Losing Our Religion

I.  Opening Paragraph

  1. Open with reference to 1991 “Losing My Religion” song
  2. “at your wits end”
  3. How it was publically perceived
  4. The religiously unaffiliated population (the “Nones”) grew by 138% from 1990 to 2008.
  5. Not a loss of spirituality. No perceptible trend of changing numbers of atheists or agnostics, simply a loss of defined religious affiliation.
  6. The movement away from religion is not due to major modifications or differences in religion itself, but rather due to shifting societal attitudes on a range of related issues. The trend of declining American religiosity can be largely attributed to conflicting opinions on social issues, unwarranted involvement of religion in government, scientific advancements, and the rise of egocentric culture.

II.  Prominent social issues often have arguments based in religion.

  1. Gay marriage
  2. 47% opposed cite reason because “religion/Bible says it is wrong” – Gallup 2012 poll
  3. Abortion/ birth control
  4. http://www.gallup.com/poll/22222/Religion-Politics-Inform-Americans-Views-Abortion.aspx
  5. http://www.gallup.com/poll/154946/Non-Christians-Postgrads-Highly-Pro-Choice.aspx
  6. Censorship
  7. Divorce
  8. http://www.gallup.com/poll/9730/Teens-Marriage-Views-Reflect-Changing-Norms.aspx
  9. Feminism

i. The Degraded Status of Women in the Bible

III.  Segue way: these social issues have become a major focus of our government, which brings religion emphatically into the “non-religious” political sphere.

  1. Social issues
  2. How Does Religion Influence Politics?: “The Role of Religion in Politics Has Grown” – 2010; Gale Opposing Viewpoints
  3. Politics and Religion: “A Majority of Americans Think Churches Should Stay Out of Politics” – 2013; Gale Opposing Viewpoints

IV.  Science vs. Religion: 95% of general public believe in a supreme being – only 51% of scientists; “Scientists and Beliefs”

  1. Often perceived as one or the other
  2. Evolutionism vs. Creationism
  3. Climate change
  4. Stem-cell research
  5. Homosexuality
  6. Big Bang theory

V.  “Me” culture segue way: want to attribute events to a definite cause (like science)

  1. Want to believe we control our future, not the fate of a divine being
  2. Too little time to practice an organized religion

Additional Information:

Good stats/charts:

http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre2010011500#.UnLzHRbFaFJ

http://religions.pewforum.org/reports