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Atlantic - Why Did America Lose It's Religion?
#51

Atlantic - Why Did America Lose It's Religion?
(09-26-2019, 11:09 PM)Dancefortwo Wrote: Yes, I think family dynamics changed because of several waves of events in the last 100 years but I disagree with 9/11 and religion in the republican party. 

Before WW I  few ordinary people traveled outside of the United States. World War I was the first time the average Joe got on a boat and went to foreign shores.  When the boys came back home many of them went back to the farm or dad's business but some struck out on their own.  After WW I families and extended families living in the same house was still not unusual.  However, WW II took more young men away from their homeland and returning to the farm or their dad's business was not appealing. The returning soldier wanted more out of life than farming or the family business and struck out on their own.  It was after WW II that several generations of families living under one roof was the exception and not the rule.  The growth of suburbs and single family homes became the American Dream and because of this the family nucleus changed drasticly.  The family religion didn't continue unbroken within one house.  The returning vet frequently moved  to another state far from their parents or grandparents and the religious belief they grew up with. 

I think there are thousands of reasons religion has waned.  Labor saving inventions is one.  It changed the social fabic of families.   The act of washing clothes, which used to be a female family social event, was replaced by the wonder of washing machines.  Women could do things other than scrub clothes on a scrub board.  They started to enjoy life a little and frequently it didn't involve religion.   You may not connect washing clothes by hand with belief in a god but when you spend 14 -20 hours a week washing clothes you start to pray for some relief!

The invention of cars and airplanes was instrumental to religion being left behind. Motion pictures, radio, record players, TV, the Internet, the discovery of DNA, penicillin, and tons of other things have cut into religious belief.  But before we do a happy dance, I do think that the majority "nones" are still "spiritual" or believe in some magical energy in the universe,  so hard corp atheism is still not playing a large part in those who call themselves "nones".    Just sayin. 

Anyway, that's my opinion.

The article is interesting, but I wonder whether some of the Atlantic article's "causes" are really "effects". As you mention, there are many many things we forget to look at, as they are so much a part of this world, but weren't before.

First of all, it's not surprising America was the most religious modern nation. They are also the most ignorant. They are on the bottom of the list of those who accept Evolution. 50 % of US Catholics didn't know, in a Pew survey, what transubstantiation meant, and 50 % of Lutherans didn't know who Martin Luther was. They may have *said* they were religious, ... but it appears it was some sort of meaningless label.  

One of the ones you didn't mention was birth control. It was a total game changer for both women and men, and in a really basic (but oft forgotten) way, it remains, and is a continuing game-changer. There was a Latino CEO on MSNBC this morning talking about how vastly different population stats and dynamics are for Latinos and all others. For example thousands of white baby boomers are leaving the economy every month, and it has not yet peaked. Latino workers are increasingly a part of the economy, and it's increasing. The fact that globally important populations are not even replacing themselves 1:1 (ie Europe, Japan) is huge continuing fall-out of birth control. We take birth control for granted. Religion strongly opposed it. We know the vast majority of Catholic women use birth control. They just didn't listen to their clergy. The day is coming where the established cultures that are not replacing themselves will be PAYING and offering all kinds of benefits to attract working, able immigrants. What's going on in the US today is incredibly short-sighted.
https://time.com/5485023/census-us-popul...owth-2018/
https://ourworldindata.org/world-population-growth
https://kafkadesk.org/2019/06/21/central...0-by-2100/

The other one you did mention was mass media. The main driver of cultural change, cultural affirmation, and cultural unification (shared experience) in the last 100 years is mass media. It used to be primarily "church", ... which were "different sects", (but "same commandments"). You went to work, and you went to church, plus a very few other things. Then Hollywood and the movies (which much of religion scolded and ranted about, but society basically started to "wink" at affairs other moral failings they saw in the movies) and then the few broadcast networks basically extended that, then the explosion of cable, where anything goes, including the heroine of "The Good Wife" announcing on national TV that she is an atheist. No longer was the culture held together by church. It was driven and held together by shred ENTERTAINMENT. TV has culturally unified localities, (and nations) by making access to their sports teams possible, regularly. No gods necessary. There actually used to be (well I guess there still is), a movie rating system, in which the Catholic Church rated movies, mostly on the basis of sex, in which (was it a "b" movie) you could go to hell for going to such a thing. People saw non-married people living together, couples with no kids, but most of all, the one change Hollywood drove (besides promoting the idea of "romantic love" which is still going strong today) was the acceptance of gay people as legitimate members of society. That's interesting and very traceable to a few programs. Meanwhile, they never saw people praying, or going to church. They did see people finding community is ways that had nothing to do with religion, and did not require even a mention of God.

