Good will to all men? Not from the grumpy atheists! (Thank God not all atheists are grumpy but there sure seems to be a lot of them)
Why is it that so many in the atheist community cannot bring themselves to get past their anger whenever they engage in discussions? The language of many of their contributions in public debate is laced with invective and dripping with sarcasm and bile. There are exceptions of course, but they tend to fall more into the category of being the 'exception that proves the rule' when compared to the hostility of many of today's atheist posters. Comment offered by the theists in the public square is often depicted as being 'malicious' or 'venomous' and intended to enslave the 'feeble minded and weak' by those who post. Nothing could be further from the truth. Venom is something that is oriented to death. Christians are oriented in a 180 degree different direction. We speak not to the culture of death that grips our world but rather for the culture of life and light which ends with the gift of eternal life. For example, the Catholic Church in its hum...
Take the statistics with a grain of salt. According to the Toronto Archdiocese's statistics on their web site, divinding claimed Catholics by parishes gives an average of 8500 Catholics per parish. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles is nearly twice that at 16000 Catholics per parish. I would guess that the actual number is a quarter or that.
ReplyDeleteActive participation in institutional religion is decreasing as a percentage of population, everywhere in the World, except sub Saharan Africa, where it is primarily a political and cultural expression.
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