Memphis, already famous for having a church on every corner (and seemingly more going up all the time), is expanding their reputation. A Memphis church has set up drive through prayer service.
Just like a drive-thru restaurant, motorists drove in the parking lot, rolled down their window and let church ministers and members know what that wanted to pray about.
"We had one lady that drove thru and her request was so important and troublesome to her we couldn't really tell what the problem was so we just prayed with her while she cried, you know," said Lee.
She doesn't have time to park and go inside to pray, but it's so "important and troublesome" that she cried. I just can't imagine.
In all, 17 cars took advantage of the prayer hour today, 'cause "not everybody has somebody than can pray with". Personally, I always thought praying was a private affair, but if you think you can find God on the run the same way you find burgers and fries, then power to you. I suppose God truly is everywhere, even in a drive through.
Professor Reno persuasively argues that removing all religion from the political arena actually reduces liberty:
In other words, in the old system, the state presumed the existence of a substantive, natural reality that required legal adumbration: the union of a man and a woman, and the children resulting from their sexual relations. Now the Canadian government sees that it must intervene and redefine marriage and parenthood in order to give fixed legal standing to otherwise fluid and uncertain social relations. When the gay friend donates his sperm to the surrogate mother hired by a lesbian couple, the resulting “family” is a purely legal construct, one that requires the power of state to enforce contracts and attach children to adoptive parents.
The result is the opposite of the libertarian dream of freedom. As Farrow observes, with gay marriage we are giving over the family to the state to define according to the needs of the moment. The upshot, he worries, will be a dangerous increase in the power of the state to define our lives in other realms once thought sacrosanct. “Remove religiously motivated restrictions on marriage,” he writes, “and it is much easier to remove religiously motivated restrictions on human behavior in general, and on the state’s power to order human society as it sees fit.” The libertarian dream turns into the totalitarian nightmare. Who can or cannot be a spouse? That’s for the state to decide. To whom do children belong? It’s up to the state to assign parents as its social workers and judges think best.
Food for thought. I encourage you to read it all.
A new study indicates that participating in online prayer groups often results in better mental health for the patient. According to Bret Shaw, author of the study, this is the first study that focused on the psychological effects of such behavior:
From a psychological standpoint, there are a variety of reasons why cancer patients may benefit from prayer - whether on the Internet or elsewhere. In reviewing the messages, some of the most common ways study participants used religion to cope with their illness included putting trust in God about the course of their illness and consequently feeling less stressed, believing in an afterlife and therefore being less afraid of death, finding blessings in their lives and appraising their cancer experience in a more constructive religious light.
On Christmas Eve day, the LA Times publishes 10 myths about atheism. In the piece we are told that the scripture being written under the direction of a deity is "ridiculous", scientific thinking is not "congenial" to religious faith, and "religions utterly trivialize the real beauty and immensity of the universe".
Best of all, I find, is that the reason that godless despots like Stalin, Hitler, Mao and Pol Pot became the greatest murderers of all time is not that they rejected religion, but rather that their movements too closely resembled religion.
Honest. You can't make this insanity up. Oh wait, I guess columnists for the LA Times can.
Brussels Journal notes that while Islam is sweeping across Europe, Christianity is claiming converts in China — proving "that if God exists He must have a sense of humor."
Buddhism and Taoism still claim most worshippers in China but the state-sanctioned churches count up to 35 million followers. The underground churches are estimated to have 80 million members or more, about 12 million of them Catholics, the rest Protestants.
The author quotes Han Dong-fang:
I think human beings need something at a spiritual level. We don’t want to believe we are coming from nowhere; going nowhere. In China we have traditionally followed Buddhism. We had quite a deep religion. But communism destroyed everything. When communism became this corrupted thing which failed everybody, people still needed a belief. I think that’s the reason for Christianity in China.
I have a Chinese colleague who says very much the same thing. Communism became the religion of the people, but over time the culture became "get it while you can" because, after all, without a belief in a higher power, there is no reason not to.
