A New Survey on Christianity

I have good news and bad news.

The good news is that there are fewer Christians in the U. S. today than there were 20 years ago, according to a new survey of 54, 461 people taken between February and November of last year. I know it doesn't seem like it but only 75% of respondents identified themselves as Christian as opposed to 86% in 1990.

The bad news is that of those who identified themselves as Christian, there are more evangelicals than mainstream Christians. In other words, evangelicals make up a majority of those who consider themselves to be Christian. And more bad news is that there has been a huge rise in the number of those who attend megachurches.

On the other hand, more people now express no religious affiliation, and that is some good news.

Now, if I were to have my own country, there would be no religion at all. A lot of very bad things have been done to our fellow humans, either directly or indirectly, in the name of religion. And what ever good comes from religion (e.g., values, etc.), can be taught just as well, if not better, without religion.

I've always imagined that if extraterrestrials (ETs) ever really did visit Earth, they would look down on our primitive, silly religious rituals with people dressed in robes and shawls and elaborate head attire bowing and swaying, and kneeling and praying, watching while we kill and maim each other, and these ETs would just keep on going without giving us the time of day.

But, let's face it, we will probably never be without religion. But I can still dream, can't I?