Bible Question (short): Thoughts and comments on USA Today story |
Question (full): I posted this in a thread and I think it got lost in the size of the thread. So I will post as a question to see if it might generate any interest. I'm looking for thoughts and comments. USA Today the Wednesday April 16 edition had a very interesting article about people switching faiths. Basically 16 percent of the population of America has switched. Most disturbing was the fact that of the 9.5 million Catholics that left Catholicism 29 percent now say they have no religion. I suspect it has to do with the way the Catholic church handles divorces. Baptist are second highest in the group with 4.6 million changing religion and 15 percent saying they have no religion. Also interesting if someone leaves a mainline denomination such as Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, they will more than likely become Baptist or Catholic. They then interviewed four people that were changing religions, A Catholic that became charismatic non denominational, A Catholic that became Lutheran, A Christian (? No denomination) that became Jewish, and Methodist that became Catholic. The Catholic said he was seeking the unfiltered gospel, in other words he didn’t want anyone telling him what to believe. The Christian that became a Jew could not accept that Jesus was the only way to salvation. The Catholic that became a Lutheran did it for two reason first she was divorced and second her new husband was Lutheran. Her statement was only a theologian could tell the difference between the two religions. Last was the Methodist that became Catholic, he did for the holiness and reverence. Also he mentioned the applicability to life of the teaching. He viewed Catholicism as very positive while Protestantism was telling what not to do. This is a general summation of the article and I tried to remain objective. EdB |