I agree the internet and such easy access to other cultures and places, globally, was a big part of the change. It's hard to claim "exceptionalism" when the guy you see in the Net Flix story is your hero, the same kind of human you are, but lives in India or China. It is interesting also that there has arisen such backlash to globalization .. Trump and his cronies here and the Brexit movement in England. Last Monday Trump gave a speech at the UN in which he was promoting nationalism. These old farts FEAR the future, and it WILL be globalized, more and more. And more.

I see the decrease in religion as a part of globalization. Humans got exposed suddenly to kinds of other cultures and it changed everything forever.

There could be a downside to having so many (young people) "unchurched". It's only a matter until some crazy charismatic preacher starts a "Church of the Unified Come And Wave Your Hands Sista Bullshit" ... and millions will flock to it, as religion will be new to them.
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#52

Atlantic - Why Did America Lose It's Religion?
(09-30-2019, 07:09 PM)Drich Wrote: Really guys what is the big deal to say we need another data point that the info we have is almost 10 years old at a lot has changed. surly any reasonable person could agree to this.

LOL... Obviously our current God-botherer, Drich, didn't take the time to read The Atlantic article, dated 26 Sep 2019.

[Image: 9b177c753.png]

"By the early 2000s, the share of Americans who said they didn’t associate with
any established religion (also known as 'nones') had doubled. By the 2010s, this
grab bag of atheists, agnostics, and spiritual dabblers had tripled in size."

—To some, ignorance is bliss.
I'm a creationist;   I believe that man created God.
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#53

Atlantic - Why Did America Lose It's Religion?
(10-02-2019, 12:27 AM)SYZ Wrote:
(09-30-2019, 07:09 PM)Drich Wrote: Really guys what is the big deal to say we need another data point that the info we have is almost 10 years old at a lot has changed. surly any reasonable person could agree to this.

LOL... Obviously our current God-botherer, Drich, didn't take the time to read The Atlantic article, dated 26 Sep 2019.

[Image: 9b177c753.png]

"By the early 2000s, the share of Americans who said they didn’t associate with
any established religion (also known as 'nones') had doubled. By the 2010s, this
grab bag of atheists, agnostics, and spiritual dabblers had tripled in size."

—To some,  ignorance is bliss.

He's back to his BS about the official US census. 
The last one was 10 years ago. 
He takes in only what supports his personal bullshit.
Drich, *the angry theist* has his own personal repository of nonsense he made up along the way.
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#54

Atlantic - Why Did America Lose It's Religion?
(10-02-2019, 12:53 AM)Bucky Ball Wrote:
(10-02-2019, 12:27 AM)SYZ Wrote:
(09-30-2019, 07:09 PM)Drich Wrote: Really guys what is the big deal to say we need another data point that the info we have is almost 10 years old at a lot has changed. surly any reasonable person could agree to this.

LOL... Obviously our current God-botherer, Drich, didn't take the time to read The Atlantic article, dated 26 Sep 2019.

He's back to his BS about the official US census. 
The last one was 10 years ago. 
He takes in only what supports his personal bullshit.
Drich, *the angry theist* has his own personal repository of nonsense he made up along the way.

Oh... I didn't realise he was referring to the US Census specifically by claiming this "10-year old data" was
out of date, and we needed to wait until the next decennial census in 2020 for a new "data point" LOL.  
Does Drich truly believe that demographers, sociologists, economists, statisticians etc only renew their
research results once every decade?    Fuck me!

The US Census Bureau hasn't asked questions about religion since 1956.  Those opposed then to including
questions on religion had concerns about the protection of religious liberty and privacy rights, and whether
the government was overstepping the constitutional boundaries separating church and state.  