While I didn't believe that religion is necessary for moral behavior, my colleague believes differently. Which leads me to question my thoughts on the matter. After all, my view is purely philosophical. His is based on experience.
And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:Of course, the Bible isn't always clear — it is just assumed that "the beast" refers to the Antichrist (the word "Antichrist appears only three times in the New Testement and never in Revelations). Nor is the Bible always consistent. The earliest known scrap of papyrus that deals with this subject puts the number at 616, and 656 has also been found.And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number [is] Six hundred threescore [and] six.
But not to worry. The Rapture Index, as tracked by the folk at RaptureReady.com, was a mere 157 yesterday (it hasn't yet been updated for today), and while anything above 145 is judged "fasten your seat belts" time it isn't anywhere close to the record high of 182 set on 24 Sept 01.
So unless you are hexakosioihexekontahexaphobic (fear of the number 666) sit back and enjoy the day. Here's a list of 666-related things to do:
Technorati Tags: 666, 616, 656, Religion, Revelations, Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobic, Number of the Beast, Hell.
But what makes this case unusual is that the display was set up in an area dedicated to allow the public to post announcements. Which makes it a 1st Admendment issue (the "freedom of speech" part).
Fishkite is covering this in depth, so if you want the real story as this issue develops be sure to stop by.
Proponents say the prison, run by employees with a "Christian world view," would help criminals learn to be law-abiding citizens. They say it would help reduce the number of Texas inmates, thought to be as high as 40 percent, who eventually return to jail.Internment at that facility would be voluntary as would participation, once the prisoner was transferred there.
"This is very early confirmation of that number, earlier than any other text we've found of that passage," Dr. Aitken said. "It's probably about 100 years before any other version."
Although participants were not required to vote each other out, they faced the challenge of living together in a community and following a disciplined regime of work and prayer. By the end, the atheist, Tony Burke, 29, became a believer and gave up his job producing trailers for a sex chat line after having what he described as a "religious experience".In health news, we discover that spirituality and the practice of religion may help slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease. Don't tell the Dems — it'll only upset them.Gary McCormick, 36, the former Ulster Defence Association member, who spent much of his early life in prison, began to overcome his inner demons.
Peter Gruffydd, a retired teacher, regained the faith he had rejected in his youth and Nick Buxton, 37, a Cambridge undergraduate, edged closer to becoming an Anglican priest.
The fifth "novice", 32-year-old Anthony Wright, who works for a London legal publishing company, started to come to terms with his childhood traumas.
Whatever will Democrats do with all that campaign material about "Evil Emperor Benedict" and "Nazi Benedict"?
Oh wait . . . judging from their behavior recently they'll use it and lose more seats in both houses of congress.
Islamic leaders in Pakistan are urging the new head of the Catholic Church to combat "grudges" against Muslims in the Western world."Promote religious tolerance." "Religious freedom. "Human dignity". Very nice.A Pakistani religious leader says he's praying that Pope Benedict the 16th "will play a vital role to promote religious tolerance, reconciliation, religious freedom, human dignity and peace in the world."
And a cleric in the city of Karachi says the pope should "try to restrain the forces that have grudges against Muslims."
Meanwhile in Pakistan, a mob of 400 people tracked down a man, chasing him through fields and up a tree. Someone in the angry lynch mob got the man out of the tree — by shooting him dead.
And what was his crime? Rape? Murder? No, it was blasphemy — they thought that he had burned a copy of the Koran.
German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Vatican theologian who was elected Pope Benedict XVI, intervened in the 2004 US election campaign ordering bishops to deny communion to abortion rights supporters including presidential candidate John Kerry.Heh.
Today, white smoke signaled that Cardinal Ratzinger was elected to be the next pope, the first from Germany since the 11th century. He has chosen to be known as Pope Benedict XVI .The newly elected pope issued his first blessing to the nearly two hundred thousand people waiting outside the Vatican:
"Dear brothers and sisters, after the great Pope John Paul II, the cardinals have elected me - a simple, humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord," he said after being introduced by Chilean Cardinal Jorge Arturo Medina Estivez."The fact that the Lord can work and act even with insufficient means consoles me, and above all I entrust myself to your prayers," the new pope said. "I entrust myself to your prayers."
