Monthly Archive for January, 2007

Talk to any evangelical Christian and he or she will tell you in no uncertain terms that the Christian faith is under attack. And losing.

This is not true. There are certain isolated instances where some parent takes offense at a picture of Jesus some kid drew in school (for a non-religious assignment) and has the ACLU ban pictures of Jesus at all schools in the district or where a bunch of people have religious symbols removed from public buildings because they apparently violate the separation of church and state. These people are idiots, just as much as any evangelical who claims morality is vanishing from the world.

First off, a message to atheists: pick your fights. Separation of church and state is meant to keep the state from meddling in religious affairs and religion from meddling in political affairs. Having the Ten Commandments in front of a courthouse is neither. It’s merely a display of historical rules. Besides, you probably follow most of those commandments every day, so why does it matter? The things you should be fighting are legislation based on religious morals. Gay marriage, abortion, and other such hot topics. Don’t whine because there’s a moment of silence at your kid’s school. That silence can be used for anything; not just prayer.

Now, on with the show. Religion is not under attack. How do I know? The vast majority of Americans are religious, or at least believe in some sort of god. And the majority of those believers are Christian. Even teens, the allegedly godless sex-fiends who have orgies in marijuana smoke-filled rooms on college campus, are getting faith. I don’t have exact numbers, but a great deal of American teenagers identify as Christian.

I find this rather unfortunate, but that’s just me. I prefer people to figure their beliefs out on their own (as I am in the process of doing), but it seems most teens just believe in God because they’re told they should by parents, friends, or pastors. But that’s not the point of this particular post. I’ll rant about that some other time.

Now, is morality on the decline in America? It may seem that way. People are less prudish than they used to be. Teenage pregnancy seems rampant, and R-rated movies and M-rated video games are in the hands of pre-teen kids, who then use the knowledge in those games to steal cars and shoot people (note: video games do not teach people how to actually load, aim, and fire a gun; they teach you how to press certain buttons and move a controller). But is this really any different than past eras in the United States? Take the sixties and seventies, for instance. Drug use was higher than it ever was, and “free love” was all the rage. Today’s world is mild by comparison. As for premarital sex…well, it’s a pretty fair bet that your grandma had sex behind the football bleachers in high school, according to a recent survey. That survey surprisingly said that something like 95% of Americans have had sex before marriage. Some participants even reported having it as far back as the 1950s. Surprising, no?

Premarital sex is something that has been considered socially acceptable for a very long time. Teenage pregnancies are on the rise for one reason and one reason only: lack of adequate sex education. Instead of learning about condoms and birth control (both essential to preventing STDs and unwanted pregnancies), many teens are taught only about abstinence only. The idea of abstaining from sex until marriage is, interestingly enough, a religious idea, put forth by religious organizations and supported by the American government. From the site:

In 1996, Congress signed into law the Personal Responsibility & Work Opportunities Reconciliation Act, or “welfare reform.” Attached was the provision, later set out in Section 510(b) of Title V of the Social Security Act, appropriating $250 million dollars over five years for state initiatives promoting sexual abstinence outside of marriage as the only acceptable standard of behavior for young people.

Ironic, isn’t it, how a religious-based initiative is causing an alleged “decline” in morality? Anyways, the results of abstinence-only education programs vary by state, but the data I’ve seen reports mostly failure.

I could go on with more, but it’s late and I’ve said most of what I wanted to say, at least on the pitiful efforts of evangelical Christians to make it seem as if they’re the minority in a country that’s overwhelmingly religious. Of course, that doesn’t mean the actual minority (non-believers, that is) is powerless. In the words of someone famous (or maybe not) “Can’t we all just get along?”

…yes, I realize that was a horrible way to end my post. I am, after all, lord of the cop-outs.