Is The Religious Right Wing Dying?

[Pete]

I have just read a comment in the UK's Daily Telegraph :_ http://blogs.telegra...-right-is-dead/

I have to admit being a liberal Christian the religious right wing has scared me in more ways than one and there is no doubt that what goes on in the US has an influence in the UK. I admit I would be pleased to see the religious right wing go. That is not because I am against religion but because so many aspects of the religious right wing are anti so many things that I personally support.

Such as:-

Evolution being taught in schools.

A health service for everyone.

Gay Marriage.

Respect for other faiths and none faiths.

Recognition that atheists can also be moral citizens and just because your religious does not make you also moral.

The right to question the bible, the church or the government without others complaining that your some how against God for doing so.

etc etc

What I want to know is do members believe it is true that the religious right wing is dying?

Edited November 7, 2012 by Pete

[Feldgangende]

I think it is more a matter of socially encouraged perceptions. The religious right has been fading away for a long time.

In the US, as worldwide, polls taken over the last 30 years have shown a steady decline in people identifying with, and actively participating with, any ecumenical organization.

Despite that, during the administrations of Democrat presidents (Clinton, Obama) new "grass roots" groups are started (both secular and faith based, but the faith based ones are often proven to be funded in part or wholly by oil, tobacco, timber, etc.) and given large amounts of national press time. Non-christian faiths are rarely given any airtime, and what they do receive is usually slanted more towards the "should we allow" perspective.

Said groups are not formed, or at least televised, during Republican administrations (Bush 1 & 2, Reagan).

For that matter, you really only hear about the statistics on faith around election time, often in conjunction with not-so-subtle discussions on why we should approve faith initiatives.

[Fawzo]

I hope so Pete. I personally believe "Christianity" as we know it is dead and just going through it's death spasms. I feel and hope it is going to morph into something more akin to what I believe Yeshua and Buddha and other great sages have been trying to convey to us. Then we truly will be able to do the miracles these great personages have done and greater. Entities such as the "priest craft" will no longer be able to hold dominion over our hearts, minds and spirit and we will begin to walk as more mature Spiritual beings. I'm thinking by the year 2100 this will all come to pass.

[Umbraedeus]

I wish they were going away, but I fear it's like the old Monty Python sketch, "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!" Just when we think we're safe, they will rear their ugly head and burst into our homes. Oh well, maybe in four or five centuries .

[Jonathan H. B. Lobl]

To my perception, the religious right is expanding. Certainly, the Mormon church is going through a huge growth spurt. So are the most extream forms of Protestant Christianity and Islam. If anything, it looks like liberal religion which is in decline.

I think it is an expression of the wider trend of polarization. No, it is not going away. Maybe the middle is.

[Ex Nihilo]

To my perception, the religious right is expanding. Certainly, the Mormon church is going through a huge growth spurt. So are the most extream forms of Protestant Christianity and Islam. If anything, it looks like liberal religion which is in decline.

I think it is an exp<b></b>ression of the wider trend of polarization. No, it is not going away. Maybe the middle is.

I agree with this to a point. Where religion in growing, it's growing in the conservative denominations and congregations. However the nonreligious as a community is growing too. Which will only serve to divide us even further culturally. A great clash of worldviews is upon us and the old via media which the liberal religious groups served as is fast disintegrating. It'll soon be a bipolar world with little patience or room for fence sitters Edited November 8, 2012 by Rev'd Rattlesnake

[Dan56]

That is not because I am against religion but because so many aspects of the religious right wing are anti so many things that I personally support.

Such as:-

Evolution being taught in schools.

A health service for everyone.

Gay Marriage.

Respect for other faiths and none faiths.

Recognition that atheists can also be moral citizens and just because your religious does not make you also moral.

The right to question the bible, the church or the government without others complaining that your some how against God for doing so.

etc etc

What I want to know is do members believe it is true that the religious right wing is dying?

I don't think the religious right will ever die, they just seem to need an occasional lobotomy from time to time. The religious right tends to try and force their beliefs onto the rest of society, and when they get too pushy, you just need to politely knock them on their ass.