The AP paints Ratzinger as a divisive leader who has alienated churchgoers by adamantly enforcing church orthodoxy.
Bill Hobbs has an eloquent answer to this charge:
One of the things the mainstream secular media never seemed to quite understand about Pope John Paul II was that his stances on such issues were rooted in his understanding of eternal, unchanging truth.As does Captain's Quarters:
I believe that Benedict's previous strong stands against moral relativism holds a special lesson in today's world. It means the Church will take stands on what we see as eternal truths, even if those positions cause others to complain about old-fashioned values in a modern world. ...Buzzmachine found a Ratzinger Fan Club blog, although the amount of traffic seems to have taken it down for the moment.An impressive Cardinal has become an impressive Pope. I will pray for his health and success, and ask all of you to join me.
Right Thinking from the Left Coast says:
Any liberal American or European Catholics who had hoped for a more liberal stance on abortion or gay marriage or women priests just got told to go suck the big one.One would think that that is exactly how liberals are viewing this. Take the post from Lean Left, which seems indicative of the liberal reaction, calling Ratzinger the Goebbels of the Vatican:
Well, for Catholics and the dwindling number of Westerners who still take Catholicism seriously, it's time to kiss the Dark Ages hello again. For the rest of us, we can only hunker down and await an onslaught of rabidly reactionary politicking from an extremely rich, tax-exempt organization that claims mandatory authority over its members, including public office-holders. The medieval wing of an organization that just barely got over Galileo has now claimed the right to declare itself "infallible" (the irony of which they never seem to get). If you thought John Paul II was bad, wait till you get a load of Pope Torquemada Jr.Ah, the intellectual elitism of the left. [Note: Lean Left is usually more reasonable than this post would lead one to believe. A good addition to the blogroll.]The unwelcome silver lining is this: he will certainly accelerate the race to irrelevance of the Catholic church in educated, industrialized countries.
MaxSpeak follows in a similar vein, saying calling Ratzinger "Pope Wingnut the First". [But also a worthy blogroll addition.]
Other lefties aren't so kind. A famous moonbat whom I won't put on the blogroll prints unprintable things. Another Rovarian Conspiracy points to this DU post that puts the pope's name under a picture of the evil Emperor from Star Wars. [HT to Wizbang]
Wizbang finds more lefty lunacy:
I dont [sic] know much or anything about him BUT that he was a Nazi or a member of the Nazi party. How does he stand on issues and how far back will he turn the church.The discussion thread just goes downhill from there.
Interesting that those who profess to believe in rehabilitation of prisoners to the point where they believe we can trust them with votes and guns as soon as they walk out of the gates of a penitentiary are unable to believe that a young man, who was once a mere German military anti-aircraft unit helper, can be the spiritual leader to over a billion people around the world.
Ah, the legendary forgiveness of the left.
Besides, a closer look at Ratzinger's history shows not only that he was drafted, but also deserted at great risk:
In 1943, he was drafted as an assistant to a Nazi anti-aircraft unit and sent to Munich. A year later, he was released, only to be sent to the Austrian-Hungarian border to construct tank barriers.Critics will note that Ratzinger was a member of Hitler's youth organization at age 14. Those more knowledgeable will point out that this is when membership was made compulsory.He deserted the German army in May 1945 and returned to Traunstein -a risky move, since deserters were shot on the spot if caught, or publicly hanged as examples to others.
When he arrived home, US soldiers took him prisoner and held him in a camp for several weeks.
Upon his release, he entered the seminary.
Carpe Bonum posts a short bio as well as some of Ratzinger's positions on various issues.
Outside the Beltway has an excellent post that puts some context around some of Ratzinger's comments.
