarce financial resources to treat patients.

“It is ridiculous that in our country with such a great Christian heritage the court requires evidence to prove that the cross is a Christian symbol whilst not applying the same standards to other faiths."

Lynn Lane, the human resources director for the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Trust, said: "The trust has fully acknowledged that this has become an important issue for Mrs Chaplin which is why we offered her a number of different options in the hope that a mutually acceptable solution could be agreed.

"For the trust this has always been about compliance with our agreed uniform policy and the safety of staff and patients."

Shami Chakrabarti, the director of Liberty, the human rights group, said: "Whether personal faith motivates the wearing of a cross, turban, head scarf or Star of David, it is fundamentally illiberal to require people to check such an important part of themselves at the workplace door for no justifiable reason."

" Freedom of thought, conscience and religion should protect people of all faiths and none.

"We look forward to the Supreme Court demonstrating this by overturning the Court of Appeal in Nadia Eweida's case against BA."

[Guest]

See how little attention this is getting in desi media.

[url="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_ts1364"]Catholic Church abuse allegations ripple across the globe[/url]

[Guest]

Mantrams

For Lent I suggested readers begin to recite mantrams, thus joining with the NGWS in purification and preparation for the Three Spring Festivals (Full moons, solar festivals of Aries -Resurrection; Taurus - Wesak; and Gemini - the Festival of Humanity. The NGWS recite esoteric mantrams throughout the year. Let us continue with the recitation of the Mantrams through the spring and summer, through autumn, and into winter solstice, In this way we will create a rhythm of unified intention (around the world) within our prayers and meditations. The Soul moves in rhythm, as do the Sun and stars and the Hierarchy.



Affirmation of the Disciple

I am a point of light within a greater Light.

I am a strand of loving energy within the stream of Love divine.

I am a point of sacrificial Fire, focused within the fiery Will of God.

And thus I stand.



I am a way by which men* may achieve.

I am a source of strength, enabling them to stand.

I am a beam of light, shining upon their way.

And thus I stand.



And standing thus, revolve

And tread this way the ways of men,

And know the ways of God.

And thus I stand.

OM



Noontime Recollection

I know oh Lord of Life and Love about the need

Touch my heart anew so I too may love and give.



From the Upanishads

Lead us, O Lord,

From death to Immortality

From darkness to Light

From the unreal to the Real

What is going on here? Mantra for Lent ??? <img src='http://www.india-forum.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ohmy.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':o' />

[Guest]

[quote name='Viren' date='30 March 2010 - 10:03 PM' timestamp='1269966342' post='105535']

See how little attention this is getting in desi media.

[url="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_ts1364"]Catholic Church abuse allegations ripple across the globe[/url]

[/quote]

They are protecting Queen's religion.

[Guest]

Rupert Murdoch - Born again Christian acquires Hinduism Today magazine.. Welcome to more indoctrination



http://www.hinduismtoday.com/modules/xpr...ism-today/

[Bharatvarsh2]

[quote name='Niki' date='01 April 2010 - 11:29 PM' timestamp='1270182060' post='105595']

Rupert Murdoch - Born again Christian acquires Hinduism Today magazine.. Welcome to more indoctrination



http://www.hinduismtoday.com/modules/xpr...ism-today/

[/quote]

This is big news, thanks for posting it.



Watch out for slow deterioration & propaganda.

[dhu]

Can't wait for the "BJP also did it" arguments. Now if anyone points out that the Indian media is advancing a foreign neo-imperialist agenda, the response will be: Well, Hinduism Today is owned by the same "groups", so what's the problem.

[Bharatvarsh2]

Spoiler Alert! Not to worry, the following, along with all our posts on April 1, 2010, is tongue in cheek, an April Fools joke.



http://www.hinduismtoday.com/modules/xpr...ism-today/

They played a good one.

[acharya]

Welcome to the austere – and increasingly embraced – message of Calvinism. Five centuries ago, John Calvin's teachings reconceived Christianity; midwifed Western ideas about capitalism, democracy, and religious liberty; and nursed the Puritan values that later cast the character of America.



Today, his theology is making a surprising comeback, challenging the me-centered prosperity gospel of much of modern evangelicalism with a God-first immersion in Scripture. In an age of materialism and made-to-order religion, Calvinism's unmalleable doctrines and view of God as an all-powerful potentate who decides everything is winning over many Christians – especially the young.



