One Nation Under God?

For a religionist, that article is a pretty balanced and unbiased piece of writing. Just as has happened in other educated, wealthy, safe societies, atheism in the US has already passed the tipping point. Sure only a few people self-label as atheists, but that's due to the social stigma and bigotry from the religious (mostly family members) that self-labelling creates. If a person dosen't beleive in any gods, s/he is an atheist. This includes those polite "agnostics", who have been trained not to "offend" any believers with their non-beleif. Agnostic and gnostic are merely modifiers of atheism or theism; despite what many think, agnosticism is not some neutral middle-ground (look in a dictionary if you doubt this). Is there any middle ground on belief in fairies? Unicorns? Thor, Zeus, or Isis? What about Allah for non-Muslims, or Yahweh for non-Christians and Jews? Of course not. If you live your life without gods, that is non- or a-theistically, you are an a-theist. And as more people come to that opinion, the better the world becomes. Well, the part with lots of atheists in it, anyway. Those places with lots of theists still have a lot of problems.

For a religionist, that article is a pretty balanced and unbiased piece of writing. Just as has happened in other educated, wealthy, safe societies, atheism in the US has already passed the tipping point. Sure only a few people self-label as atheists, but that's due to the social stigma and bigotry from the religious (mostly family members) that self-labelling creates. If a person dosen't beleive in any gods, s/he is an atheist. This includes those polite "agnostics", who have been trained not to "offend" any believers with their non-beleif. Agnostic and gnostic are merely modifiers of atheism or theism; despite what many think, agnosticism is not some neutral middle-ground (look in a dictionary if you doubt this). Is there any middle ground on belief in fairies? Unicorns? Thor, Zeus, or Isis? What about Allah for non-Muslims, or Yahweh for non-Christians and Jews? Of course not. If you live your life without gods, that is non- or a-theistically, you are an a-theist. And as more people come to that opinion, the better the world becomes. Well, the part with lots of atheists in it, anyway. Those places with lots of theists still have a lot of problems.

Dolmance; Perhaps not,but your screed is idiotic and illogical in its advancment of hatred to combat hatred. Heres a newsflash. Tne Republican Party of the United States is not an outlawed or illegal organization such as ETA,al Qaeda,BAADER-MEINHOF,or a RED BRIGADES. The Eurotrash has its own worries and its own hatreds,as does banana republic gems like Chavez' Venezuela or Mexico. The Middle East is mired in hate,while many Asian countries have moved to corner the market in human rights abuses. Remove thy mote,ye hypocrite.

For all you Christians offended that NEWSWEEK is running this article during Holy Week, please, do yourselves a big favor and do some research about why Easter is when it is: http://www.history.com/content/easter/pagan-origins

This should be expected, as we push education on our society, more of the population has access to literature, arts, science & math, than say 200 years ago, 400 years ago. We learned the Bible is a published book, of books, that was altered to be convincing, with many loop holes that cannot be proven right or wrong.
And if an alien lands from another planet, and says "We've been watching you species over the last 200,000 years, we'll be back when you start using 12% percent of you brain". Religion does not know how to cover for this. Earth was the center of the universe; we soon realized the sun was still. We later find other planets in our system, and then they have satellites too. Now knowing we are a just a spec in our own galaxy with in the universe of many galaxies. The human mind is something, we will, say, write, paint, preach, fight and kill; just to get our point across. Amazing a species will kill another over nothing, yet a tiger only kills to eat or to protect its family. Are we evolving or devolving?

Words on paper or opinions in minds will never stop the fact that Jesus Christ exists and HE is coming back. I will be found watching for HIS SECOND COMING and I pray that you will as well

You seem to have missed the point. Americans are becoming more spiritual, less dogmatic. And no mention of those religions/philosophies that deal with spirituality as opposed to religion? Wicca, Hinduism, Buddism, Hare Krishna, Kriya Yoga, the Red Path? I know there are statistics on the number leaving organized christian sects for these.But you make no mention of this fact, nor give the numbers.
I myself, an ex-Catholic since 1969, and a current Hare Krishna.
The earth plane is moving forward even if the media is lagging behind. People are courageously seeking "truth" and all you can do is bemoan the end of Christianity??