The Anchoress has some excellent thoughts on the subject.
As for me, I will trust the system that has given us popes for centuries, good and bad, will continue to do so. I will pray that this one is as good as he can be, though by all accounts my prayers will be unnecessary. This is a sincere and dedicated individual. He will do as his heart tells him to do, and that is all we can ask of anyone.
Good luck, Pope Benedict XVI, and may God be your guide.
Update: As expected, Davids Medienkritik has an excellent roundup of reaction from the German press.
The Belmont Club offers this observation:
Ratzinger comes at a time when his own native Western Europe is gripped with a crisis similar in some respects to that which divided Eastern Europe in John Paul's day. Like John Paul, he arrives at the Papacy in the midst of a global war: what the Cold War was to John Paul the War on Terror must be to Benedict XVI. He is an unknown quantity, without extensive pastoral experience; a philosopher Pope: the Pope of the Memes. And it is in this last where Benedict's historical significance may lie. He is the first Pope of the Internet Age and stands uncertain, as we all are, on its brink.Keep those words in mind when reading the Gates of Vienna's post relating Benedict XV to the new Benedict.
Then, if you have the stomach for some vile rhetoric, read Dizzy Girl and Confederate Yankee's roundups of moonbattery response.
Oh, and a cybersquatter in Florida bought BenedictXVI.com a few weeks ago, although he swears he isn't going to sell it off to the highest bidder. Then again I don't really trust him -- he's the guy behind Drudge Retort.com. The domain currently redirects to his personal website.
The Washington Times has an article about a controversial favorite:
Cardinal Francis Arinze of Nigeria, one of the top contenders to become pope next week, is best known for his interfaith experience with Muslims and his meteoric rise from a poor African village to the halls of the Vatican.Props to Slate who was talking about Francis Arinze way back in October of 2003 (as well as a Hispanic, an American and a Jew, who are all contenders). In his now-republished article Slate says of Arinze:He was the youngest Catholic bishop in the world when he was consecrated Aug. 29, 1965, at 32. Today, he's a favorite of traditional Catholics because of his withering denunciations of dissent on all the hot-button topics: population control, homosexuality and pro-choice Catholic politicians.
Ah, but what an exquisite dilemma for liberals. A black pope who, on social issues, makes Phyllis Schlafly seem like Jane Fonda. In a commencement address this year at Georgetown University, Arinze drew protests by saying the institution of marriage is "mocked by homosexuality." If he did become pope and liberals criticized his antigay, anti-abortion views, could conservatives possibly resist the temptation to charge racism? Might be too much to ask.Unfortunately, I think Arinze will turn out to be too much of a gamble for the cardinals -- too new, too controversial, and even too conservative for one of the most conservative organizations on the planet. Besides, I think the Italian-controlled church is ready to bring religion back home with an Italian pope.
Other pope-replacement related blogging and news:
Russell Stover Candies are testing a new product, chocolate crosses, in about 5,000 stores nationwide. Seems innocuous enough — heck, it might even remind people about the real reason we have Easter in the first place. But then again:However, not all Christians are happy about it. Chomping on a chocolate cross can be offensive to some, said Joseph McAleer, a spokesman for the Roman Catholic diocese in Bridgeport, Conn.People will get upset about anything."The cross should be venerated, not eaten, nor tossed casually in an Easter basket beside the jelly beans and marshmallow Peeps," he said. "It's insulting."
Two developments are plaguing atheism these days. One is that it appears to be losing its scientific underpinnings. The other is the historical experience of hundreds of millions of people worldwide that atheists are in no position to claim the moral high ground.Three fourths of Americans believe that the display of the Ten Commandments on government property should be allowed.
The highly-liberal Village Voice paints Hillary's latest efforts to redefine herself is really her "reclaiming her moral roots" and goes on to claim that God Is a Centrist Democrat.
