Christianity In The USA

analyst_green said:
One thing I've noticed is that, at least in the wider Midwest, Catholics tend to be concentrated in the cities due to historical immigration patterns from Italy, Poland, etc. So if you take a look at Pittsburgh, Detroit, St. Louis, or Chicago, you'll see they have huge Catholic populations. But the surrounding rural regions tend to be mostly Protestant.

So because Catholics never had the same strong rural base, they were always much more prone to liberal influences. Of course there are exceptions like the Catholic Cajuns in Southern Louisiana who are religious and conservative, but still more laid-back about things like alcohol than the evangelicals to the north.
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A large percentage of the Hispanics in Texas are Catholic, and quite conservative.

But like you mentioned have absolutely no problem enjoying alcohol.

A lot of Texas also has a substantial German and Czech ancestry which also tempers the teetotaler influence in much of the state.
 
Thomas More said:
The low church opposition to alcohol goes back to England during the industrial revolution. You had millions of people going to work in the factories, which paid more than farm work, but it still wasn't much.

Often the men would get their pay and blow it all in the bar on their day off, and leave nothing for their wife and kids. If they would not drink, and would spend all their money on supporting their family, plus setting aside a little in savings, then they could make ends meet, and over the course of years their saving could actually build up enough to buy a little cottage, and to pay for the children to learn to read and write.

The temperance movement developed in this environment, trying to stop the scourge of alcoholic fathers leaving their families in poverty, starving and freezing. They had a pretty good point, because the masses were living in squalor, and yet actually had the resources to live well if they would be hard working, prudent, and frugal.
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I suppose a big reason why they became alcoholics is because of the stress. Factory work today is nothing like what it was during the industrial revolution, pre-unionization. It was an incredibly dangerous job, they were given no suits or masks to protect from toxic chemicals, and the working day could be 12-16 hours long. And there was no time off or insurance. If you worked in a Chicago factory and lost a few fingers on the job and couldn't work anymore, there would be a huge line of freshly arrived Lithuanian immigrants outside the factory standing all day in subzero temps just hoping to replace you.

This unfettered capitalism is a major impetus for the downfall of Christianity in the US in the 20th century. People had no time or energy left to devote to God. In the countryside the situation was a bit better, but it deteriorated after the Civil War. Pre Civil War, the South especially had a laid-back leisure economy consisting primarily of independent, yeoman farmers. People were diligent and conscientious workers, but work was just a means to make a living and they left enough time to devote to their family and church. After the War, the Northern industrialists either forced people into the factories in the cities, or bought out the land for large-scale industrial farming. And that's probably why the US today, and particularly the South, ended up with this bland, corporatist "Walmart culture". Even the soulless megachurches are a reflection of that.
 
Wutang said:
I will say that with Protestants, there is the stereotype of the super theologically minded Reform/Calvinist guy that likes to smoke so that's an exception to the trend I just mentioned.
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Funny thing is it was actually a Calvinist Baptist who popularized this image. I do like the squeaky clean image that most low-churches have, between no smoking or drinking, but I'm not going to bind anyone's conscience at the end of the day. I will smoke a cigar to the glory of God.
 
GodfatherPartTwo said:
If it wasn't for Evangelicals, America would be a communist hell-hole by now. So give credit where credits due. I don't blame the good guys for what the bad guys are doing.

That said, many of the mainline Protestant denominations have been targeted for infiltration by the left because they held the most institutional power. It doesn't matter what the institution is, the left always seeks to infect and propagate itself. Everytime the left successfully corrupts enough of any one denomination, the conservatives break off and form a new organization to keep things pure. This is what happened with the PCUSA, and led to the formation of the PCA. Same Presbyterian denomination, but one group is pozzed and the other is not.

Based on all of the data I've seen, Protestantism is the only one of the three main branches of Christianity that consistently votes Republican over Democrat. Hopefully this will change since it is becoming ever more apparent that the left is secular and atheist to the core.
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I found the meme I was looking for.

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I ran into one of my friends at a liberal coffee shop. The people that work there are nice, but lots of left-wing signs, rainbow stuff, the usual things at places like this. There was even a tranny in there.

