The Nones Have It – Belief

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2013/03/27/2531910/were-steadily-losing-our-religion.html#storylink=cpy

The nation’s religious composition – as revealed in a recent presentation by Luis Lugo of the Pew Research Center – is changing. In 2012, America ceased to be a majority Protestant country – the result, mainly, of a decline in the numbers of mainline Protestants (though there have been smaller losses among white evangelicals as well). Catholicism is holding its own with a stable 22 percent of the public, but its ethnic composition has shifted dramatically – about half of all Catholics under 40 are Latino. 

 One group, however, has swelled: those with no religious affiliation, also known as “nones” (as in “none of the above”). In the 1950s, this was about 2 percent of the population. In the 1970s, it was about 7 percent. Today, it is close to 20 percent. These gains can be found in all regions of the country, including the South. The trend is particularly pronounced among whites, among the young and among men. 

 Not all the nones, it is worth pointing out, are secular. Only about 30 percent of this group – 6 percent of the public – are atheists or agnostics. The rest of the nones describe themselves as indifferent to religion or as “nothing in particular.” Sixty-four percent of the nones, however, say they believe in God or a universal spirit with “absolute certainty.” Even 9 percent of atheists and agnostics – defying both dogma and the dictionary – report themselves absolutely convinced of God’s existence. About equal proportions of the religiously unaffiliated (19 percent) and the affiliated (18 percent) report having “seen or been in the presence of a ghost.” 

 So the nones are united, not by reading Richard Dawkins or by any particular set of theological beliefs but by a complete lack of attachment to institutional religion.

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Anne Rice - Heretic or Areligionist?

Author Anne Rice’s strange twist on belief, recently announced, is not an easy knot to untie.  Her brief return to Catholicism has turned her off to the whole Christianity title and religion thing.

Novelist Anne Rice ditches Christianity for Christ

Novelist Anne Rice says she's quit being a Christian but she's hanging on to Christ. She's just fed up with his followers.

The author, whose vampire books (i.e. Interview with a Vampire) were huge sellers long before Twilight and whose return to her childhood Catholicism dominated her more recent works, posted a series of comments on Facebook (confirmed by her publisher as authentic, according to Associated Press).

Is this author a heretic – wanting to follow Christ without being one of the followers of a religion and a rulebook?

Or is she now Areligionist – without religion? Believes in a higher power and does not want or need a rulebook religion.

Perhaps the true flaw in all or many religions is that every generation lays on perceptions that future generations do not understand or see. In other words, belief can be as individual as the individual themselves.

This all reminds me a bit of a quote from evangelist Brian McLaren.

I don’t believe making disciples must equal making adherents to the Christian religion. It may be advisable in many (not all!) circumstances to help people become followers of Jesus and remain within their Buddhist, Hindu or Jewish contexts …Wikipedia

This Cultural Christian's Creed

I believe in one God, one Universe created by God, and the bounty of all things and possibilities flowing from that creation.

I believe in the words of the anointed one Jesus as spoken in the Sermon on the Mount.

He was crucified under the Roman Govenor Pontius Pilate, suffered, died and was buried.  On the third day following his death he rose from the dead by the hand of God according to Scriptures before ascending into heaven.

The Anointed by God and man, the Christ, sits at the right hand of God. He bears witness to all mankind’s hurts and pleasures and will stand in judgement to all who have not lived by and in the light of God’s love to humanity.

As Holy Man and Prophet, he is first among equals of all men born of women, and is the way, truth, light and path to a higher level of understanding of things human and spiritual.

I believe in the Spirit of God among us and in us and through us. Believers, the children of God, the people of God must stand for all things good, humble, holy and divine.




(as a Christian, I do not believe in the direct divinity of Jesus of Nazareth. I do believe that mankind has anointed this holy man and prophet to be the focal point of faith and Christian history. I believe that Jesus happened in history and every age must redefine both the man and his mission.)