Religion Map Of Congress Members Shows The Diversity Of Faith In Government (MAP) What religion does your Congress member identify with? BuzzFeed has helpfully mapped out the religions of all 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives by district, according to public identifications or statements made by spokespeople to BuzzFeed. Out of the 31 religions represented in the house, there is only one atheist. The most well-represented groups are: Catholics- 136 membersBaptists- 66 membersMethodists- 45 membersAnglicans/Episcopalians- 35 membersPresbyterians- 28 membersJews- 22 members The most partisan group? Only Idaho and Utah are represented exclusively by a single religion, other than states with a single seat. H/T BuzzFeed. Evangelical ‘Messy Middle’ is more accepting of gays. RNS () — A new voice is emerging in the evangelical community, and it’s turning away from the church’s vocal opposition to homosexuality in favor of a more tolerant attitude.
Researchers at Baylor University found that 24 percent of evangelicals were “ambivalent,” meaning they support civil unions or legal recognition of gay relationships, despite harboring a moral opposition to homosexuality. “What you have is this increase in people coming out publicly and saying, ‘I don’t want to be a part of this anti-gay rights movement as an evangelical,’” said Lydia Bean, assistant professor of sociology at Baylor and co-author of the study. The study, “How the Messy Middle Finds a Voice: Evangelicals and Structured Ambivalence towards Gays and Lesbians,” analyzed national data from the 2010 Baylor Religion Survey, conducted by Gallup. Researchers presented their study at the annual American Sociological Association meeting in New York on Monday (Aug. 12). And that’s why their views matter.
World of religion. Is the growth of the nonreligious good or bad? Americans are divided. Pewglobal : #Pope Francis says "Who am... For most Americans, gay equality trumps religious objections. The Rise of the Christian Left in America - Jonathan Merritt. In June 1979, a coalition of conservative religious leaders led by a Jewish Howard Phillips, Catholic Paul Weyrich, and evangelical televangelist Jerry Falwell banded together to wage a political "holy war" against the liberal establishment.
They called their organization the "Moral Majority" to signify the large number of social conservatives they believed were being ignored across American culture. Forming a political action committee, the organization registered 4 million voters in 1980 and purchased $10 million in radio and television ads questioning President Carter's patriotism and Christianity. Its message struck a chord with a large swath of Americans, and their efforts are credited with helping to elect Ronald Reagan.
More importantly, the birth of the coalition began of a period of political dominance for the religious conservatives that would span at least three decades. Progressive religious leaders seem predictably pleased. Jones says it's too early to tell. Really Listening to Atheists: Taking Nonbelief Seriously - Jeffrey Tayler. When Larry Alex Taunton talked to young atheists about why they left Christianity, he interpreted their objections as matters of style, not substance. That's not accurate or fair. As an atheist, I have frequently had religious acquaintances and even family members misunderstand the basis for my lack of faith.
So when Larry Alex Taunton, a Christian who has debated nonbelief with celebrity New Atheists Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins, recently wrote about his conversations with college-aged apostates, emerging with several conclusions about why these young people are leaving the church, I was interested. Taunton and his organization wanted to understand how young men and women become avowed nonbelievers, and they contacted a number of campus secular groups to ask if their members would share their stories. Their respondents were mostly ex-Christians who had left the church during high school. Taunton's are deeply problematic findings. Why is this important? Modern American Atheism Is Reaction to Christian Right, Sociologists Argue. (Photo: Rowman & Littlefield)Book cover for There is No God: Atheists in America, by University of North Texas sociologists David A. Williamson and George Yancey. Published by Rowman & Littlefield.
(Photo: George Yancey)George Yancey, professor of sociology, University of North Texas (Photo: David A. Williamson)David A. Williamson, associate professor of sociology at the University of North Texas April 29, 2013|9:23 pm Atheism changes over time and is a reaction to the dominant religious beliefs of the time. For their research, Williamson, associate professor of sociology, and Yancey, professor of sociology, used an online survey, with open-ended questions, of 1,451 atheists and conducted face-to-face interviews with 51 atheists from two separate regions of the country. In an interview with The Christian Post, Yancey spoke about what motivated him to write the book, why he thinks it is important to study atheists, and whether atheists have a moral system.
Follow us Get CP eNewsletter ›› Why millennials are leaving the church. Opinion by Rachel Held Evans, Special to CNN (CNN) – At 32, I barely qualify as a millennial. I wrote my first essay with a pen and paper, but by the time I graduated from college, I owned a cell phone and used Google as a verb. I still remember the home phone numbers of my old high school friends, but don’t ask me to recite my husband’s without checking my contacts first. I own mix tapes that include selections from Nirvana and Pearl Jam, but I’ve never planned a trip without Travelocity.
Despite having one foot in Generation X, I tend to identify most strongly with the attitudes and the ethos of the millennial generation, and because of this, I’m often asked to speak to my fellow evangelical leaders about why millennials are leaving the church. I point to research that shows young evangelicals often feel they have to choose between their intellectual integrity and their faith, between science and Christianity, between compassion and holiness.
We want an end to the culture wars. Why Going to Church Is Good for You. Social support is no doubt part of the story. At the evangelical churches I’ve studied as an anthropologist, people really did seem to look out for one another. They showed up with dinner when friends were sick and sat to talk with them when they were unhappy. The help was sometimes surprisingly concrete. Perhaps a third of the church members belonged to small groups that met weekly to talk about the Bible and their lives. One evening, a young woman in a group I joined began to cry. Her dentist had told her that she needed a $1,500 procedure, and she didn’t have the money. Healthy behavior is no doubt another part. That tallies with my own observations. Yet I think there may be another factor. I want to suggest that this is a skill and that it can be learned. But not everyone benefits from symbolic healing.