In 1976 Congress enacted a law containing a number of amendments to the basic census law, including a
prohibition against any mandatory question concerning a person's "religious beliefs or to membership in
a religious body."  The only information the Census Bureau now collects and publishes about religion and
religious bodies is county-by-county economic data on places of worship and other establishments operated
by religious organisations.

—In light of this, Drich is wasting his (and our) time harping about a data point in 2020.     Facepalm
I'm a creationist;   I believe that man created God.
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#55

Atlantic - Why Did America Lose It's Religion?
drich is a master of pigeon chess.
If you get to thinking you’re a person of some influence, try ordering somebody else’s dog around.
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#56

Atlantic - Why Did America Lose It's Religion?
(09-29-2019, 02:06 PM)SYZ Wrote:
(09-29-2019, 03:38 AM)Mark Wrote: I'm very sorry for the many inferior Murikan products and people.

No need to apologise mate.  The American people on the whole are perfectly okay by me, particularly
since I travelled extensively there (as a tourist).  Every second bloke we met in pubs there was inviting
us back to their place for a barbecue!     We spent some time staying with friends in Texas, and in
New York (Larchmont) and had a ball along the way.

(09-29-2019, 02:36 PM)Mark Wrote: Yeah, it was for the other half I was apologizing.

Hey, I'm a pretty big jerk, and I'd invite @SYZ over over for some grillin' too.
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#57

Atlantic - Why Did America Lose It's Religion?
(10-02-2019, 12:27 AM)SYZ Wrote: —To some,  ignorance is bliss.

To Drich, ignorance is the only world he knows. Shades of Pangloss there.
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#58

Atlantic - Why Did America Lose It's Religion?
(10-02-2019, 05:56 PM)Fireball Wrote: drich is a master of pigeon chess.

Exactly, I have him on mental ignore which is incredibly rare for me to do but when I'm faced with someone who is willfully ignorant and resolutely refuses to acknowledge points and who also deliberately goads and tries to push buttons either I do that or go mad because there is no reasoning with the guy. Its sad really because I could probably enjoy sharing a beer with the guy irl, because I don't actually think he's a bad person per se just really horribly indoctrinated and not 100% honest.
The whole point of having cake is to eat it Cake_Feast
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#59

Atlantic - Why Did America Lose It's Religion?
(10-03-2019, 06:26 PM)adey67 Wrote: [...] I don't actually think he's a bad person per se just really horribly indoctrinated and not 100% honest.

He's wished cancer upon others at AF, defended slavery and child-beating, and victim-blamed rape victims too. Whether that's a result of indoctrination or not is not my concern, just the same as whether the dog that just bit me came by his rabies honestly or not. Whether he's honest about his views or not is not my problem. 

The fact is that he spouts these poisonous views, whatever the reason, indoctrination, dishonesty, whatever.

If he holds the views he's espoused, he's despicable. If he doesn't hold those views and still espouses them, well, you know he's a lying cunt trying to stir shit.

Either way, giving him airtime debases any discussion he jumps in on.
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#60

Atlantic - Why Did America Lose It's Religion?
(10-03-2019, 06:26 PM)adey67 Wrote:
(10-02-2019, 05:56 PM)Fireball Wrote: drich is a master of pigeon chess.

Exactly, I have him on mental ignore which is incredibly rare for me to do but when I'm faced with someone who is willfully ignorant and resolutely refuses to acknowledge points and who also deliberately goads and tries to push buttons either I do that or go mad because there is no reasoning with the guy. Its sad really because I could probably enjoy sharing a beer with the guy irl, because I don't actually think he's a bad person per se just really horribly indoctrinated and not 100% honest.

He's about as miserable as any human being can be.  Voltaire had him in mind.

[Image: voltaire1-2x.jpg]
Robert G. Ingersoll : “No man with a sense of humor ever founded a religion.”
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#61

Atlantic - Why Did America Lose It's Religion?
(10-03-2019, 11:05 PM)Minimalist Wrote:
(10-03-2019, 06:26 PM)adey67 Wrote:
(10-02-2019, 05:56 PM)Fireball Wrote: drich is a master of pigeon chess.

