Survey Finds Church-Going Americans Less Tolerant

[The Backlash Cometh]

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Church-going Americans have grown increasingly intolerant in the past four years of politicians making compromises on such hot issues as abortion and gay rights, according to a survey released on Saturday.

At the same time, those polled said they were growing bolder about pushing their beliefs on others -- even at the risk of offending someone.

The trends could indicate that religion has become "more prominent in American discourse ... more salient," according to Ruth Wooden, president of Public Agenda, a nonpartisan research organization which released the survey.

It could also indicate "more polarized political thinking. There do not seem to be very many voices arguing for compromise today," she said in an interview. "It could be that more religious voices feel under siege, pinned against the wall by cultural developments. They may feel more emboldened as a result."

The November U.S. election saw voters in a number of states back gay marriage bans, and President

http://www.reuters.com/printerFriendlyPopup.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=7400526

[The Doctor.]

1. "In lieu of reason, religion fills the gap."

NS

[AuntiBush]

3. Yes!

Agreed! Very well stated!

[nashville_brook]

2. shocking!

here's a related story:

Scuffle at church leads to seven assault charges, claim of demonic possession

http://www.bristolnews.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=TRI%2FMGArticle%2FTRI_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031780347204&path=/news/localnews&s=

BRISTOL, Tenn. – No demons turned up in court Wednesday, when a judge postponed ruling on a family squabble that includes seven assault charges – one against an 83-year-old preacher – and at least one claim of demonic possession.

...

Reba Storey, 46, claims the Rev. Clarence June Love, the church’s pastor, told her she had a demon and threw her out when she showed up that Sunday to talk to her 88-year-old mother, Maude Yates.


"I don’t have a demon," Storey said. "Or at least I didn’t know I did. That’s a public place, and you ought to be able to see your mother any time you want to."

...

The pastor, who was about to start preaching to his congregation of less than a dozen, stepped down from the pulpit and tried to run them off, the sisters said.
"He said, ‘You’re not wearing pants in my church, you demon,’ " Storey said. "I said, ‘I’m so glad I serve a God who can work through my pants.’ "

[proudbluestater]

4. I love Reuters. Best MSM around.

[saltpoint]

5. Right before 3-year olds crash from exhaustion, don't they --

-- often crank it up and run wild through the house and expend a lot of wild energy?

Maybe the intolerant ones the Reuters article mentions are pushing and howling just before history buries them.

Roe COULD be overturned, but I doubt it. The outcry would be too great. This conservative court ruled that homosexual acts are no longer illegal, and of course the fundamentalists howled about that, too.

I say we push back.

[no_hypocrisy]

6. Depends upon the church and the minister.

There are Christians that follow the example of Jesus, and then there are those that use his image and his words in order to consolidate their quest for power, not truth and justice. Tolerance doesn't assist the goals of the latter.

[The Zanti Regent]

7. DO show me where!

Here in Los Angeles, all we have are 700 club and TBN franchises that masquerade as churches. All they do is indoctrinate the gullable. They sure did a great job on my only child, filling him with such hate that he couldn't wait to get out of high school and kill ragheads.

Now, my son, my only child is dead at 19, thanks to the followers of Je$u$ ¢hri$t.

If I have to sleep on Sunday mornings, I'd rather sleep in my bed than in a church pew.

[no_hypocrisy]

8. I'm sorry about your son and the circumstances surrounding

his death.

To be frank, these days the type of church I described would be liberal christian denominations bordering on the secular like Unitarian churches or some methodist churches I've attended in northern New Jersey (occasional, not often). But I have to go on record that they exist. And they also are under attack by the stronger, better financed mega-churches as competition for their congregants.

I'm a freethinker and not religious, but I also want to be fair in differentiating between the policies of certain churches. I would hope that in these churches, their congregants would be independent thinkers and tolerant. But there's a part of me that wonders if one can accept christian dogma and still remain independent in thinking.

Once again, I'm sorry about your son.

[The Zanti Regent]

9. You can't accept ¢hri$tianity and still be an independent thinker

¢hri$tianity and intelligence are like oil and water. they don't mix.