Good News: America Has Fewer Christians!

A report released today showed that the number of Americans who identify themselves as "Christian" has declined and the number of people who say they belong to no religion has increased. This is good.

Americans believe in God -- just look at our coinage.  It says it right there, "In God We Trust." It's our country's official motto and has been all the way back to 1956.  1956!  I wasn't even born then.

Besides that, George Washington himself  knelt in the snow next to his horse and prayed for the safety of his men at Valley Forge.  I've seen the photo.  Yes sir, this is a Christian nation. And that's the problem.

Christianity in America has become a social religion and is nearly synonymous with being American.  America = Christian Nation.  Me = American.  Me = Christian.  Once we buy into that, it's a short trip to the Crusades.  

Oh, but now evil and godless liberals are in charge of our government, the government of the United States - God's new Israel.  We must wrest control of the government so we can return America back to God.  That's right, we will pass laws that regulate people's behavior so that they look like Christians.  We'll read the Bible to them at school and measure the length of the shorts.  We'll outlaw alcohol because everyone knows Jesus' first miracle was turning water into Welch's Grape Juice.  How great things will be when we can return to the glory days of a Christian nation. When slaves obeyed their masters and women submitted to their husbands. 

Join with me now, "Give me that old time religion, give me that old time religion, it's good enough for me."

Well, that's not good enough for me.  If there are fewer adherents to a cultural Christianity, good.  It's about time.  Now can we all stop soiling the good name of the guy who started the whole thing?  Probably not.  But, can we at least agree that he did not come to establish a government and to usher in a new political system that manipulates and forces people to act like they believe what he taught? That would be a good start. Then, perhaps those of us who claim to follow what he taught can start acting like it.  

If that really happens, regardless of the number of people doing it, real change will happen. Look what happened when only 12 people really acted like they believed.  

Okay, a kinder, gentler me

Okay, I realize there may be a person out there, perhaps two, who were offended by my last post. That person likely has spent his or her life pledging allegiance to the flag and to the democracy for which it stands. Understandably, that person may have thought that I was calling him or her an idiot. I can see how he or she might have gotten that impression.

Please know that I forgive you for being offended at my post.

The truth is, while I do lament the trajectory we are on, I'm not losing sleep over it.

Democracy

I hate democracy. That's right, I said it.  Seems un-American, doesn't it? Well, maybe that's because you're an idiot.

Consider:

"Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths."

James Madison, Federalist #10

"Remember, democracy never lasts long.  It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide."

John Adams

"A democracy is a volcano which conceals the fiery materials of its own destruction.  These will produce an eruption and carry desolation in their way."

Fisher Ames

But hey, we know better don't we?  Sure, we don't read the original history texts in their original languages the way the drafters of our constitution did.  What a @#$#ing waste of time.  We have CNN, Wikipedia and public schools. 

Thankfully, Arkansas' effort to abandon the electoral college, thus moving ever closer to the direct democracy some believe to be an enlightened idea, seems doomed to death in the senate. Bravo!  

While we're killing that bill, how about a resolution to repeal the 17th Amendment?

Call Me Ted

Call Me Ted was far from the best biography I have ever read, but it was interesting.  I've been waiting for Ted Turner to write one because I have always thought he was an interesting character.

His dad started a billboard business in Atlanta, GA, and Ted eventually took it over.  Ted was greatly affected early on by being shipped off to boarding and military schools. He was also deeply affected by watching his sister suffer greatly and die at an early age.  He cites this as a primary reason he turned away from God.  How can a loving God allow such misery?  A good and common question.  

Achieving goals that he would later say were set too low, his dad became depressed and eventually killed himself.  Ted heeded his dad's advice and set his goals higher than he could likely ever achieve.  He's achieved a lot.  He has lost more billions than most of the richest will ever earn. He managed to hold onto a few billion.  He's also the single largest landowner in the country.

