Dramatic is a Strong Word

This morning as I was checking my email I saw an article called “The Bible bill?” on Yahoo. “Interesting,’ I thought to myself, “I need to see what this is all about.” So I began to read the article talking about how a Republican Congressman Paul Broun has claimed the year 2010 as the “Year of the Bible.” Not really knowing what he meant by that I searched the article for some explanation. After providing much support to those opposed to Broun, the author finally gave me some of Broun’s own words, “This doesn’t have anything to do with Christianity,” he said in an interview with POLITICO. Rather, he says, it seeks to recognize that the Bible played an integral role in the building of the United States, including providing the basis for our freedom of religion that allows Muslims, Hindus and even atheists to vocalize their own beliefs.”

My feelings were mostly neutral until I read the following quote later in the article: “Right now, we’re seeing atheism on such a rise,” said David Silverman, vice president and national spokesman of American Atheists, a group dedicated to fighting for the civil rights of atheists. "We are seeing Christianity on such a dramatic decline that we’re not particularly worried about it. We’re thinking that this kind of old-style George W. Bush Republicanism is about to go away,” Silverman said, referring to the latest Pew Forum survey of American religious life, which showed nonreligious Americans as the fastest-growing group.”

I looked up the up the Pew Forum survey of American religious life and it showed that 78.4% of Americans in 2007 identify themselves as Christians. On another survey, the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey, I saw that in the 1990s 86.2% of Americans identified themselves as Christian. So, yes there has been a decline, but can you call it “such a dramatic decline” when the majority of Americans are still Christian?

I am not trying to attack those unaffiliated with a religion, but rather to counter some of the exaggerated points made by David Silverman. It is our freedom as citizens of this great country to have our own opinions - both he and I. As a Christian, it does make me sad that the percentage of Christians in America is declining not because I want “my team” to win, but because that means that so many Americans are missing out on what an awesome thing it is to know God and to receive forgiveness and love from Him.

http://mobile.politico.com/story.cfm?id=22832&cat=congress
http://religions.pewforum.org/reports
http://www.southernstudies.org/2009/03/survey-finds-christianity-on-the-decline----even-in-the-south.html