OK America, what's it all about?

[p_p_man]

Do you really believe in God that much or is the constant reference to the deity by your politicians just an automatic response. A bit of vote gathering. A spiritual pressing of the flesh.

A lot of you go to church on Sunday. I don't know for sure but it seems to be far more than in any other western, non-catholic country. Is it because you actually believe in Him or is it just part of the culture you've been raised in. Would not going make you feel you'd missed out on something, like not buying a lottery ticket when you normally do so week after week. Is it a case of belief, hedging your bets or habit?

And what's this bible belt we outsiders hear so much about? I know what a belt is so I can safetly assume that it represents a stretch of territory across America which is more religious than any of the other areas. Why is that? Did all the truly religious people decided to settle in this "belt" or did the "belt" come after people settled there and took on the mantle of being truly religious? Is it belief or peer pressure?

Is America really a religious country or is it all a sham? Are you God fearing or God loving?

What's it all about?

 

[p_p_man]

Well?

 

[Shy Tall Guy]

Do you really believe in God that much or is the constant reference to the deity by your politicians just an automatic response. A bit of vote gathering. A spiritual pressing of the flesh.

Except for the pols, I can only speak for myself. Yeah, most pols probably do it for vote gathering; the USA has a predominantly Christian populace, and most are stupid enough to only vote for those of their own religion.

Is it because you actually believe in Him or is it just part of the culture you've been raised in.

A little of both. I could be wrong, but I think churh attendance is dropping in the USA and worldwide.

I know what a belt is so I can safetly assume that it represents a stretch of territory across America which is more religious than any of the other areas. Why is that? Did all the truly religious people decided to settle in this "belt" or did the "belt" come after people settled there and took on the mantle of being truly religious? Is it belief or peer pressure?

You would probably do better to research this question on the web, than ask here. There is a lot of history and culture behind the "Bible Belt" that would take volumes to cover.

Is America really a religious country or is it all a sham? Are you God fearing or God loving?

Sure it is as religious as any other country. In the past I think it was as much God fearing as God loving because people were often attracted to religion for that kind of reassurance, but I think that is changing with people wanting to really understand their religion rather than just seeking solace from it.

What's it all about?

That question has been asked by others, as always, the answer is 42.

 

[Azwed]

You are going to get a lot of conflicting answers about the bible belt. In general I would say it includes mostly the south eastern states and the original frontier states. These would be VA, NC, SC, GA, AL, LA Mississppi, Arkansa, Tenn. Kentucky, West Virginia, Texas. I hope you know this abreviations.


I know many people who personaly go to church but don't reall belive anymore. They go because it is habit and because of peer pressure. I am sure there are whole groups of people still going to church because everyone in there group has always gone to church. I am also sure that in some of these groups the whole group no longer belives.

I used to work on sunday mornings from 9-3 in our student center. We had to let the NLCF people in at 9:30 to go set up for their church. NLCF stands for New Life Christian Fellowhip or New Live Christian Fools depending on your stance on them. The building does not open till 10, but they bitched and moaned till they could be let in at 9:30. Now they have bitched and moaned so much that people who work sunday morning have to come in at 8 to let the NLCFers in.

They can't push church back a couple hours??? They get their set up for half an hour and start bringing people in at about 8:30 or so. Just so they can have church start an hour and a half earlier 5 people have to come in at 9 instead of 8.

The funniest thing to see is watching them come in early in the morning. Many of them are still hungover from the night before. They stumble and trip dragging themselves up the rails to go up the stairs. You can tell that many of the girls and some of the guys are still wearing the clothes that went out to party in the night before.

How many girls do you think wear leather mini skirts with knee high leather boots to church or skin tight black pants and low cut halter tops. You can just tell by the way they are dressed, act and their makeup that they just woke up from last night and stumbled into church.

One girl I know in particular does this. She will party and get trashed saturday night. Many times she goes home with some guy and stays at his place. She crawls out of bed bright and early and goes to church in the same clothes she wore last night.

Do you think these people realy belive or are just going to church because it is expected of them? Do you think they go to church because they feel guilty for all the stuff they did the night before and want to repent?

I am not sure on this question. I am sure that the majority of them are snobs and give us bad looks every day for working and not going to church. Then they complain if we don't have the building open bright and early at 8 am. Hypocrits i say.