Twenty-something followers in the Presbyterian, Anglican, and independent evangelical churches are rallying around Calvinist, or Reformed, teaching. In the Southern Baptist Convention, America's largest Protestant body, at least 10 percent of its pastors identify as Calvinist, while more than one-third of recent seminary graduates do.



New Calvinism draws legions to the sermons of preachers like John Piper of the Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis. Here at CHBC, the pews and even rooms in the basement are filled each Sunday, mostly with young professionals. Since senior pastor Mark Dever brought Calvinist preaching here 16 years ago, the church has grown sevenfold. Today it is bursting at the stained-glass windows.



Yet the movement's biggest impact may not be in the pews. It's in publishing circles and on Christian blogs, in divinity schools and at conferences like "Together for the Gospel," where the rock stars of Reformed theology explore such topics as "The Sinner Neither Able Nor Willing: The Doctrine of Absolute Inability."



"There is a very clear resurgence of Calvinism," says Steven Lemke, provost and a professor at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.



The renewed interest arrives at a crucial inflection point for American religion. After reviewing a landmark opinion survey last year that showed a precipitous decline in the number of people who identify themselves as Christian, Newsweek declared ominously that we may be witnessing "the end of Christian America."

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/200...l/(page)/2

[size="6"]

Christianity's hold on many Americans is slipping, losing out not to other faiths but to "no faith."[/size]



Many Americans switch religious denominations, study finds

Audio: Reporter Jane Lampman examines recent shifts in American religious beliefs.



Today, 76 percent of the US population call themselves Christians, compared with 86 percent in 1990, according to the third American Religious Self-Identification Survey (ARIS), released Monday by Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. Among Christians, the survey confirms that many are shedding denominational loyalties for a more generic Christian allegiance.



One in every 5 US adults chose not to identify a religious identity: 15 percent chose "no religion" and the other 5 percent declined to name one.



In the traditional Roman Catholic stronghold of New England, for instance, the number of Catholic adherents fell by 1 million between 1990 and 2008, with most of those moving to "no religion." Catholics dropped from 50 percent to 36 percent of the region's population. New York state lost 800,000 Catholics.



"The decline of Catholicism in the Northeast is nothing short of stunning," says Barry Kosmin, a principal investigator for the ARIS surveys of 1990, 2001, and 2008. "There is a correlation between the decline of Catholic identity and the rise of 'the nones,' " as the survey dubs the "no religion" group.



In a major surprise, the Northeast now surpasses the Pacific Northwest as the least religious part of the country. The "nones" represent 34 percent of the population of Vermont, 29 percent in New Hampshire, and 22 percent in Maine and Massachusetts.



Nevertheless, Catholics maintained their one-quarter share of the population, thanks mostly to immigration in the South and West, particularly in California and Texas.



The "no religion" group has gained 20 million adults since 1990 and is the only group to have grown in every state, though at a much slower pace in recent years than in the 1990s. Only 10 percent of that group explicitly identifies as atheist or agnostic.



Denominational drop



During this same 18-year period, the number of Christians rose by 22 million, but their proportion declined. The survey found that most of that growth occurred among those who call themselves either nondenominational Christian, born again or evangelical Christian, or simply "Christian," declining to add a more specific affiliation.



Nondenominational Christians, generally associated with the rise of megachurches, increased from less than 200,000 in 1990 to more than 8 million today. Those opting for generic "Christian" account for 14 percent of the population. "Denominationalism, or Christian brands, have eroded since 1990 – even Protestant doesn't mean anything anymore," says Dr. Kosmin.



The evangelical or born-again label has spread to some Catholics and mainline Christians. "There's a kind of fashion for the term," Kosmin says. No definition was given for the label, but 34 percent of people identify as born again.



Mainline denominations (i.e., Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopal) showed the greatest losses, declining sharply in numbers and dropping from 18.7 percent of the 1990 population to 12.9 percent today.



Skip to next paragraph

Related Stories



Many Americans switch religious denominations, study finds

Audio: Reporter Jane Lampman examines recent shifts in American religious beliefs.



"It looks like the two-party system of American Protestantism – mainline versus evangelical – is collapsing," says Mark Silk, director of Trinity's Public Values Program.



