The biggest demographic of the unchurched is the white working class. This is confirmed in a study of how income level correlates with never going to church. In general, the percentage of never-churchers goes down as the income brackets go up. But this is a recent phenomenon and runs counter to conventional wisdom.
Research from Barna on the general public's perception of evangelicals shows that 25% of Americans just don't like evangelicals--not so much because of their politics but because they are "too pushy with their beliefs."
On the day after Thanksgiving, shoppers plunge into "Black Friday," the decorations go up, and the Christmas frenzy begins. Yes, we decry the commercialization of Christmas. But don't you still enjoy the Christmas hooplah? A writer says that the trappings of Christmas communicate a feeling that we need.
On Thanksgiving we express gratitude for our material belongings, for our family, for our country. Before the feast, we thank God for this food and the hands that prepared it. That is to say, Thanksgiving is about vocation. A meditation on a quote from Luther on how God works through human beings to give us His gifts.
Christianity has brought much good to the world, but the church also has much to answer for. Critics of Christianity often fixate on the evils committed by Christians. Natasha Moore says that the best response to such criticisms is to own up to those evils in a spirit of Christian repentance.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-MO, is also a Christian cultural critic. In a recent speech, he develops the notion of a "Promethean self," which manifests itself in our cultural, political, and governmental problems. Against this, he proposes a politics of community and vocation.
Americans increasingly have stopped going out, choosing to just stay home, preferably by themselves. This is true especially of Millennial young adults, who have turned solitude into a fashion trend.
Marriage is a sacred covenant, but it is also a secular contract. Though some say the government should get out of the marriage business, the state has an important interest in protecting its social foundation. Yet, according to Jonathan Lange, the government has essentially stopped enforcing the marriage contract, with disastrous consequences.
We are the sum of our experiences throughout our lives, and our memories continue to shape us. Some researchers are trying to find a way to erase bad memories from the mind. What would that do to us, if we could delete any memory of painful experiences?
Anti-Natalism began as a movement to stop having children for environmentalist reasons. But now some anti-natalists are going further, saying that being alive is itself a bad thing. Since all life involves suffering, to have children--who are born without their consent--is to harm them and is therefore immoral. Since animals too suffer, it is better for human beings and all life to become extinct.
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