 

[Shy Tall Guy]

Do you think these people realy belive or are just going to church because it is expected of them? Do you think they go to church because they feel guilty for all the stuff they did the night before and want to repent?

Why should they feel guilty? I don't feel guilty for coming to an erotica site, and I don't feel guilty for not going to church. Why should they feel guilty for having a good time the night before?

I am not sure on this question. I am sure that the majority of them are snobs and give us bad looks every day for working and not going to church. Then they complain if we don't have the building open bright and early at 8 am. Hypocrits i say.

I think you have some issues, and it sounds like they are mostly with the fact that these people get you out of bed on a Sunday morning, not with their "hypocrisy".

 

[WriterDom]

According to the CIA fact book, religions in America break down as follows:

Protestant 56%
Roman Catholic 28%
Jewish 2%
other 4%,
none 10%

That's 10 year old data so I'm sure things have shifted around a bit, especially with the increase in Hispanics who tend to be Catholic

I live in the heart of the bible belt outside of what is considered metro Atlanta. I was counting the churches in the phone book, but got bored once I got over a hundred.

I'd say we have

75% Baptist
13% various other Christian
7% Methodist (Methodist are Baptists who can read)
4% Presbyterian

There is one Mormon church
and one catholic

no synagogues
no mosques

There are plenty of people who don't go to church. Just giving an idea of what is available

The churches here are a powerful force. The newspaper here is owned by Gannett, one of if not the largest newspaper corporation in the US. Gannett decided to take on a commercial job of printing a gay weekly for distribution in Atlanta. The ministers called for a boycott of the daily paper. Did Gannett take a 1st amendment stand and fight? Yeah, for about a week, then they caved in and made an excuse about canceling because of production demands. When the truth was the phones were ringing off the hooks with cancellations. Southern Voice, the gay paper, did sue I think, but I guess Gannett settled out of court.

We do have one strip club. But girlie magazines like Playboy aren't sold in the county. There is no law saying you can't. It's just understood that if you do, you want get any business from the church crowd.

 

[morninggirl5]

WD, counting in the phone book only catches those that have phones. The Baptist estimate is truly conservative, since the smaller Baptist churches don't have phones.

 

[Trinka]

I believe many of the original immigrants to the US came here for religious freedom.

I agree with Azweed about the his definition of the bible belt. There are also some communities in the Mid-West that are bible belt communities i.e. the people are very religious and fundamentalist in their beliefs. I'm not to sure how these communities came about, but I do know that if you are new to the area, you are definalely an "outsider."

I see around me many people who grew up as one religion and are just not practicing anymore. There is a growing secularization of the US. Also, many people are questioning their religions and I have seen many people change religions. (I, myself, am one of those people.) I don't think the US is alone in this, but its more of a worldwide phenomenon.

As for the politicians, well, I grew up in Wisconsin, a non-bible belt sort of state, and I can't remember any of our politicians using their religion as a reason to vote for them. I do know this is an issue in some of the southern states and have seen in Southern Florida, where I live now, that religion can be an issue within some communities.

In these bad times, people need hope and God provides us with a sense of hope. That might be why you see our politicians referring to God so much lately.

 

[p_p_man]

The churches here are a powerful force. The newspaper here is owned by Gannett, one of if not the largest newspaper corporation in the US. Gannett decided to take on a commercial job of printing a gay weekly for distribution in Atlanta. The ministers called for a boycott of the daily paper. Did Gannett take a 1st amendment stand and fight? Yeah, for about a week, then they caved in and made an excuse about canceling because of production demands. When the truth was the phones were ringing off the hooks with cancellations. Southern Voice, the gay paper, did sue I think, but I guess Gannett settled out of court.

We do have one strip club. But girlie magazines like Playboy aren't sold in the county. There is no law saying you can't. It's just understood that if you do, you want get any business from the church crowd.

Being all powerful in your area religion has a lot (probably too much) influence.

So are the people who attend church truly religious or do they just like the feeling that they can throw their weight around using their church to justify their actions?

They certainly don't sound Christian in the accepted sense of being good 'n' kind 'n' tolerant towards everyone.

 

[Problem Child]

Chapter 42 in p_p_man's never-ending tome "America Sucks". Read it if you have trouble falling asleep at night.