Well my friend and I started talking about Christianity and politics. We even started being critical of Jews and Israel at one point. The looks some of the people were giving us was hilarious. But I really don't care anymore. My friend will say whatever pops in his head out loud. Pretty funny stuff.

It got me thinking though, that it's important to spend your money and time in places with similar values. I'll stick to the conservative, Christian coffee shop I usually go to.
 
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Is the Negative World Coming to an End?

Joe Rogan covers Christianity; the virtue of reconciliation; the relationship recession and more in this week's digest.
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I also think there will be a new openness to Christianity by some people, because they see it as a bulwark of a Western culture they wish to defend, because they are seeking meaning in life, because of the shift towards re-enchantment or other matters.
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I do think the more overt forms of hostility to Christianity will abate in this new environment. There are still some of these attacks, such as those against Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth over his Jerusalem Cross tattoo for being an “extremist symbol.” But I expect them to decline.

However, I do think there will continue to be widespread hostility to most socially conservative legislation apart from marginal items where there’s broad public support (e.g., limiting access to online porn by minors). Try to ban abortion and see what happens.

I also think the culture will be resolutely post-Christian in terms of its ethical values. Again, we see this in the second Trump campaign and administration, which mostly adopted socially moderate positions. Porn, pot, gambling, etc. remain popular. The norms around things like expecting marital fidelity in political leaders are probably not coming back anytime soon.

Nevertheless, I think we can be glad that some forms of aggressive hostility have declined. Whether that means we’ve entered a new era that deserves a new label is yet to be seen.
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Nowadays, Christianity is rarely met with direct hostility in Silicon Valley. But there is still the lingering sense—at least in intellectual circles—that practicing it is a “faux pas,” said Michelle Stephens, who is Trae Stephens’s wife and the founder of the organization hosting the Code & Cosmos event, ACTS 17 Collective. (The organization is named after a passage in the Acts of the Apostles in which the apostle Paul visits ancient Greece and preaches the gospel to intellectuals.) “Like, how are you a smart person,” she asked, “and a Christian?”
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When Thiel said in 2015 that many of Silicon Valley’s successful entrepreneurs seem to have a mild form of Asperger’s, overnight “kids started putting on an autism effect to seem smarter,” one entrepreneur recalled. “Like, you’re not on the spectrum, you’re just socially awkward and you’re trying to seem smart.” These days, he argued, the same effect that engendered a class of people putting on neurodivergence is cultivating a new bent toward biblical altruism.

This could be especially appealing to anyone seeking to stand out in a monoculture in which polycules and ketamine are mundane but attending Sunday church service is subversive. “You know, in cities like San Francisco and New York, being a Christian is a little bit of a vice,” said a San Francisco consultant. In other words, the new religion is religion.
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Mainline Protestant denominations in the US continue to shrink and make cuts to their budgets

apnews.com

Protestant denominations try new ideas as they face declines in members and money

When the Episcopal Church announced cuts to its national staff last month, it was the latest in a long-running cycle among historic U.S.
apnews.com apnews.com

When the Episcopal Church recently announced cuts to its national staff, it was the latest in a long-running cycle among historic U.S. Protestant denominations — declines in members leading to declines in funding and thus in staff.

And it wasn’t alone.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) also announced recent cuts to staff at its headquarters and in its global missions program. The United Methodist Church, after undergoing a major schism, has settled into a historically low budget, having cut its numbers of bishops and other positions.

While the circumstances vary from one denomination to another, there are some common threads. Several Protestant denominations are losing members, particularly the Episcopal, Presbyterian, Methodist and other historic mainline groups that have not only been aging and shrinking but have suffered schisms as they moved in more progressive directions.

At the same time, the number of nondenominational churches has grown over the past decade, as have the ranks of the religiously unaffiliated.
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Wutang said:
Mainline Protestant denominations in the US continue to shrink and make cuts to their budgets

apnews.com

Protestant denominations try new ideas as they face declines in members and money

When the Episcopal Church announced cuts to its national staff last month, it was the latest in a long-running cycle among historic U.S.
apnews.com apnews.com
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The liberal denominations continue to shrink because the cognitive dissonance of trying to hold the Bible together with leftist ideology is too great. It is much easier to choose one over the other.
 
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