As the US population rose by 30 percent between 1990 and 2008, Pentecostals (3.5 percent) and Mormons (1.4 percent) held on to their shares, while some smaller Protestant denominations grew slightly.



Non-Christian faiths recorded the fastest overall rate of growth (50 percent) after the "nones," but represent only 4 percent of Americans. The number of religious Jews (1.2 percent of the population) actually declined by 15 percent, with most of the loss involving young ethnic Jews choosing "no religion."



Buddhism rose to 0.5 percent of the population. The Muslim community doubled in the 1990s, but growth has slowed since; 1.35 million, or 0.6 percent of the population, now identify as Muslim.



New religious movements and groups such as Wiccans are also growing, and account for 1.2 percent of Americans.



Age and gender differences



For the first time, the ARIS 2008 survey included a question on beliefs about God, and the findings suggest some Americans may not share fully the theology of the groups with which they identify.



A little less than 70 percent believe "definitely in a personal God," with 12 percent believing "in a higher power but no personal God." Some 2.3 percent say there is no God, while 10 percent either don't know or don't think there is a way to know.



When asked about religious rituals, 30 percent of married respondents said they were not married in a religious ceremony, and 27 percent of all respondents said they do not expect to have a religious funeral when they die.



With regard to gender, the "no religion" group is the most heavily male (60 percent) among all the groups, while Pentecostals (58 percent) and Baptists (57 percent) have the highest female participation.



Age composition fluctuates considerably within religious groups. Baptists, Jews, and Pentecostals have the highest proportions of those 50 or over (more than half). Muslims and Eastern religions have the youngest, reflecting immigration. Today, 60 percent of Americans are under 50 years of age.



Americans' penchant for switching religions, revealed in a 2008 Religious Landscape Study by Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, makes it difficult to project trends into the future.



"When people grow up, will they really stay" in their group? Kosmin asks. And now that "a good fraction of the population is being raised outside the religious orbit," what does that mean for religious institutions?



ARIS interviewed 54,461 adults in either English or Spanish for the survey, which has a margin of error of less than 0.5 percent. It can be found at americanreligionsurvey-aris.org.

[acharya]

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/200...l/(page)/2

[shamu]

[quote name='Bharatvarsh2' date='03 April 2010 - 08:50 AM' timestamp='1270264359' post='105610']

They played a good one.

[/quote]

This indeed is a very silly behavior from Hinduism Today editorial board. Now, I actually start having doubts about them. Why should somebody dedicated to Hinduism do April fool pranks?

[Guest]

^^^ Why does Hinduism forbid a sense of humour?

[shamu]

First of all, what is the place for "April fool" in Hinduism? Should we expect Valentines day and Halloween day from these people?



Secondly, this prank touches the very sensitive nerve of many people. Are they testing waters with this news?

[HareKrishna]

[quote name='shamu' date='04 April 2010 - 12:21 PM' timestamp='1270363396' post='105634']

First of all, what is the place for "April fool" in Hinduism? Should we expect Valentines day and Halloween day from these people?



Secondly, this prank touches the very sensitive nerve of many people. Are they testing waters with this news?

[/quote]

dont worry .

judging on their articles ,christian media thinks that every day is 1 April. <img src='http://www.india-forum.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

[Guest]

[url="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/05/priest-accused-of-abuse-i_n_525269.html"]Priest Accused Of Abuse In US STILL WORKING In India[/url]

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Vatican officials warned church officials in India to monitor a Catholic priest charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in Minnesota, but four years later he continues to work in his home diocese.



In a 2006 letter to the bishop of the Diocese of Crookston, Minnesota, Archbishop Angelo Amato wrote that the Rev. Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul would be watched in his home diocese "so that he does not constitute a risk to minors and does not create scandal."



Amato was secretary to Cardinal William Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which handles all abuse cases.



The letter is among evidence gathered by Jeff Anderson, the attorney for Jeyapaul's accuser.



Jeyapaul denies the charges and has no plans to return to the U.S. to face the courts. His current bishop says Jeyapaul has a paperwork job in his office and does not work with children.

[Guest]

[url="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ilg-XpU7rvtWx3qbEwd152oTmBiwD9ET0TC00"]Priest accused of US abuse still working in India[/url]

NEW DELHI (AP) — A Catholic priest charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in Minnesota is working in his home diocese in India and has no plans to return to the U.S. to face the courts, he and his bishop told The Associated Press on Monday.