Exactly, I have him on mental ignore which is incredibly rare for me to do but when I'm faced with someone who is willfully ignorant and resolutely refuses to acknowledge points and who also deliberately goads and tries to push buttons either I do that or go mad because there is no reasoning with the guy. Its sad really because I could probably enjoy sharing a beer with the guy irl, because I don't actually think he's a bad person per se just really horribly indoctrinated and not 100% honest.

He's about as miserable as any human being can be.  Voltaire had him in mind.

[Image: voltaire1-2x.jpg]

Don't know the guy.  I also have him on ignore. Not for his views  but for his bad manners.

He certainly comes across as angry and confused. 

Voltaire also wrote   : "Most men lead Lived of quiet  desperation"
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#62

Atlantic - Why Did America Lose It's Religion?
(10-04-2019, 01:18 AM)grympy Wrote:
(10-03-2019, 11:05 PM)Minimalist Wrote:
(10-03-2019, 06:26 PM)adey67 Wrote: Exactly, I have him on mental ignore which is incredibly rare for me to do but when I'm faced with someone who is willfully ignorant and resolutely refuses to acknowledge points and who also deliberately goads and tries to push buttons either I do that or go mad because there is no reasoning with the guy. Its sad really because I could probably enjoy sharing a beer with the guy irl, because I don't actually think he's a bad person per se just really horribly indoctrinated and not 100% honest.

He's about as miserable as any human being can be.  Voltaire had him in mind.

[Image: voltaire1-2x.jpg]

Don't know the guy.  I also have him on ignore. Not for his views  but for his bad manners.

He certainly comes across as angry and confused. 

Voltaire also wrote   : "Most men lead Lived of quiet  desperation"

Really!? Tune into his "Prosperity Gospel" spiel! You're missing out!  ROFL2
If you get to thinking you’re a person of some influence, try ordering somebody else’s dog around.
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#63

Atlantic - Why Did America Lose It's Religion?
(10-04-2019, 03:50 AM)Fireball Wrote:
(10-04-2019, 01:18 AM)grympy Wrote:
(10-03-2019, 11:05 PM)Minimalist Wrote: He's about as miserable as any human being can be.  Voltaire had him in mind.

[Image: voltaire1-2x.jpg]

Don't know the guy.  I also have him on ignore. Not for his views  but for his bad manners.

He certainly comes across as angry and confused. 

Voltaire also wrote   : "Most men lead Lived of quiet  desperation"

Really!? Tune into his "Prosperity Gospel" spiel! You're missing out!  ROFL2
 
I've  run across that prosperity gospel bullshit here over the years.  It's hilarious; the morons don't seem to realise it's just a repackaged  version of "The Secret",  as seen on  Oprah Winfrey . Philosophical base: solipsism.
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#64

Atlantic - Why Did America Lose It's Religion?
(10-03-2019, 10:16 PM)Thumpalumpacus Wrote:
(10-03-2019, 06:26 PM)adey67 Wrote: [...] I don't actually think he's a bad person per se just really horribly indoctrinated and not 100% honest.

He's wished cancer upon others at AF, defended slavery and child-beating, and victim-blamed rape victims too. Whether that's a result of indoctrination or not is not my concern, just the same as whether the dog that just bit me came by his rabies honestly or not. Whether he's honest about his views or not is not my problem. 

The fact is that he spouts these poisonous views, whatever the reason, indoctrination, dishonesty, whatever.

If he holds the views he's espoused, he's despicable. If he doesn't hold those views and still espouses them, well, you know he's a lying cunt trying to stir shit.

Either way, giving him airtime debases any discussion he jumps in on.

Ahh OK I didn't know any of that. I take it back perhaps not the best person to have a beer with (or in my case a Pepsi I'm on the wagon)
The whole point of having cake is to eat it Cake_Feast
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#65

Atlantic - Why Did America Lose It's Religion?
Bich isn't an asset here except as being an example of how to do it wrong.
[Image: M-Spr20-Weapons-FEATURED-1-1200x350-c-default.jpg]
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#66

Atlantic - Why Did America Lose It's Religion?
(10-04-2019, 06:17 AM)grympy Wrote:  
I've  run across that prosperity gospel bullshit here over the years.  It's hilarious; the morons don't seem to realise it's just a repackaged  version of "The Secret",  as seen on  Oprah Winfrey . Philosophical base: solipsism.