It is a positive thing that Americans are leaving organized, patriarchal dogma for spirituality as the age of aquarius is coming into play. This is healthy as each individual's spiritual experience is unique and each person has the right to find the truth for themselves. No mention was given here [as if only jews, christians and muslims existed] into the many other spiritual experiences Americans are seeking, Wicca, Hinduism, Hare Krishna, Kriya "Yoga, Buddism, Americans may be moving forward, but the media is lagging waaaay behind, as usual.

There is an inherent problem with one statistic in the survey. It states that 35% of Evangelicals identify themselves as Democrats. That is impossible. Evangelicals believe in traditional marriage and oppose killing babies. The Democratic Party supports abortion on demand and backs gay marriage. Either the survey is flawed or those who identified themselves as Democrats and Evangelicals have no idea what the Evangelical movement (belief in the literal word of the Bible) is all about.

I'm sure this is all good news to the atheists and anti-gentilites. Paul

@bmw4christ: Put a cork in it!

In other news, 85% of respondents admitted that, next to their completely unfounded religious faith, their next best line of defense against impending disaster was the Ouija board.

In my opinion best in our lifes. the most important thing we know is that jesus has die for our sikness
and there is no other reason less that the trully hope in eternal life , so is really nice for us to have the lord
around us, sharing bad and good times, rising the world over his shoulders . it is a pity all that stadist, but God
never has forgot his promise, and all in fact sould become better each day in our life, not only in united states but all over the world. is just to think is possible, nothing could never lose our faith, and i pray for that. remenber
in these days of bad economic, and other situation, that our beliefs can change this time.

In other news, 85% of respondents admitted that, next to religious faith, their next best defense against disaster was a Ouija board.

To bring political parties into a discussion about GOD is absolutely mindless. God has given each of us the opportunity to accept or reject Him based on faith alone. God gave mankind a free will to believe or not believe; to do right or wrong as we choose. God did not give us war, illness, hate, politics, economics, and yet man has become his own worst enemy and it is attributed to God??

With reference to other nations, while the U.S. has screwed up (not God) here and there, it has also shed the blood of its people, its wealth, its concern for other countries in need. Under no circumstances should this ever be forgotten.

Happy Passover and Easter to all, even to those who deny God's existence in favor of a "FUNNER" belief.

Bigots under the 1st Amendment, can prosletise their "hates" and proclaim their purity of belief...but common sense
needs little self awareness to see the hypocrisy of bigots...
Their self obsessed noise level alone, is self evident,
and seems to be more about self denial in the way the world is changing, than in clarifying any objective strengths or weaknesses in those real world events.

In a related artlicle by the editor Jon Meacham...the headlines provoke the bigots to bite at those sensational headlines,
rather than encourage insightful commentary.

Disjointed sensationalism, patronising, dogmatic, and a misdiagnosis of "Christianity"...
amongst other shortcomings in the article...Headlined..." The End of Christian America".

Contrast the above, with say the writings of John Shelby Spong (ex Harvard theologian)...such as "Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism"...

Thanks Google, and the internet to help us research our curiousity ...about claims to "THE" truth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Meacham
shows that Mr Jon Meacham is an educated man...with a powerful job as "Editor" of Newsweek.com
with a unique opportunity to either inform and educate the readership, or,
prosletise a single minded bias, in putting down the common sense of either American or European citizens to understand "Christianity" from their point of view. Neither the thousands of "polls" over the years,
or writers like Christopher Hitchens is going to clarify where "Christianity" is going in the world...
sure...as employees in the media industry...they are going to tell us anyway...

President Obama, has encouraged the Christian message...with a lot of integrity...
as have many other world leaders...but hey...not necessarily in a direction approved by the editors of NewWeek.com

Thanks for the debate.

RickAus
Adelaide, South Australia.