Religion Born-again Christians in the USA

Here is a short summary about what is an almost exclusively American phenomemnon, which has disproportionately influenced the image of the USA abroad, especially in Western Europe.

Introduction

In 2001, 79.8% of American adults were Christian, among which 47.3% were Protestant, 26% Catholic, 1.8% Episcopalian/Anglican and 4.7% other Christians (Mormons, Jeovah's Witnesses, Orthodox...). Among the Protestants, 2.8% were Calvinist/Presbyterian, 4.9% Lutheran, 7.2% Methodist, 17.2% Baptist and 3.3% Evangelical/Pentcostal, and the rest from smaller groups or unspecified.

This map shows the religious majority in each US county. This other map shows the percentage of religious adherents by county. Here is a full list of religious bodies (esp. Christian denominations) in the USA.

Fundamentalism in the USA

The two major groups are thus the Catholics (26%, mostly of Hispanic, Italian, French, Polish and Irish descent), found mainly in the North-East, West Coast and South-West, and the Baptists (17.2%, mostly of Irish, Scottish-Irish and mixed British descent), found mainly in the "Deep South" (former Confederate States of the Civil War).

The Baptists, along with the Evangelicals, are part of the conservative Protestants known as born-again Christians, a form of fundamentalism.

Religioustolerance.org defines "born-again" and "evengelical" Christians like this :

A "born again Christian" is a subject who said that "they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today and who also indicated they believe that when they die they will go to Heaven because they had confessed their sins and had accepted Jesus Christ as their savior."

"Evangelicals" are subjects who met the "born again" criteria, and who state that "their faith is very important in their life today;...they have a personal responsibility to share their religious beliefs about Christ with non-Christians; ...Satan exists; ...eternal salvation is possible only through grace, not works; ... Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; ...God [is]...the all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect deity who created the universe and still rules it today."

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This map shows the percentage of Baptists by US county.



Are Born-again Christian more intolerant ?

Here is a summary of what divides Catholics and Conservative/Born-again Protestants.

We quickly see that the Catholics are much more liberal and tolerant the the Conservative Protestants (despite being seen as very conservative by many Atheists, Buddhists, Neo-pagans, etc.). Let me highlight a few beliefs of these latter :

about Conservative Protestants said:

- Some view Catholics as non-Christian. Thus they are to be treated as other lost souls, on a par with Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Wiccans, etc.
- They generally downplay the concept of sexual orientation, and concentrate on homosexual behavior which they consider to be a major sin. They view homosexuality as chosen, unnatural, abnormal & changeable.
- Attitude toward Non-Christian religions : Some consider them worthless, dangerous, and demon-led.
- The acceptance of the theory of evolution by the Catholic church, and the continuing rejection by most conservative Protestants.
- The rejection of the death penalty by the Catholic church, and the continuing acceptance by most conservative Protestants.

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I am a bit perplex about this part: "Usually, once a person is saved, they cannot lose their salvation". Does that mean that "saved people" can freely commit sins, even murder, without fearing hell ?

Overall, we can say that Born-again Christians are much more radical and less tolerant than other Christians, Protestant, Catholic or else. It is no surprise that the Ku Klux Klan finds most of its members among them.

This page compares the tolerance of unchurched Christians, Christian churchgoers, and born-again Christians toward other religous groups. We see that a higher percentage of churchgoers have a negative impression of other religions. This percentage is much higher yet for Born-again Christians.

For example, 35% of unchurched Christians view Islam positively, against only 21% of churchgoers. But 71% of Born-again Christians view Islam as downright negative, against 24% for non-Christians. More worrying yet, 76% are opposed to Buddhism and 92% to Atheism ! In comparison, we see here that over 50% of the Catholics hold a favorable impression of other religions (except toward fundamentalist Christians !).

Other stats show that considerably more Born-again Christian are certain that absolute moral truth exists (70% of Evangelicals and 42% of non-Evangelical, born-again adults), which makes them "exclusivists" (= regard their own faith as the only completely true religion).

I count myself as one of the Born Again Evangelical crowd. We could debate the security of one's salvation...but it would be rather inconclusive. Many Christians of my stripe are intolerant. Many are politically conservative, white and middle class. A whole lot listen to country music. But those are not the defining attributes of the faith.

I grew up in a Catholic neighborhood and many, if not most of my childhood friends are Catholic. Some are lost, some are saved. (Just like my church- going to church does not make you saved.) I have relatives that are Catholic, including a Dominican Nun. I don't see it as a different Church, just a different branch of the same tree. When I was in high school, my fellow evangelicals in the band and I played and led worship at the Saturday youth mass for Father Mario at All Saints (Catholic) in El Sereno, CA. I felt we had a good relationship with Father Mario-- we listened to his teachings and recieved advice and counsel from him.

One of my "spiritual fathers" was a Campus Life director by the name of Johnny Cabrera. He was instrumental in my crossing the line of faith and the early development of my Christianity. No one could compete with his generosity or genuine character. He is a full time World Vision staff member and a dedicated practicing Catholic.

sabro said:

I count myself as one of the Born Again Evangelical crowd. We could debate the security of one's salvation...but it would be rather inconclusive. Many Christians of my stripe are intolerant. Many are politically conservative, white and middle class. A whole lot listen to country music. But those are not the defining attributes of the faith.

