you clearly don't know what you are talking about. baptists are commonly known as the prayingest christian sect. http://www.sullivan-county.com/bush/divorce.htm Baptists have highest divorce rate The Associated Press 12/30/99 1:31 AM Eastern BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) -- Baptists have the highest divorce rate of any Christian denomination, and are more likely to get a divorce than atheists and agnostics, according to a national survey. The survey conducted by Barna Research Group in Ventura, Calif., found that 29 percent of all adult Baptists have been through a divorce. Among Christian groups, only those who attend non-denominational Protestant churches were more likely to be divorced, with a 34 percent divorce rate. Alabama, with a population of 4.3 million, has more than one million Southern Baptists and a majority of evangelical Protestants. The state ranks fourth nationally in divorce rates, behind Nevada, Tennessee and Arkansas, according to U.S. government statistics. Barna Research Group interviewed 3,854 adults from the 48 continental states, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percent. The survey found that while just 11 percent of the adult population is currently divorced, 25 percent of all adults have experienced at least one divorce, the survey showed. Twenty seven percent of those describing themselves as born-again Christians are currently or have previously been divorced, compared to 24 percent among other adults. i suppose you could fallback on the common christian excuse "they weren't real christians". it is convenient to claim every christian that doesn't fall into your closedminded little world wasn't a real christian. if you want to use better living as your criteria for what is true in religion. all evidence indicates Mormons have the best statistics in all areas of everyday living(divorce rates,healthy lifestyles,). do Mormons have the truest religion?
many of us unbelievers know this as well. you have found nothing special that unbelievers also dont have. some people need a crutch to get through life and others find their strength within themselves.
moderator. its probably time to move this thread to chit chat so it can die a peaceful death. no good can come from allowing debates about religion in the main part of elite.
My own faith commitment is that I put my trust in Jesus. Im a Christian for 14 yrs on - reformed protestant flavor, charismatic, neo orthodox....i guess im a theological mongrel. Ive only been trading equities 6 mo now with 28K capital. Do i think that being a Christian gives me any edge in trading?? Probably not, per se. From my view God's Grace has given all kinds of gifts of intellect, insights, abilities to all people at all times through out history. I have many non Christian friends that seem to have better developed/more mature thinking skills in various areas than i have. Do i pray about trading matters?? Hell Yes!! You see, trading can capture my interest to the extent that my primary focus on why i am here- to worship God- gets all out of whack. So, i have to ask in prayer: "Lord, please hold on to me and dont let me start building an alter to the marketgod" ... rj
Well that is an interesting and myopic "take" on the subject. It should be obvious that mental health problems attack people regardless of religious belief. If we look to countries where organized religion was banned, generally one can say that communism was a total failure in East Germany, the Former Soviet Union, and all Soviet Block Nations. In contrast, countries with a strong religious tradition (Poland comes to mind) seemed to have fared pretty well. Currently they have strong economies, and a continuing tradition of Roman Catholicism. Wonderful and penetrating analysis though, and what an insightful comment. Frankly I could give a shit. I just pray that Jesus or God or Buddha (whoever is on duty that day) doesn't get fed up and go postal on all you rocket scientists. I don't want to get caught up in the cross-fire. Steve Edit: I am looking for an up day tomorrow. I expect the markets to move strongly positive about 10am EST. Thanks Jesus, Thanks God, Thanks Buddha. Good job homies, your my dog(s).
i second that 100%. religion is probably (honestly i'm pretty sure) the root of all problems. (overpopulation, war, aids, etc.)
Remember Jesus, the one guy spells his name G-e-r-r-y, and the other guy is S-t-e-p-h-e-n, not S-t-e-v-e 46. Also my mom's italian so please remember that I am one of the home boys. Peace out. Thank you your highness Steve I dont know about you guys, but I would be careful about crossing the street or walking around during a storm, you know things like that. and dont worry about "going to Hell", as I understand it, its a dry heat.....Sort of like Palm Springs CA in August. Now if it turns out that Hell is more like Tampa FLA well then you guys are screwed...
I never said that lack of religiousosity implied mental health. I think its fair to say that the number of people killed on god's behalf is much more than the number killed by those who didn't believe in god. Religion is a set of stories passed on thru generations and these stories were originated by people, not divine beings. Once you began to accept things on faith, there is absolutely no way to discern which faith is more likely to be true. So, I could make up any grandoise claim which lacks any ability to be verified and there is no way you can say it is false other than your belief has more followers, which doesn't make it true. "Religion is something left over from the infancy of our intelligence, it will fade away as we adopt reason and science as our guidelines." Bertrand Russell
You really dont listen well stephen and that means your ability to think and criticsize is compromised. You said "deeply religious people have serious mental health problems"... When you make a blanket statement like that, it becomes easy to refute, because the first person you meet who is devoutly religious and isnt in an institution proves you wrong. If you decide to have an intelligent conversation, try to offer statements that can be debated. If for instance you want to know whether there is a predisposition to mental health problems from folks who are devoutly religious, try to find some statistics that corroborate your theory. I can name any number of people who can prove you wrong. Try Billy Graham for instance. No mental illness in his family history. His son is a relatively well adjusted person. He engages in good works in his community and around the country. Boom, your wrong. Try to offer something with a little more substance next time. This is like shooting fish in a barrel. Steve