 

[morninggirl5]

Being all powerful in your area religion has a lot (probably too much) influence.

So are the people who attend church truly religious or do they just like the feeling that they can throw their weight around using their church to justify their actions?

They certainly don't sound Christian in the accepted sense of being good 'n' kind 'n' tolerant towards everyone.

I know you directed your question at WD, but I gotta jump in here. p_p_man, once again, your in the middle of something that you have absolutely no conception of. It's not the CHURCH that has the power, it's the beliefs of the people who attend them. WD lives in an area amazingly similar to where I grew up, and I guarantee you there is no "throwing their weight around." their beliefs are solid as a rock (damn, here I'm about to go into Biblical parapbles) and all their decisions are based on that faith. In their beliefs, Playboy is sin, therefore, they will not give their business to any establishment that sells Playboy. No big deal about it, you won't find any protests or bid productions, it's just the way it is.

Good and kind and tolerant is definitely NOT a part of the majority of Southern churches. Do unto others is key, but tolerance for sin is absolutely not ever going to be accepted.

I can't in any way begin to explain Southern (Bible Belt) religion to you, you have to experience it for yourself. If you find you need that experience, let me know. The doors are always open.

 

[bearlee]

I''d like to get back to this one later, but for now, God-fearing and God-loving mean exactly the same thing.

 

[Barb Dwyer]

"ALFIE"

 

[p_p_man]

I know you directed your question at WD, but I gotta jump in here. p_p_man, once again, your in the middle of something that you have absolutely no conception of. It's not the CHURCH that has the power, it's the beliefs of the people who attend them.

So if the people's beliefs are influential and they attend a church, then doesn't that make the church influential as well?

If the people's belief changed, the church representing the people's belief would have to change too. Otherwise it would lose it's congregation.

I'm using church here as being the representative body of groups of people who hold certain beliefs.

Bit like having a trade union really. If you get one organisation to represent many voices then that organisation has the power as long as it continues to represent the people's beliefs.

As for 'jumping into something I have no conception of' I agree. But it's not the Bible belt I was querying. It's whether America, as a nation, believes all these constant references to God that seem to be scattered throughout the vocabulary.

"God Bless America" for instance. Why? Do Americans believe that God will actually bless America or is it just a phrase used through habit. And if through habit what happened to "Thou shalt not take thy Lord God's name in vain", "or words to that effect. And what do non-Christians (dare I say Moslems?) think about the phrase?

America is perceived by the the rest of the world as a nation of church goers, not necessarily believers, and the impression is encouraged by yourselves.

But that perception is from what we (outside of America) see in the media. I'm just curious as to how you really see yourselves.

 

[morninggirl5]

As for 'jumping into something I have no conception of' I agree. But it's not the Bible belt I was querying. It's whether America, as a nation, believes all these constant references to God that seem to be scattered throughout the vocabulary.

"God Bless America" for instance. Why? Do Americans believe that God will actually bless America or is it just a phrase used through habit. And if through habit what happened to "Thou shalt not take thy Lord God's name in vain", "or words to that effect. And what do non-Christians (dare I say Moslems?) think about the phrase?

America is perceived by the the rest of the world as a nation of church goers, not necessarily believers, and the impression is encouraged by yourselves.

But that perception is from what we (outside of America) see in the media. I'm just curious as to how you really see yourselves.

I could answer those questions for you, but you wouldn't like the answers. In fact, you'd probably throw out your usual terms like arrogant.

It would be best if you just pretend you don't want to know the answers.

 

[Problem Child]

"God Save the Queen" for instance. Why? Do Brits believe that God will actually save the Queen or is it just a phrase used through habit. And if through habit what happened to "Thou shalt not take thy Lord God's name in vain", "or words to that effect. And what do non-Christians (dare I say Moslems?) think about the phrase?

You're too easy.

 

[Shy Tall Guy]

But girlie magazines like Playboy aren't sold in the county. There is no law saying you can't. It's just understood that if you do, you want get any business from the church crowd.

And yet they sell tobacco and alcohol right?

That always gets to me; they make this big deal about not selling Playboy or Penthouse, but they sell addictive drugs that kill about half a million people a year.