Meanwhile, Russians want to return to the good old days of purges:
According to the survey published Tuesday by ROMIR Monitoring of 1,500 Russians, only 17 percent backed the current reform programme while 21 percent favoured a "return to socialism". 57 percent said reform should be more socially targeted.The last time more Russians wanted communism than Putin's reform was in May 2001, ROMIR said.
A 12-year study tracking mortality rates of more than 550 adults over the age of 65 found that those who attend services at least once a week were 35 per cent more likely to live longer than those who never attended church.So if Hillary gets her way and we go to government-subsidized medical care, would a doctor prescribing church attendance be sued for put God back into government?The research also found that going to church boosted an elderly person's immune system and made them less likely to suffer clogged arteries or high blood pressure.
Susan Lutgendorf, psychology professor at the University of Iowa, who carried out the study, said: "There's something involved in the act of religious attendance, whether it's the group interaction, the world view or just the exercise to get out of the house. There's something that seems to be beneficial."
Robert Wallace, a co-author of the report, added that doctors could even prescribe a course of church attendance to benefit patients.
Network television's depictions of religion are "overwhelmingly" negative, despite 90 percent of the American public professing a belief in God, according to a study released yesterday by the Parents Television Council.NBC leads the pack as the most anti-religious network, followed in order by Fox, the WB, ABC, UPN and CBS, says the study of 2,385 hours of prime-time programming during a 12-month period beginning September 2003. Only the Pax network had no negative depictions. Cable shows were not included in the study.
Imagine a world in which people were pretty much the same as they are now — they were smart, they could walk, they could talk, they could drive cars and become investment bankers. They were missing only one thing. They didn't know right from wrong.If you are interested in religious philosophy, I highly recommend the article.We have a word for people like that. We call them sociopaths.
Roman Catholic bishops in three Southeastern dioceses said Wednesday they will deny Communion to lawmakers who consistently support abortion rights unless the dissenting politicians publicly recant.The bishops said in a statement that Catholics who violate church teaching in policy-making were "cooperating in evil in a public manner."
The banned Catholic lawmakers could resume taking the sacrament "only after reconciliation with the church has occurred, with the knowledge and consent of the local bishop, and public disavowal of former support for procured abortion," the clerics said.
"There can be no contradiction between the values bestowed by baptism and the Catholic faith and the public expression of those values," the bishops said.
The data reeled out in its support, verified many times over, reads like an extended column of Ripley's Believe It or Not. The electromagnetic force is exactly 1,039 times stronger than the gravitational force: had it been a little weaker, say 1,033 times as strong, stars would have been a billion times less massive, and would have burnt a million times faster. Long before any of us-or our forefathers-were born, universal darkness would have buried all. If the difference between the mass of the proton and the neutron were not exactly what it is-roughly twice the mass of the electron-all neutrons would have become protons and matter as we know it would cease to exist! Water, almost alone among compounds, is lighter in its solid state than in its liquid state; ice floats. Had it not done so oceans would have frozen from the bottom up, and in time, the earth would have been entirely covered by ice!Quite an interesting article.
Anglican archbishops from Africa said Thursday they would reject donations from any diocese that recognizes gay clergy and recommended giving the Episcopal Church in the United States three months to repent for ordaining an openly gay bishop.The archbishops also said they will refuse cooperation with any missionary who supports ordaining gay priests. They said the Episcopalians -- the American branch of Anglicanism -- should be disciplined for the election last year of V. Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire. Robinson has lived openly with his male partner for years.
"If we suffer for a while to gain our independence and our freedom and to build ourselves up, I think it will be a good thing for the church in Africa," Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria told journalists. "And we will not, on the altar of money, mortgage our conscience, mortgage our faith, mortgage our salvation."
The task force Bishop Ricard heads was formed last year after the Vatican released a forceful "doctrinal note" on Catholics in public life, which said, "A well-formed Christian conscience does not permit one to vote for a political program or an individual law which contradicts the fundamental contents of faith and morals."The church doesn't want to take too hard of a line with these politicians for fear that it may backfire. On the other hand:
Bishop Joseph A. Galante of the diocese of Camden, N.J. who served briefly on the task force on Catholics in politics, said that bishops must, in their roles as teachers, assert church doctrine and continue to call Catholic politicians to account to prevent them from leading other Catholics astray.Kerry says he believes one way but votes another because he believes in the separation of Church and State. I don't get this. How can you vote against your conscience?