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I don't know about country music, but intolerance is forcedly part and parcel of the faith if you believe that the Bible is innerant and that anybody with a different faith is a "lost soul" that need to be "saved".

I grew up in a Catholic neighborhood and many, if not most of my childhood friends are Catholic. Some are lost, some are saved. (Just like my church- going to church does not make you saved.)

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So I suppose that as an Atheist, I also need to be saved (or maybe am I beyond redemption ?). And you would expect me to have friendly feeling toward somebody seeing me like that ? (especially when I can prove their faith wrong in many ways).

As for the rest of your post, you are basically trying to show that you can be tolerant, at least toward some other Christians...kashii:

As an evangelical- I believe everyone should be "saved" and I work hard toward that end. But actually saving people is not even remotely my job. I can't do it. I can't convince any other human being, nor would convincing them result in anything. I guess I could try to prove my faith right, and you could "prove it wrong." But that would be pointless. Salvation is a work of God. It is entirely His job, and when the time comes, He gets to decide who comes to His party. If you really have a problem, argue with Him. Certainly if God wants to redeem you, He knows where to find you.

I personally don't have the time or energy to walk around and judge people. If you are happy where you are, then by all means stay there. I would rather be surrounded by happy "lost" people than unhappy "saved" people any time.

I would rather be around people that are seeking the truth than people who believe they have every answer. It seems to me that life is about the search, not the solution- the journey and not the destination.

A "born Again" Once Made Me Homeless ?

We found a nice rental apartment not long after we were married. The downstairs rental couple collected the rent; they explained the landlord was a recluse. We'd been there about 6 months , when people from the bank showed up and told us we had 30 days to vacate. It seems the born again landlord had quit his job to preach the word and felt God would take care of his morgage and bills.

Frank

:souka:

sabro said:

I personally don't have the time or energy to walk around and judge people. If you are happy where you are, then by all means stay there. I would rather be surrounded by happy "lost" people than unhappy "saved" people any time.

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Yes, and that's why proselytisers get on my nerves.

I agree about the intolerant "proselytisers" who go around judging people- it is an unprovoked assault: mocking their life styles and beliefs, putting them down for believing something they don't, disrespectfully imposing their beliefs on yours, baiting, arguing and attacking people who are happy the way they are...whether they are religious or atheist. I have seen some intolerance lately, and I don't like it.

Sabro believes that Maciamo and I are 'lost souls', that there is a god who loves us and wants to welcome us into his 'fold'. While he tolerates our opinions, he secretly hopes that we will see the light.
Maciamo and I believe that Sabro is deluding himself. We believe that there is no god, and that Sabro is ignoring the truth for a comfortable lie. While we tolerate his opinions, we secretly hope that he will see the light.

Having said that, I think Sabro is unusually tolerant among born-again Christians. I know quite a few, and apart from Sabro I can name only one other person, my friend Grace at work.

Tsuyoiko- that would be an accurate assessment of my POV. Thank you, that was actually kind.

I stopped worrying about what others believe and whether or not they were "saved" some time ago when I realized two things- First: persuasion is likely to either annoy the person at worse, or result in a temporary "conversion" at best. Second: If I am right and there is a God- your salvation is His job and not mine. I will share if asked.

I am more than tolerant of your opinion, I am sincerely interested in hearing it. I am interested in hearing a lot of people's opinions and not simply to "convert" them.

I already explained in this post that I thought there was a correlation between conservative/fundamentalist Christianity, racism, crime and poverty. I have shown that the US states that had the highest percentage of Baptist and fundamentalist Christians also had the lowest GSP per capita. I have now found more data confirming the statistical correlation.

Looking at Percent of People in Poverty by State (2002–2004), we notice that the same fundemantalist Southern states are also those with the highest poverty. Here are the figures for 2003-04 (national average : 12.6%) :

Alabama : 16% of people living in poverty
Arkansas : 16.4%
Kentucky : 16%
Louisiana : 16.8%
Mississippi : 17.3%
Missouri : 11.5%
North Carolina : 15.1%
Oklahoma : 11.8%
South Carolina : 13.8%
Tennessee : 15%
Texas : 16.7%
West Virginia : 15.8%

17 States have less than 10% of poor (New Hampshire has the lowest, with 5.6%). Only Virginia among them is in the Deep South, but Virginia has also the lowest percentage of fundamentalists and strongly religious people of any Southern states. Out of 11 States with over 15% of poverty, 9 are in the Deep South. The two other are Washington D.C. (not really a state) and New Mexico (the state with the highest percentage of recent immigrants from developping countries).

Looking at quality of life now, with the list of most liveable states, a similar correlation can be observed, with 13 out of the bottom 14 states being of the Deep South (the other one being again New Mexico). Again, Virginia is the only "Confederate State", which is completely out of the lot (ranking 5th, i.e. 32 positions higher than the next best Southern state, Florida).

The death rate is also higher than the national average in all the "fundamentalist Southern states", except Georgia and Texas. Out of 7 states (+ D.C.) with a death rate equal or superior to 10, six are fundementalist states (the other one is Pennsylvania). Now wonder that people should be more concerned with afterlife and salvation is places where people die more (i.e. die younger). That is why Christianity has always been more popular in developping countries.

If you dig a little deeper I think that you would understand those stats a little better...might be hard to do though since you never lived in those areas!

It may have more to do with climate than religion.

Perhaps it is because Baptists don't dance or drink?