I saw that ad that Phillip Morris has about not selling cigarettes to minors - where the new store owner goes on and on about not selling them to kids without ID, and gushes about what a good citizen he is. It would be a whole lot simpler if he just didn't sell the tobacco or alcohol in the first place - wouldn't it?

 

[p_p_man]

You're too easy.

"God Save the Queen

Exactly. But that's a hymn and I suppose God's got to be mentioned somewhere...

Anyway the thread's about America...

We'll do Britain next week.

 

[morninggirl5]

God Bless America

By Irving Berlin

While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,
Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free,
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer:
.
God Bless America
Land that I love
Stand beside her, and guide her
Through the night with a light from above

From the mountains, to the prairies
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America
My home, sweet home

God bless America
My home, sweet home

 

[kiwiwolf]

Bollocks...

God Save the Queen is an asinine national anthem not a hymn...

We had to learn the damned thing at school, before we as a nation wised up and got our own asinine anthem...

 

[Debbie]

New Zealand National Anthem


God of nations! at Thy feet
In the bonds of love we meet,
Hear our voices, we entreat,
God defend our Free Land.
Guard Pacific's triple star,
From the shafts of strife and war,
Make her praises heard afar,
God defend New Zealand

Men of ev'ry creed and race
Gather here before Thy face,
Asking Thee to bless this place,
God defend our Free Land.
From dissension, envy, hate,
And corruption guard our State,
Make our country good and great,
God defend New Zealand.

Peace, not war, shall be our boast,
But, should foes assail our coast,
Make us then a mighty host,
God defend our Free Land.
Lord of battles in thy might,
Put our enemies to flight,
Let our cause be just and right,
God defend New Zealand.


Let our love for Thee increase,
May Thy blessings never cease,
Give us plenty, give us peace,
God defend our Free Land.
From dishonour and from shame
Guard our country's spotless name
Crown her with immortal fame,
God defend New Zealand.

May our mountains ever be
Freedom's ramparts on the sea,
Make us faithful unto Thee,
God defend our Free Land.
Guide her in the nations' van,
Preaching love and truth to man,
Working out Thy Glorious plan,
God defend New Zealand.


Respect to kiwiwolf (fellow New Zealander)

I love my country, I love the people of New Zealand and I like our National Anthem. Perhaps Im not so big on the 'God' thing but the words are meaningful to me especially 'men of every creed and race'


Translated into Maori


E Ihoa Atua,
O nga Iwi Matoura,
Ata whaka rongona;
Me aroha noa.
Kia hua ko te pai;
Kia tau to atawhai;
Manaakitia mai
Aotearoa

Ona mano tangata
Kiri whero, kiri ma,
Iwi Maori Pakeha
Repeke katoa,
Nei ka tono ko nga he
Mau e whakaahu ke,
Kia ora marire
Aotearoa

Waiho tona takiwa
Ko te ao marama;
Kia whiti tona ra
Taiawhio noa.
Ko te hae me te ngangau
Meinga kia kore kau;
Waiho i te rongo mau
Aotearoa

Tona pai me toitu;
Tika rawa, pono pu;
Tona noho, tana tu;
Iwi no Ihoa.
Kaua mona whakama;
Kia hau te ingoa;
Kia tu hei tauira;
Aotearoa

 

[kiwiwolf]

Apologies Debbiexxx

I am as patriotic as the next man, but just couldn't cotton on to the anthem. Now if they did a hard rock version...

 

[paganangel]

pee pee man

i just don't get it? y do you care? what does religion in my country have to do with you?

personally i am very anti-religion. still, i would comment on that b4 i would comment on the condition of the most religiously diverse nation on earth. juxtaposed to that, what has religion to do with your opinion of us anyway? it seems it shouldn't matter. all you seem to be concerned with are the christian factions here. i just don't get you.

 

[p_p_man]

Re: Apologies Debbiexxx

I am as patriotic as the next man, but just couldn't cotton on to the anthem. Now if they did a hard rock version...

I like the Maori version...

Songs always sound better in a foreign language don't they?

 

[Debbie]

no apologies necessary kiwiwolf i knew what you meant! When we were at school we all sang it and rehearsed it till we began to done the song not sing! Or as most of the boys in my class did... mime!

Great words... perhaps need the tempo a little different.