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Imperial religion drives millions from church
http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/religion/2014/05/02/ray-waddle-imperial-religion-drives-millions-church/8630363/By Ray Waddle
For The Tennessean 4:49 p.m. CDT May 2, 2014
(Photo: Getty Images / iStockphoto )
A quote by scholar Elizabeth Drescher is making the rounds that explains the statistical “nones,” people who no longer affiliate with religion or never did: “Catholics who become nones are hurt. Evangelicals who become nones are angry. Mainline Protestants who become nones are bored.”
Most nones are not atheists, she says. They’re interested in spirituality and transcendence. But most come from a Christian background. Many are disillusioned, for all sorts of reasons.
Church-leaving evangelicals feel their leaders tricked them into foolish (and unnecessary) positions against science, evolution and the environment, she says.
Church-leaving Catholics include women who feel unaffirmed, lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender individuals who feel excluded, and many others who were shocked by the persistence of the sex-abuse scandal.
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