As a non-American i find it fascinating why religion, especially among the whites is growing throughout America. Is it a direct link to the Usa's aggresiveness to other countries, especially the muslim oil rich ones?

Out of discussion

Usually during periods of uncertainty like now, people get more religious.

i would tend to agree *nods*

also we have a generation that had religion shoved down our throat (mine anyway, growing up in the bible belt of the south)...and since growing older and maybe a bit wiser, i have turned back to a familiar belief system i once walked away from...

Some topics are maybe near the knuckle but it shouldnt stop people talking about them. Thats what freedom of speech is all about. Im not anti american, far from it i writing a paper on the subject and i wondered if there was a correlation between the two.

When people become afraid, they don't reason things out. Instead, they go back to what was comfortable, even if it was misguided.

YES. Its a useful tool for the right wing politicians to jazz the people up for aggresion.

I think America's foreign policy consists of maintaining what ever status quo keeps the oil flowing.

We backed the Shah of Iran, and he helped American interests, when he was deposed and Iran became anti-American we backed Saddam Hussain in the region as a balance to Iran and to keep the oil flowing. He was a thug, but he was Our Thug, just like the Shah was Our Thug. We helped Iraq during the Iraq/Iran war as pay back for the Iran hostage situation, and to keep radical Islamic forces constrained. If they are too busy fighting fellow Middle Easterners, they are too busy to cause trouble else where in the world.

I would rethink the premise of the paper

religion in America is declining, not growing


America is a less Christian nation than it was 20 years ago, and Christianity is not losing out to other religions, but primarily to a rejection of religion altogether, a survey published Monday found.
Survey finds percentage of of Americans identifying themselves as Christian has fallen over two decades.

Survey finds percentage of of Americans identifying themselves as Christian has fallen over two decades.

Seventy-five percent of Americans call themselves Christian, according to the American Religious Identification Survey from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. In 1990, the figure was 86 percent.

William Donohue, president of the Catholic League said he thinks a radical shift towards individualism over the last quarter-century has a lot to do it.

"The three most dreaded words are thou shalt not," he told Lou Dobbs. "Notice they are not atheists -- they are saying I don't want to be told what to do with my life."

At the same time there has been an increase in the number of people expressing no religious affiliation.

-CNN


as for the link between that and American "aggression" towards muslim and/or oil rich nations, I think that is more a matter of subjective perception and quite a stretch

I agree with quiet here. I dont see this evidence of religion growing.

It seems more a culture of individuals who are their own God, so to speak. I see more evidence of not just right becoming wrong and wrong becoming right but a downright rebellion against labeling anything right or wrong. A higher order or a higher authority is becoming less and less acknowledged or praised and replaced with praising 'INDEPENDENCE' and "FREEDOM'.

In the most current terms, these ideals are in direct conflict with religion which generally supplies guidelines and rules as to how life should be lived.

I would be interested in hearing different observations though.

i would like to thank everyone for their input so far, to be honest i was worried the question would be taken the wrong way but iam happy to say i was wrong and the majority of replies gave me an interesting incite into religion in America. As seems to be the concensus, if Religion is in fact in decline in America, would it then be fair to say that those who still have religious beliefs are voicing their beliefs even louder now, so as to be heard ?

I know more who have left their organized childhood religions and found different paths...
Yes, I agree with you those who hold fast to their religion and this country being based on a "in God we trust" concept are getting louder.

nahh not really

the fundamentalists (christian/muslim/whatever) will always be vocal and will garner lots of media attention just because the media likes sensationalistic stuff. But they are in the minority

99% of all the religious people just live their lives, go to work and go home and watch TV and never make a sound

if you hear a Christian on TV making a lot of noise and getting attention then you know that he is exactly the wrong kind of christian and doesnt represent but a small minority

i don't buy your primise that religion is growing in america among whites. we continue to become a more racialy diverse nation and if you are refering to the christian religion, it's adherants are in steady decline in america. and of course your association with religion and america's "aggressivness" is simply absurd. as is the notion that the country is in fact agressive.

i never said that America was aggresive i said it is aggresive toward other countries through its foriegn policies. Think back to vietnam and count the number of countries america has put troops into.

I don't think that has much to do with religion other than the fact that as a nation that has historically been predominantly Christian it only goes to show that Christianity has failed miserably to instill decent morals in the hearts and minds of Americans.

So America is a shining example of how religion is useless as a moral guide.

But then again, the Muslim countries are also shining examples of how the same fundamental religion led to similar usless systems of morals in those countries.

I personally don't think America shines any brighter than any other country as an example of how useless religion has been on the national scale of things.

I think religions, as a basis for morality, have been historically proven to be utterly useless and typically lead to atrocities and immoral behavior rather than the opposite. From my point of view, that seems to be a global phenomena, not just the behavior of any one nation.

To be religious is to follow a religion . The question is : are Americans really following Christianity ?. The answer is obviously no and no . The real Christinians believe that sex between a man and a woman is only within the wedlock, absolutely no sex between a man and a man or a woman and a woman, no lies, no fraud, no adultery, no killing......etc . Is that what Americans are doing and following ?.
American Christinians are Christinians in names only .

well gee, forgive me. when you used the word "agressive" i assumed you meant america exibits aggressivness toward somebody. so here, let me rephrase. your notion that america is "agressive toward other countries" or anybody or anything is absurd. got it now?

let's see...
"aggressive"?

In Viet Nam the US was defending the South from invasion by the North

then there was Bosnia, the US and Nato was there defending the Muslim population from ethnic cleansing by the Orthodox Christians

and then there was Kuwait, the US and allies were defending the Muslim Kuwaitis from invasion by Iraq

In Iraq, Saddam violated every term of the surrender he signed after Kuwait, and the US was obligated to take him from power by the terms of that surrender.

In Afghanistan the US overthrew the Taliban and freed the Muslims from a worse horror than Saddam


seems to me most of this "aggression" has been to the purpose of defending Muslims instead of persecuting them

I am not an American although I have lived over there for ten years and I would say this as an admonition to all Americans who try to drag the US down to their personal degredation. The United States is a wonderful place to be born, to grow and pursue dreams. It may only be a quirk of fate that there but for the grace of God go I. You could hav e been born to an illiterate beggar in Manilla with nothing to dream about except where to find your next scrap of rotten food. But for a quirk of fate.
In America a man has room to examine his religion, his belief system, and also pursue his materialistic goals. In spite of all your disagreements The USA is a wonderful place to live. After all even freedom has a price, and sometimes that price is free speech.