More U.S. Christians mix in 'Eastern,' New Age beliefs

[cynatnite]

Elements of Eastern faiths and New Age thinking have been widely adopted by 65% of U.S. adults, including many who call themselves Protestants and Catholics, according to a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life released Wednesday.

Syncretism — mashing up contradictory beliefs like Catholic rocker Madonna's devotion to a Kabbalah-light version of Jewish mysticism — appears on the rise.

And, according to the survey's other major finding, devotion to one clear faith is fading.

Of the 72% of Americans who attend religious services at least once a year (excluding holidays, weddings and funerals), 35% say they attend in multiple places, often hop-scotching across denominations.

They are like President Obama, who currently has no home church. He has worshiped at a Baptist church, an Episcopal one, and the non-denominational chapel at Camp David.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-12-10-1Amixingbeliefs10_CV_N.htm?csp=34

[saltpoint]

1. No reason not to be well-stocked across all markets.

[xchrom]

2. lots of us a leaning way more pan theistic.

and we're loving it.

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. Me, I'll take what I like from the faith smorgasbord and leave the rest. (Such as

literal translations of any religious text.)

[Manifestor_of_Light]

3. Christianity is backwards and anti-intellectual (mostly).

I can see exactly why lots of people (including me) refuse to be demeaned by the doctrine of original sin and substitutionary atonement, and the belief that the only way to get to heaven is by being a Christian.

There is truth in all the major religions. In a multicultural world, saying "I have the true religion and you are going to hell if you don't believe the way I do" is not going to make friends.

[PinkoDonkey]

4. (mostly)

Thanks for the "(mostly)".

How gracious of the "Manifestor_of_Light" to leave a small opening for progressive, thoughtful Christianity...

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. But absolutists are sure they are right and proud of their convictions. ** was

the epitome of that in everything he did.

[Raster]

7. .

[AllyCat]

8. hey, they've been doing it for centuries by celebrating Xmas in Dec

putting up Xmas trees and what not.

Why these people (Xtians) cannot see the value in celebrating elements of all religions and walks is beyond me. According to this article, some of them are.

[knitter4democracy]

9. And then there are the Eastern Orthodox Christians.

We're the Eastern version of the faith. :)

[rd_kent]

10. I see this as traditional religious people realizing the answers are elsewhere

and are opening their eyes to other alternatives.


Perhaps with more time, more people will open their eyes and see that religion and mysticism is not the answer at all and we, as a species, can move beyond it. Imagine what the world would look like if no one believed in religion, fairy tales or "woo" (sorry woo followers, I don't know another term that fits what I am trying to say), bit followed logic and reason and rational thought.

What a beautiful world it would be......

[starroute]

11. Even Christians are shopping around

Twenty years ago, my husband and I were friends for a time with a couple who were both Christian rock musicians and heavily into Native American religion.

Eight years ago, my son briefly worked at a book store and reported back that the fastest sellers were New Age and Wiccan books being bought by otherwise perfectly conventional teenage girls.

I'm quite sure that if you polled nominally Christian young people -- especially 16 year old girls -- you'd find that a substantial segment of them have not only read about but engaged in some form of neo-pagan ritual.

Change is happening, and the fact that a majority of Americans still describe themselves as Christian only means that we're in the middle of the transition.