Bible Study: Skeptics Now Equal Believers With Daily, Engaged Readers On The Decline

Considering the direction my life has taken, the "findings" of this survey do not surprise me.

I was a believer for many years, my initial course of study in college was Bible and theology. I wanted to read and study the Bible in its original languages to better understand its meaning. Influenced by the likes of CS Lewis, Alvin Plantinga, Josh McDowell and many others, I wanted to know the Bible so I could defend my faith. By then end of college I was bordering on agnosticism, ten years later I uttered those fateful words to myself, "I do not believe in God." It took another ten years to embrace that mindset and say I was an atheist. It was the only rational conclusion after reading and studying the Bible.

"The key, he said, is “adjusting our outreach” to reel in the next generation,,,[w]e have to find where they are hurting, what questions millennials are asking."

Why must one assume that people who are are skeptical of the Bible are "hurting"? Why not just accept the fact that fewer people are buying into the mythology and the dogma that surrounds it. Instead of realizing that the message is flawed, that Christianity has no answers especially in regards to suffering and "evil," the answer for them is to change the way they present that same myths.

"[W]e just can’t hand them a Bible and expect them to find the answers. We have to get out the word to give God’s word a chance. It’s urgent.”

I like Bart C's summation of the last point made. I think it explains the "unreality" religionists live in: "If people read the bible for themselves, they will see the grotesque horrors that Judeo-Christian religion has wrought and endorses; the contradictions; the scientific absurdities! Next thing ya know they will begin to think, reason and question. We must intercede, muddle it up and camouflage it, lest we find ourselves in the supernaturalist minority. IT'S URGENT!"

Bible Study: Skeptics Now Equal Believers With Daily, Engaged Readers On The Decline

See also:
 New Survey Says Only Half of Millennials Look to Religion for Guidance While More Than a Third Don’t Talk to God

The destructive myth about religion that Americans disproportionately believe - Salon.com

This week, Pew Research Center published the results of a survey conducted among 40,080 people in 40 countries between 2011 and 2013. The survey asked a simple question: Is belief in God essential to morality? While clear majorities say it is necessary, the U.S. continues to be an outlier.

In 22 of the 40 countries surveyed, the majority says it is necessary to believe in God in order to be a moral person. “This position is highly prevalent, if not universal, in Africa and the Middle East,” says the report. No surprise there, but Asian and Latin countries such as Indonesia (99 percent), Malaysia (89 percent), the Philippines (99 percent), El Salvador (93 percent), and Brazil (86 percent) all fell in the highest percentile of respondents believing belief in a god (small G) is central to having good values.

Interestingly, clear majorities in all highly developed countries do not think belief in god to be necessary for morality, with one exception only: the USA.

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So what of the U.S.? A comparatively eye-popping 53 percent of Americans essentially believe atheists and agnostics are living in sin. Despite the fact that a research analyst at the Federal Bureau of Prisons determined that atheists are thoroughly underrepresented in the places where rapists, thieves and murderers invariably end up: prisons. While atheists make upward of 15 percent of the U.S. population, they only make up 0.2 percent of the prison population.

The destructive myth about religion that Americans disproportionately believe - Salon.com

More Americans Than Ever Support Gay Marriage, Leaving Christian Right Behind | Alternet

In America today, it's more normal to support gay marriage than not to.

That's according to findings from the Public Religion Research Institute, a non-profit, nonpartisan research organization. By comparing results of a survey it conducted in 2013 with one it did a decade ago, PRRI found that today, over half of Americans support same-sex marriage, up from just 32% in 2003. Its findings are similar to those of the Pew Research Center, Gallup, and other poling organizations, which have all noted a significant increase in support for same-sex marriage in the past 10 years.

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But regardless of differences between groups, within groups, it's becoming more popular to support same-sex matrimony, even among those who have been traditionally staunchly against it. Take white evangelical Protestants, who continue to be some of the least supportive: while only 27% support same-sex marriage today, that's a significant increase from the 12% who supported it in 2003. Support for same-sex marriage is strongest among Millennials (people aged 18-33), with 69% in support, compared with only 37% of the Silent Generation (those aged 68 and older). The "generational tidal wave," as PRRI CEO Robert Jones calls it, holds true across religious and political lines: for example, whereas only 34% of Republicans overall support same-sex marriage, half of Millennial Republicans support it.

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While LGBT and their allies have reason to celebrate the national upsurge in support, PRRI notes that a large proportion of Americans, especially religious Americans, think that same-sex sexual relationships are immoral (although they may still support gay marriage), and that LGBT face some of the highest discrimination in the country. And even though there's a national shift in attitudes on same-sex marriage, it still isn't a priority for most Americans. Only 24% of Americans say same-sex marriage is a critical issue for them personally, with 25% saying it's one of several important issues. Nearly 50% of Americans say that the issue is not that important to them personally, with same-sex marriage ranking below jobs and unemployment, healthcare, immigration, HIV/AIDS and abortion.

More Americans Than Ever Support Gay Marriage, Leaving Christian Right Behind | Alternet

9% Have Considered Quitting Their U.S. Citizenship - Rasmussen Reports™

Few Americans have ever thought about giving up their U.S. citizenship, but nearly half think U.S. citizens should be able to be citizens of more than one country.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that only nine percent (9%) of U.S. citizens have considered giving up their American citizenship. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Perhaps in part that’s because 93% consider it at least somewhat important to be a U.S. citizen, including 79% who think it is Very Important.

But 45% believe U.S. citizens also should be allowed to be citizens of other countries. Thirty-six percent (36%) disagree, while 19% are not sure.

9% Have Considered Quitting Their U.S. Citizenship - Rasmussen Reports™