Unless you don't have one . . .
Atheists and other nonbelievers set up a political action committee yesterday to endorse candidates and lobby lawmakers to remove all traces of religion from the government.The group only as a thousand dollars so far, a problem that may haunt them for a while until they get funding from some left-wing godless Hollywood types.But organizers acknowledged that they face a major problem. Most politicians won't want public support from their new group ...
The potential voting bloc of unbelievers appears to be much smaller than the religious right. Although religious convictions are difficult to assess, polling expert Scott Keeter at the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press said that 30 percent to 35 percent of Americans identify themselves as evangelical Christians of various denominations.Hmmm... wonder who that third-party choice will be?Only 5 percent of Americans polled tell surveys that they don't believe in either God or a universal spirit, Mr. Keeter said. Pew studies have found that nonbelievers and people who state that religion has no significant role in their lives make up about 10.5 percent of adult Americans.
The Godless American PAC will make a presidential endorsement, Miss Johnson said, adding that the group would consider making a third-party choice.
Biblical studies classes offered next year at Boca Raton High are intended to teach "the most influential book or document in western civilization," the school's principal said Wednesday, not impose Christianity on students."It makes sense for students to have a general understanding of it," Principal Geoff McKee said Wednesday, because of its influence on literature, art, music and philosophy. The classes are elective.
Teaching about religion is fine with the Anti-Defamation League's state director, but he said his group will be watching closely to ensure that the teacher doesn't cross the line into Christian dogma.
McQuaid: Lets take an issue. Abortion. Are there any limits on it in your mind?Basically, Clark trusts that a woman and a doctor will not conspire to commit murder and is opposed to making any law that would prohibit the killing of a full-term baby as it is being born, even if the baby is perfectly viable and will be a living, breathing being in another 30 seconds.Clark: I dont think you should get the law involved in abortion
McQuaid: At all?
Clark: Nope.
McQuaid: At all?
Clark: Its between a woman, her doctor, her friends and her family.
McQuaid: Late term abortion? No limits?
Clark: Nope.
McQuaid: Anything up to delivery?
Clark: Nope, nope.
McQuaid: Anything up to the head coming out of the womb?
Clark: I say that its up to the woman and her doctor, her conscience, and law not the law. You dont put the law in there. Yesterday, Simmons said Republicans and conservatives want to pin you down in debates about timing, but this isnt about timing, its about whether we trust a woman and her doctor to make medical decisions that are in the best interest about her and her life.
The issue here is whether or not were going to try to inject politics and government into a medical decision by a woman and her doctor and his answer is No, were not going to do that.
The ghosts of 2003 -- when the United States invaded Iraq without United Nations approval -- dominated the pope's first speech of 2004.Never mind that the liberation of Iraq stopped a murderous tyrant from continuing a reign of terror and filling up the desert with mass graves. Never mind that the liberation of Iraq has resulted in the first faltering steps towards democracy in both Iraq and Saudi Arabia."More than ever we need a new international order which draws on the experience and results of the United Nations," the 83-year-old pontiff said at a mass in St Peter's Basilica.
Why anyone continues to be a member of a religion that protects tyrants and pedophiles is of continuing puzzlement to me. I wish I were Catholic just so I could leave the church. I'd probably become a Jew.
There is convincing evidence now, however, that the era is over, and that the 21st century will see some fundamental changes. I don't mean a massive return to the church, but rather a massive turn of the churches away from Christianity lite.So consider this the last Merry Christmas in the age of Christianity lite. The new century will see a new Christianity which in fact is the old one. And a very different Christmas. Less sugary, but far more real. And it's about time.