That said, I don't think basic conservatism or liberalism are problematic, its the extreme liberal left wing and radical right wing that seem to want to force their unfair biases on societies mainstream. In politics, Nixon screwed-up and we elected Carter, Carter screwed-up and we got 8 years of Reagan, 8 years of Clinton, 8 years of Bush, and 8 years of Obama. So it seems that we get cyclical swings, one group spurts into power after the other messes everything up.

Right wingers feel its okay to legalize guns and left wingers feel its okay to legalize pot, the problem is that we end up with a bunch of armed stone-heads.

I am against left wingers because they are anti so many things that I support.

Such as;

Creationism taught in schools, when evolution is taught.

Healthcare for everyone, when everyone pays for it.

Same sex unions, when it doesn't redefine marriage.

Respect for other faiths, when they respect mine.

The right to question abortion, the right to question the Koran without being killed, the right to pray in schools without being expelled by those who are against God. etc, etc.

Edited November 9, 2012 by Dan56

[Pete]

To my perception, the religious right is expanding. Certainly, the Mormon church is going through a huge growth spurt. So are the most extream forms of Protestant Christianity and Islam. If anything, it looks like liberal religion which is in decline.

I think it is an expression of the wider trend of polarization. No, it is not going away. Maybe the middle is.

I think it is difficult to say. Firstly, I see as Dan has pointed out a big difference between someone being on the religious right and someone being in an Evangelical church. As I pointed out in my opening post I am not against people holding a religious view but its use to (IMO) beguile a mass of people in government which should be there to represent all people (believer and non believer alike) I find myself unable to support. Maybe that is just my UK perception.

However, I understand your perception and why you have come to that conclusion from a US perception. Yet, from my personal experience in the UK and Europe there are many that profess a Christian belief but most do no not attend or affiliate themselves to a church. As the Tearfund in 2007 discovered around 58% of UK citizens profess a Christian faith and only 15% say they belong or attend a church. I am sure many do not attend because they do not feel happy with the church or have become disillusioned. Hence, the phrase "Believers in Exile" is often used to describe the situation. Around 50 yrs ago the attendance at church would have been around 50%. So it can be said that there is a fall in people attending a church. Now I am not saying that these people are all liberals but I would have as a guess most have never heard of a liberal but share similar views. It is also true that in the UK there are many churches being closed. Some are becoming homes and some are becoming religious buildings of other faiths and some are just being flattened for new building. That said we have in the UK more churches declaring themselves as liberal than we would have had even 10 yrs ago and I believe that is to meet this situation of people being disaffiliated from previous churches they attended.

May I say again that my original post was directed at the religious right wing and not Evangelical churches. Even if it is common knowledge that I do not agree with most Evangelical churches much. Yet, that is on a religious ground and not on a political basis as was my original post. I fear the religious right wing and its influence. Evangelical churches I can just disagree with or not.

http://www.whychurch.org.uk/trends.php

Edited November 9, 2012 by Pete

[Feldgangende]

I think the pie graph is a bit misleading. Also, taken together, the numbers don't quite add up.

They say clearly that Christians are 58% of the population. Athiests and agnostics are 33%. The other 9% is "other or unassigned".

The graph shows Christians as 58%... but then it show the nonchurched as the 33%. Nonchurched is fairly specific in the article, and is not athiest or agnostic.

And I have to think that Sikhs, Buddhists, Mormons, Scientologists, Wiccan, Muslims, and anything else make up more than 9%. Four of those are in the fastest 5 growing beliefs.

[Pete]

I think the pie graph is a bit misleading. Also, taken together, the numbers don't quite add up.

They say clearly that Christians are 58% of the population. Athiests and agnostics are 33%. The other 9% is "other or unassigned".

The graph shows Christians as 58%... but then it show the nonchurched as the 33%. Nonchurched is fairly specific in the article, and is not athiest or agnostic.

And I have to think that Sikhs, Buddhists, Mormons, Scientologists, Wiccan, Muslims, and anything else make up more than 9%. Four of those are in the fastest 5 growing beliefs.

