Evangelical Baby Boom? Demographics and Religious Politics

[LongTomH]

Run time: 02:38 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbuH20W94Kg   Posted on YouTube: December 29, 2010 By YouTube Member: ForaTv Views on YouTube: 183   Posted on DU: December 29, 2010 By DU Member: LongTomH Views on DU: 802

 
"Can a seemingly simple shift in demographics reshape the political and religious landscape of a nation? Eric Kaufmann, author of Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth?, attributes conservative religious movements in both the United States and the Middle East to rising birth rates among particular populations."

Scary ideas! On the other hand, I've read that the percentage of Evangelicals in the population has stayed nearly constant since the 1980s.

[sulphurdunn]

1. I don't know about this.

The country is full of reformed evangelicals and closet evangelical liberals. The real problem is with fundamentalists of all persuasions, secular and sectarian.

[Crowman1979]

2. The Talabangelicals can breed all of they want. But it's not gonna stop half of their children from

...realizing what they have been raised on was a lie.

[JDPriestly]

3. A century ago, the Methodist Church was more like the evangelicals

in many ways than it is today. It always had what we now think of as a liberal philosophy toward caring for others, but it became more liberal in terms of theology because of the new discoveries and understandings of theologians based on new information about biblical and ancient history.

These large evangelical families are likely to be poor and disadvantaged. The brightest among them will educate themselves and, in the process, adopt new ideas. They will lead their fellow evangelicals out of the intellectual wilderness.

The evangelical view of the world really does not make sense, and many children raised as evangelicals will look at what their parents taught them with a critical eye. Happens over and over. How many ex-Catholics do you think there are on DU alone? And how many Catholics in name only? The numbers are enormous. Then there are the Catholics who like the mystery and the services and the comfort of being Catholic, but don't really understand the religion or agree with much of what it teaches.

The intellectual leadership has always grown out of the cultural groups that most valued education. That's true in every culture. There is always a tension, and those with new, demanding ideas always have to struggle for the acceptance of those ideas.

[1American]

4. Evangelicals in the South

If you live in the South and are a "liberal" you are castigated as being a "socialist" or "communist". Welfare is considered an act of the devil. Poverty is considered a sin caused by sinners who are lazy, stupid, and at the same time cunning and conspiratorial. Figure that out..

Recent brain studies will no doubt confirm that thick-headedness really is a communicable trait.

The fact that the South once was a Democratic liberal region which switched dramatically to ultra-conservative evangelical shows that the spread of religious/political behavior is easily acquired if the word "Jesus" is used in connection with anything. Ronald Reagan proved that.

Look at how easily Glenn Beck became popular when he focused on the right-wing radical evangelical fanatics!

Christianity is money. Money is Republican. Republican is religion--Christianity exclusively.

[Joanne98]

5. Everybody hates their guts. Their children probably do too.

[Althaia]

6. "Idiocracy" again seems to be foresighted....

...I am bemused that what was presented as a joke is now being seriously discussed by academics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXRjmyJFzrU

American @4, a bit part of the Southern political shift was racism. It was called the Nixon Plan, and republicans deliberately appealed to racist tendencies to get votes.