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From: KIDYOTI
To: PARANORMALLOVERS
Sent: 24 Juni 2008 6:42
Subject: [Paranormal-Lovers] {Disarmed} Fw: [HKSIS] Americans: My faith isn't
the only way
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Sent: 24 Juni 2008 6:34
Subject: [HKSIS] Americans: My faith isn't the only way
MSNBC.com
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Americans :
My faith isn't
the only way
Survey shows growing religious tolerance when it comes to different faiths
The Associated Press
updated 5:49 p.m. ET June 23, 2008
America remains a nation of believers, but a new survey finds most Americans
don't feel their religion is the only way to eternal life even if their faith
tradition teaches otherwise.
The findings, released Monday in a survey of 35,000 adults, can either be taken
as a positive sign of growing religious tolerance, or disturbing evidence that
Americans dismiss or don't know fundamental teachings of their own faiths.
Among the more startling numbers in the survey, conducted last year by the Pew
Forum on Religion and Public Life: 57 percent of evangelical church attendees
said they believe many religions can lead to eternal life, in conflict with
traditional evangelical teaching.
In all, 70 percent of Americans with a religious affiliation shared that view,
and 68 percent said there is more than one true way to interpret the teachings
of their own religion.
"The survey shows religion in America is, indeed, 3,000 miles wide and only
three inches deep," said D. Michael Lindsay, a Rice University sociologist of
religion.
"There's a growing pluralistic impulse toward tolerance and that is having
theological consequences," he said.
Earlier data from the Pew Forum's U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, released in
February, highlighted how often Americans switch religious affiliation. The
newly released material looks at religious belief and practice as well as the
impact of religion on society, including how faith shapes political views.
The report argues that while relatively few people 14 percent cite
religious beliefs as the main influence on their political thinking, religion
still plays a powerful indirect role.
The study confirmed some well-known political dynamics, including stark
divisions over abortion and gay marriage, with the more religiously committed
taking conservative views on the issues.
But it also showed support across religious lines for greater governmental aid
for the poor, even if it means more debt and stricter environmental laws and
regulations.
By many measures, Americans are strongly religious: 92 percent believe in God,
74 percent believe in life after death and 63 percent say their respective
scriptures are the word of God.
Doubts about God
But deeper investigation found that more than one in four Roman Catholics,
mainline Protestants and Orthodox Christians expressed some doubts about God's
existence, as did six in ten Jews.
Another finding almost defies explanation: 21 percent of self-identified
atheists said they believe in God or a universal spirit, with 8 percent
"absolutely certain" of it.
"Look, this shows the limits of a survey approach to religion," said Peter
Berger, a theology and sociology professor at Boston University. "What do
people really mean when they say that many religions lead to eternal life? It
might mean they don't believe their particular truth at all. Others might be
saying, 'We believe a truth but respect other people, and they are not
necessarily going to hell.'"
Luis Lugo, director of the Pew Forum, said that more research is planned to
answer those kinds of questions, but that earlier, smaller surveys found
similar results.
Nearly across the board, the majority of religious Americans believe many
religions can lead to eternal life: mainline Protestants (83 percent), members
of historic black Protestant churches (59 percent), Roman Catholics (79
percent), Jews (82 percent) and Muslims (56 percent).
By similar margins, people in those faith groups believe in multiple
interpretations of their own traditions' teachings. Yet 44 percent of the
religiously affiliated also said their religion should preserve its traditional
beliefs and practices.
"What most people are saying is, 'Hey, we don't have a hammer-lock on God or
salvation, and God's bigger than us and we should respect that and respect
other people,'" said the Rev. Tom Reese, a senior fellow at the Woodstock
Theological Center at Georgetown University.
"Some people are like butterflies that go from flower to flower, going from
religion to religion and frankly they don't get that deep into any of them,"
he said.
Beliefs about eternal life vary widely
Beliefs about eternal life vary greatly, even within a religious tradition.
Some Christians hold strongly to Jesus' words as described in John 14:6: "I am
the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through
me." Others emphasize the wideness of God's grace.
The Catholic church teaches that the "one church of Christ ... subsists in the
Catholic Church" alone and that Protestant churches, while defective, can be
"instruments of salvation."
Roger Oldham, a vice president with the executive committee of the Southern
Baptist Convention, bristled at using the word "tolerance" in the analysis.
"If by tolerance we mean we're willing to engage or embrace a multitude of ways
to salvation, that's no longer evangelical belief," he said. "The word
'evangelical' has been stretched so broadly, it's almost an elastic term."
Others welcomed the findings.
"It shows increased religious security. People are comfortable with other
traditions even if they're different," said the Rev. C. Welton Gaddy, president
of the Interfaith Alliance. "It indicates a level of humility about religion
that would be of great benefit to everyone."
More than most groups, Catholics break with their church, and not just on
issues like abortion and homosexuality. Only six in 10 Catholics described God
as "a person with whom people can have a relationship" which the church
teaches while three in 10 described God as an "impersonal force."
"The statistics show, more than anything else, that many who describe
themselves as Catholics do not know or understand the teachings of their
church," said Denver Roman Catholic Archbishop Charles Chaput. "Being Catholic
means believing what the Catholic church teaches. It is a communion of faith,
not simply of ancestry and family tradition. It also means that the church
ought to work harder at evangelizing its own members."
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not
be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25334489/
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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