In terms of pedigree there is no direct relationship between the two. In terms of chronology, The Secret is a more recent development than the prosperity gospel. In terms of overall concept, however, they have a certain kinship.

The Secret is just a modern reframing of hermeticism ("as above, so below") and so the basic concept originated in the 3rd to 7th centuries CE with some of its urtexts going back possibly to the 2nd century, basically concurrent with the emergence of a recognizably "modern" Christian orthodoxy. One wonders if it didn't subsume the gnostics when they were cast out of Christianity although that is just my speculation and nothing more. By some accounts, it was tolerated within the church itself off and on. In any case it has become highly influential in the Western esoteric tradition and has given rise to sects like the Rosicrucians and has been influential in the New Thought movement and so forth.

The prosperity gospel evolved in the 20th century and is an overlay of the charismatic / pentecostal / holiness tradition but not strictly confined to it. The basic notion is that god wants his true believers to prosper, and sufficient piety (as conceived and defined by whoever is doing the actual preaching) leads to this prosperity -- financial, sure, but psychologically and aspirationally as well. Usually the formula is sufficient faith in the promises of god = the promises of god being fulfilled. A few minute's thought on this will suggest the degree to which this influences people who subscribe to it. There are, in both the old and new testaments, quite elaborate, detailed, specific promises directed at believers. A favored one that is often mentioned comes from the OT, with words to the effect, "test me, and see if I don't open the floodgates of heaven and rain down its treasures on you". But it is heavy in anecdotal testimony of business and personal success from adherents. After all, belief in these things will tend to prompt people to take bold risks, with sometimes salubrious overall results. This is more than most people venture, and one needs only a handful of good stories that are "empirically verifiable", e.g., some wealthy individual who attributes their wealth to god's favor. Once you have that, you combine it with some chutzpah and you have an stirring message to give out to people who would otherwise have minimal hope of advancing in life.

So while both The Secret and the prosperity gospel suggest that if you are in alignment with god you will tap into the deity's riches and favor, they come at it from a somewhat different place. I think it's fairest to say that the basic notion has been floating around in and out of Christianity for nearly two thousand years in various independently evolving forms.
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#67

Atlantic - Why Did America Lose It's Religion?
There's a prosperity-gospel preacher here in America whose name totally cracks me up: Creflo Dollar. No, I'm not making this up.

If only his mother had named him "Freeflo", it would have been perfect.
On hiatus.
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#68

Atlantic - Why Did America Lose It's Religion?
(10-04-2019, 06:57 PM)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: There's a prosperity-gospel preacher here in America whose name totally cracks me up: Creflo Dollar. No, I'm not making this up.

If only his mother had named him "Freeflo", it would have been perfect.

He operates from an old swimming pool display shed in an industrial area in Queensland, Australia, under
the grandiose name of "Creflo Dollar Ministries Asia-pacific".  It's made of tin, and is about 10 meters across...

https://www.google.com/maps/place/3+Hill...53.3407927
I'm a creationist;   I believe that man created God.
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#69

Atlantic - Why Did America Lose It's Religion?
"The Secret is a more recent development than the prosperity gospel"

I first came across a version of "The Secret" in 1969 .In a book called "(How To) Bring Out The Magic In Your Mind"  It was written by a stage magician called  Al Koran .  The doctrine is that if you can picture a thing, the universe will provide it. IE you can create your own reality .THAT seems to be a doctrine of creating your own reality. IE Solipsism.


Oops, I've just  spent a bit of time doing some checking of terms.  To my embarrassment, I seem to have misremembered the meaning of solipsism , which Wiki gives as :


"Solipsism (/ˈsɒlɪpsɪzəm/ (About this soundlisten); from Latin solus, meaning 'alone', and ipse, meaning 'self')[1] is the philosophical idea that only one's mind is sure to exist. As an epistemological position, solipsism holds that knowledge of anything outside one's own mind is unsure; the external world and other minds cannot be known and might not exist outside the mind."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solipsism

My apologies, I will adjust  my understanding.  Blush
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#70

Atlantic - Why Did America Lose It's Religion?
Stepehn Prothero is a college professor who has taught incoming college freshmen religious course at Boston University for years. He starts each course with a quiz to find out what many of his students actually know about Christianity. Most admit to being Christians but their knowledge of Bible and Christianity is woefully lacking.