I m sure that there are many problems with pi charts and even with quantitative research. For instance, I know of people who are Wiccans, Atheists, and Hindus, who go to church. Whether, one agrees or disagrees with them is not at issue (IMO). My point is that church attendance is often the measure used as to who is an evangelical Christian and who is not. It is recognised in the UK and in many countries in Europe that church attendance is getting less and I suspect that spiritual viewpoints are replacing those of organised religion. If we are saying that Evangelicals are on the increase in the Uk then one has to say on what criteria one is basing that on. If its a percentage of church attendance of said churches then I would say the result would be flawed because the overall number of church attenders has significantly fallen against the overall population. As you have pointed out that more people do not attend church than attend and they may have a mixture of reasons for not doing so including having other faiths.

[Fawzo]

One problem with such charts is groups like the Catholic church consider everyone ever baptized within it's doors as still being members and the truth is the largest number of Wiccans and Pagans I know personally are ex-Catholics.

[Pete]

The Church of England is also like that and as its a national church there are so many who are just nominal members. There is also the mistake that all members agree with the church or its function. There has been some mighty splits on the issue of women ministers and now women Bishops, Conservative and liberal theology, Gay and lesbian minsters and also same sex marriage. I am sure there are many more splits to come.

[emalpaiz]

Every religion has a right and left wing. There are times when one side predominates over the other. In recent years we have seen that the right has become the defender of an extreme orthodoxy. I do not think that either side will ever perish, but I would like to see a more middle of the road aspect of religion. Lord Buddha talked of the Middle Path.

My Middle Path is about keeping religion in the personal level, at the home, and at the temple. Religion should stay out of the public school systems, politics, and science. I believe that religion should not be a cause of separation, but an instrument of fellowship among people of different beliefs. The temple should be a true house of prayer and meditation.

Hermano Luis

[Jonathan H. B. Lobl]

I think it is difficult to say. Firstly, I see as Dan has pointed out a big difference between someone being on the religious right and someone being in an Evangelical church. As I pointed out in my opening post I am not against people holding a religious view but its use to (IMO) beguile a mass of people in government which should be there to represent all people (believer and non believer alike) I find myself unable to support. Maybe that is just my UK perception.

However, I understand your perception and why you have come to that conclusion from a US perception. Yet, from my personal experience in the UK and Europe there are many that profess a Christian belief but most do no not attend or affiliate themselves to a church. As the Tearfund in 2007 discovered around 58% of UK citizens profess a Christian faith and only 15% say they belong or attend a church. I am sure many do not attend because they do not feel happy with the church or have become disillusioned. Hence, the phrase "Believers in Exile" is often used to describe the situation. Around 50 yrs ago the attendance at church would have been around 50%. So it can be said that there is a fall in people attending a church. Now I am not saying that these people are all liberals but I would have as a guess most have never heard of a liberal but share similar views. It is also true that in the UK there are many churches being closed. Some are becoming homes and some are becoming religious buildings of other faiths and some are just being flattened for new building. That said we have in the UK more churches declaring themselves as liberal than we would have had even 10 yrs ago and I believe that is to meet this situation of people being disaffiliated from previous churches they attended.

May I say again that my original post was directed at the religious right wing and not Evangelical churches. Even if it is common knowledge that I do not agree with most Evangelical churches much. Yet, that is on a religious ground and not on a political basis as was my original post. I fear the religious right wing and its influence. Evangelical churches I can just disagree with or not.

http://www.whychurch.org.uk/trends.php

The United States Republican party calls their religious right -- "cultural conservatives." It's a code word.

Edited November 11, 2012 by Jonathan H. B. Lobl

[scottedward]

Variety is the spice of life, and what is the point of positive, without the negative around to compare it to?

[Jonathan H. B. Lobl]

Variety is the spice of life, and what is the point of positive, without the negative around to compare it to?

I think that it is possible to be happy; or at least content -- without knowing misery.

[scottedward]

I think that it is possible to be happy; or at least content -- without knowing misery.

Ignorance is bliss?

Yes, I've heard that too.

[Jonathan H. B. Lobl]

Ignorance is bliss?

Yes, I've heard that too.

That is not what I said. I think it is possible to enjoy the scent of flowers; without having been sprayed by a skunk.

[Ex Nihilo]

Do you think your sense of appreciation would still be as keen?

Edited November 15, 2012 by Rev'd Rattlesnake

[Cornelius]

Dominionism seems to be getting stronger. It is a threat to liberty that is not even known or often overlooked in this country.