- The after-effect of 9-11 has been a general decline in the credibility of what's called "post-modernism," the belief there are no such things as moral truths. . . .
- The continuing probability of terror, wrought in the name of an Islamic God, will spur more and more thought about who or what God actually is.
- A "spiritual" awakening is going on. . . .
- This may sound extreme, but I think it will happen. Mel Gibson's movie, The Passion, will prove to be the most attended Hollywood movie ever made. . . .
- The Gibson production is emphatically not Christianity Lite. It portrays the crucifixion for what it was, "a bloody, dusty, sweaty and sordid business." That is, it follows the New Testament account. . . .
Rabbi Korn has come into focus lately for his sharp criticisms of Mel Gibson's The Passion of Christ:
The film fails to depict even one Jew who is not a proto-Christian as opposing the execution or having any compassion for a brutalized and mutilated victim. Quite the contrary, it graphically depicts a huge Jewish mob and all Jewish authorities forcing an unwilling Pilate to execute JesusMany people were uncomfortable with how the ADL handled the apparent attack on the film and it is rumored that this is the reason for Korn's departure, although a closer look suggests that there were a wide range of issues involved.
Whatever the reason, this is a setback for in the Jewish organization's quest for stronger ties with other faiths.
Today's quote comes from a senior Catholic theologian at Vatican City that masturbation is like owning a Ferrari and driving only in first gear.
"Driving only in first gear, not only do you prevent the Ferrari expressing its full power, but gradually you wear it out and thereby ruin a masterpiece of technology," Father Giordano Muraro wrote in the magazine Vita Pastorale.
Muraro was responding to a reader who asked whether it was sinful to masturbate in the absence of one's spouse in order to reduce sexual tension.
No word on what the good Father thinks of owning a Ferrari and never taking it out of the garage.
Barna Research Group has been tracking American beliefs, values and behaviors since 1984. They recently polled 1,000 people in each of the 48 contiguous states and found that:
An overwhelming majority of Americans continue to believe that there is life after death and that heaven and hell exist, according to a new study. What's more, nearly two-thirds think they are heaven-bound. On the other hand, only one-half of 1% said they were hell-bound...
76% of Americans believe in heaven and 71% in hell the same as a decade ago, and that 64% believe they're heaven-bound.Among those who believe in heaven, nearly half (46%) described it as a "state of eternal existence in God's presence," and almost a third (30%) said heaven was "an actual place of rest and reward where souls go after death." One in seven said heaven is just "symbolic" (14%), 5% said there was no afterlife and 5% said they weren't sure.
Researchers found two popular perspectives of hell in the study. Nearly four out of 10 (39%) believe hell is "a state of eternal separation from God's presence," while nearly one-third (32%) believe it is "an actual place of torment and suffering where people's souls go after death." About one in 8 believe hell is just a symbol of an "unknown bad outcome after death" (13%).
But this is what I found disturbing:
"Americans don't mind embracing contradictions," he said. "It's hyper individualism. They're cutting and pasting religious views from a variety of different sources television, movies, conversations with their friends. Rather than simply embrace one particular viewpoint, and then trying to follow all the specific precepts or teachings of that particular viewpoint, what Americans are saying is, 'Listen, I can probably put together a philosophy of life for myself that is just as accurate, just as helpful as any particular faith might provide.' "
Pollster George Barna, a former minister who founded the research group, noted that one out of 10 born-again Christians those who believe entry into heaven is solely based on confession of sins and faith in Jesus Christ also believe in reincarnation, which violates Christian tenets. Nearly one in three claim it is possible to communicate with the dead, and half believe a person can earn salvation based on good deeds even without accepting Christ as the way to eternal life.
Many who describe themselves as either atheistic or agnostic also harbor contradictions in their thinking, Barna said. He said that half the atheists and agnostics surveyed believed that everyone had a soul, that heaven and hell existed and that there was life after death. One in eight atheists and agnostics believe that accepting Jesus Christ as savior probably makes life after death possible.
There's a whole lot of people out there still looking for Truth.