Prothero is a very interesting figure. What are all of these young people learning in church? Not much about their religion!
He sometimes asks his students, "How many of you have read the Harry Potter books?" A lot of hands go up. He then asks "How many of you have read the Bible?". Only a few hands go up.

https://www.pewforum.org/2007/12/03/reli...ould-know/

...

December 3, 2007
Religious Literacy: What Every American Should Know

Pew Forum Faith Angle Conference
Key West, Florida

Some of the nation’s leading journalists gathered in Key West, Fla., in December 2007 for the Pew Forum’s biannual Faith Angle Conference on religion, politics and public life. Stephen Prothero, chair of the Department of Religion at Boston University, discussed the issue of religious illiteracy in the United States.

The author of Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know – And Doesn’t, Prothero says the United States is one of the most religious countries on earth, but Americans know nothing about religion – their own or the religions of others.
...
I am a sovereign citizen of the Multiverse, and I vote!


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#71

Atlantic - Why Did America Lose It's Religion?
https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-conten...roquiz.pdf

Stephen Prothero's religious quiz which he uses to test his student's religious knowledge. How well would you do?
I am a sovereign citizen of the Multiverse, and I vote!


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#72

Atlantic - Why Did America Lose It's Religion?
(10-05-2019, 01:21 AM)Cheerful Charlie Wrote: Stephen Prothero's religious quiz which he uses to test his student's religious knowledge.  How well would you do?

I haven't read the Bible for fifty years LOL.

I can never  get the 10 commandments in the right order!
I couldn't even think of the four Noble Truths.
I only had a vague idea of the Seven Sacraments.
I couldn't place the "Blessed are the Poor in Spirit" specifically from the Beatitudes.
I was a bit hazy on the 1st Amendment clause.

It'd be interesting to see how new freshmen fared with these questions 12 years
down the track.  I'd be guessing a lot worse.  Personally, I don't know any young
people who read the Bible—or would choose to read it over, say, Harry Potter.

—Which is a fucking good thing in my opinion.
I'm a creationist;   I believe that man created God.
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#73

Atlantic - Why Did America Lose It's Religion?
(10-04-2019, 10:19 PM)SYZ Wrote:
(10-04-2019, 06:57 PM)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: There's a prosperity-gospel preacher here in America whose name totally cracks me up: Creflo Dollar. No, I'm not making this up.

If only his mother had named him "Freeflo", it would have been perfect.

He operates from an old swimming pool display shed in an industrial area in Queensland, Australia, under
the grandiose name of "Creflo Dollar Ministries Asia-pacific".  It's made of tin, and is about 10 meters across...

https://www.google.com/maps/place/3+Hill...53.3407927

Nuke it from orbit, brotha. It's the only way to be sure.
On hiatus.
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#74

Atlantic - Why Did America Lose It's Religion?
(10-05-2019, 02:12 AM)Thumpalumpacus Wrote:
(10-04-2019, 10:19 PM)SYZ Wrote:
(10-04-2019, 06:57 PM)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: There's a prosperity-gospel preacher here in America whose name totally cracks me up: Creflo Dollar. No, I'm not making this up.

If only his mother had named him "Freeflo", it would have been perfect.

He operates from an old swimming pool display shed in an industrial area in Queensland, Australia, under
the grandiose name of "Creflo Dollar Ministries Asia-pacific".  It's made of tin, and is about 10 meters across...

https://www.google.com/maps/place/3+Hill...53.3407927

Nuke it from orbit, brotha. It's the only way to be sure.

No, a stealth operation with weaponized drop bears on mechanical kangaroos.
If you get to thinking you’re a person of some influence, try ordering somebody else’s dog around.
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#75

Atlantic - Why Did America Lose It's Religion?
(10-05-2019, 01:21 AM)Cheerful Charlie Wrote: https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-conten...roquiz.pdf

Stephen Prothero's religious quiz which he uses to test his student's religious knowledge.  How well would you do?

I got 12 of 15 right.  Shy
“I expect to pass this way but once; any good therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.” (Etienne De Grellet)
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