Church documents obtained by the AP show the Vatican was alerted to the accusations against the Rev. Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul more than three years ago but, according to the bishop, the Most Rev. A. Almaraj, did not take any part in disciplining him.

The priest has received only a minor punishment and is currently working in his bishop's office processing teacher appointments for a dozen church schools in the diocese of Ootacamund in southern India.



"We cannot simply throw out the priest, so he is just staying in the bishop's house, and he is helping me with the appointment of teachers," said Almaraj, the bishop of Ootacamund. "He says he is innocent, and these are only allegations. ... I don't know what else to do."

Almaraj emphasized that Jeyapaul was engaged in only "paperwork, nothing to do with the children or anything."



The main group of clerical abuse victims in the United States has scheduled a news conference for Monday in St. Paul, Minnesota, to draw attention to the Jeyapaul case and demand he be suspended and returned to face justice in the United States.

The group, Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, has been campaigning recently to draw attention to what it considers the Vatican's complicity in cases of abusive priests being moved around dioceses to avoid criminal prosecution.



The Vatican has denounced such accusations and has blamed the media for what it calls a smear campaign against the pope and his advisers.

The Vatican has insisted Pope Benedict XVI takes such accusations seriously and cracked down on abuse in 2001 by ordering dioceses to inform the Vatican of all such cases. However, the Vatican hasn't issued any guidelines requiring bishops to heed civil authorities, though it insists nothing in its directives precludes such cooperation.



Jeyapaul is currently wanted on two counts of criminal sexual conduct stemming from accusations he assaulted a young, female parishioner in the fall of 2004 at the Blessed Sacrament Church in Greenbush, Minnesota, where he was working. Each charge carries a sentence of up to 30 years.



According to the criminal complaint, the teenage girl accused Jeyapaul of threatening to kill her family if she did not come into the rectory, where he then forced her to perform oral sex on him and groped her in the fall of 2004.



In a telephone call with The Associated Press, Jeyapaul denied the charges.

"It is a false accusation against me," he said. "I do not know that girl at all."



He said he had no intention of facing the charges, and Almaraj said the church had never discussed asking him to return to the United States to appear in court.

"No steps were taken. Nobody talked about that. Nobody asked about that," Almaraj said.

Officials at India's Foreign Ministry were not immediately available to discuss whether the U.S. asked for Jeyapaul's extradition. The two countries do have an agreement.

At the time the accusations against Jeyapaul first surfaced in 2005, the priest had returned home to visit his ailing mother and officials in Minnesota's Crookston diocese told him he should stay in India, Jeyapaul said.



"My mother told me to remain here, and the (Crookston) bishop also told me not to come back, because these allegations have come against you," he said.

On Dec. 21, 2006, Monsignor Victor Balke, the-then bishop of the Crookston diocese, wrote about the accusations against Jeyapaul to both Cardinal William Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and the Most Rev. Pietro Sambi, Apostolic Nuncio, the Vatican's ambassador, to the United States. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is the Vatican office that handles all abuse cases.



"I hope that for the good of the Church you are able to reach a speedy resolution to this case," he wrote to Levada, according to a letter obtained by AP.

A week later, Rev. Sambi wrote to Bishop Balke: "I assure you that this material has already been forwarded to the Holy See."



It's not clear what actions, if any, the Vatican took. Alamaraj said the Vatican was informed of his disciplinary actions against Jeyapaul, but had no input.

Almaraj said he sent Jeyapaul to a monastery for a year of prayer and asked the local parishes where the priest had worked previously if there were any prior cases of possible abuse. None came to light, he said.



Almaraj then assigned Jeyapaul to the bishop's house, where he is in charge of compiling seniority lists for teachers in the diocese's schools.

Church is protecting criminals and Indian Government as usual sleeping or seeing other side when it comes to religion other than Hindus.

[acharya]

[quote name='shamu' date='04 April 2010 - 12:21 PM' timestamp='1270363396' post='105634']

First of all, what is the place for "April fool" in Hinduism? Should we expect Valentines day and Halloween day from these people?



Secondly, this prank touches the very sensitive nerve of many people. Are they testing waters with this news?

[/quote]

This is a good question and this give us a clue that they are using western calender and western sense to define who they are .

Not a good sign