While a success in business, it's hard to call him a success in relationships - several failed marriages and rarely being there for his kids when they were growing.  The sections about his marriage to Jane Fonda are interesting, especially the parts about her conversion to Christianity.  Fonda seems to have had a significant and meaningful experience with that and she wanted Ted to as well.

Ted was quoted years ago as saying that Christianity is for losers.  He took a lot of heat for it. What he meant is that Jesus spoke hope to the poor and downtrodden and his words have always made rich people uncomfortable.  Fair enough.

Ted is someone I'd love to go hunting with.  Completely eccentric and blatantly honest.

I wish he had a relationship with someone who could explain to him the problem of pain. Our world experiences pain because our God chose to create humans with a free will - one that is capable of loving him or rejecting him.  If he made us love him, it wouldn't be love.  That free will led to bad decisions - sin - which led to darkness entering the world, messing up God's beautiful, peaceful creation.  Now, according to the Bible, we are embroiled in spiritual warfare and the world groans waiting for redemption.  The good news is that this is not all there is.  There is peace somewhere and there is justice.  

Maybe that's something you can't explain to a guy like Ted.  If I ever go hunting with him, I'll give it a shot.  

Change we can believe in?

A mostly Republican friend of mine who voted for Obama emailed me this morning and asked if I could admit to being a little proud of my country today.  My response was "of course." I am glad I was able to witness what we witnessed today.  It seems to me that something has to be a little wrong with a person who cannot celebrate this achievement and rejoice with a race of people who have been so disenfranchised for so long.  And rejoice not just for them, but for us. Obama seems to be a sincere family guy who loves his wife and children.  That's big with me. 

Still......

My biggest concern is that so many seem to be so high on feeling warm and fuzzy about the ideal that they have no regard whatsoever for the ideas.  Today it is appropriate and right to celebrate the ideal -- we are closer to the principle of equality that our founders hopefully envisioned, and that is awesome.  

Tomorrow, though, is time to fight over the ideas. 

People with bad ideas are never more dangerous than when people perceive a crisis.  

Best Stuff from Last Year

Favorite movies I saw last year: (In no particular order)

Under the Same Moon (Great story about a Mexican boy who makes his way to the US to find his mom.)

Burn After Reading (I love the Coen brothers.  If they make it, I see it and, more often then not, I like it a lot.)

The Dark Knight (Heath Ledger was awesome.)

Horton Hears a Who (Great movie)

I also saw the Kite Runner, which I know came out earlier.  I had read the book, so I knew what to expect.  It was a great movie. I rented this movie on my i-Pod and Steve and I watched it in the airport on the way to Minnesota for the Republican Convention.  I was sitting there sobbing in the airport.  I can't say for sure if Steve was crying, but if he wasn't he has no soul.

I guess my favorite CD of 2008 is Viva la Vida - Coldplay.  Melinda and I went to their concert in Dallas.  We had great seats and it was an amazing show.  We've about worn the cd out.

Best sporting event of 2008 - US Open, Tiger beats Rocco Mediate in an 18 hole playoff with two broken legs, a severed arm and a painful cavity in an upper molar.

Other best sporting event of 2008: Americans beat Europe in the Rider Cup sans Tiger.

Book Review

I neglected to comment on Same Kind of Different as Me.  I highly recommend it.  It is a true story about a white, wealthy art dealer who encounters a black, poor homeless man. It will challenge you, I promise.  It is a pretty quick read, so no excuses.

My brother and sister and I have a new tradition that we started this Christmas.  We each give the other two one book that we particularly liked during the previous year.  I gave them Same Kind of Different as Me.

Regarding The Shack, it has obviously received a lot of attention as well as criticism.  The most commonly sited issue pertains to the way God is portrayed in the book.  It was a stretch, to be sure.  However, I do not think it was out of character with all of who God is.  I may write a more detailed defense, but that will take more time than I have right this second.  Soup's on - literally.