Societies worse off 'when they have God on their side'

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

The article makes it sound as if fundamentalism is more the problem, which it is. The problem with the US is we have too many fundies, the ones who oppose evolution teaching.

A liberal Christian society would obviously be better than North Korea.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

The article mentions opposition to evolution. Who are the folks who oppose evolution and think the Earth is only 6000 years old? Not mainline/liberal Christians.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

The article mentions opposition to evolution. Who are the folks who oppose evolution and think the Earth is only 6000 years old? Not mainline/liberal Christians.

Of course it does - as I mentioned, the guy is a paleontologist. That's not what this 'study', and I use that term VERY loosely, is about - his argument is that the problems with U.S. society(higher murder rates for instance) stem from religion, which is crap and you know it.

Yes, the problem is not religion, it's people following the wrong religion: fundamentalism as opposed to the right religion: mainline/liberal Christianity.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

It also doesn't mention that homicide, STD, teen pregnancy and abortion are all nearly zero in Saudi Arabia (but that would counter their pre-conceived conclusion).

Ah, so we can conclude by this that it would be a good thing for the US to become more like Saudi Arabia?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

mainline/liberal

Why are you putting those two together?

While I guess not all mainline Christians are liberal, it can be safely said that most (although not all) liberal Christians are mainline.

However, it is safe to say that most of both groups do not believe the Earth is only 6000 years old, so in this instance it does make sense to group them together.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

The article mentions opposition to evolution. Who are the folks who oppose evolution and think the Earth is only 6000 years old? Not mainline/liberal Christians.

Of course it does - as I mentioned, the guy is a paleontologist. That's not what this 'study', and I use that term VERY loosely, is about - his argument is that the problems with U.S. society(higher murder rates for instance) stem from religion, which is crap and you know it.

Even more, there is only a small minority of truly hard-core religious folks out there who do not recognize evolution nor that the Earth is only a few thousand years old.  Most of the religious population are open-minded about things that go on in the world.  Too bad the non-religious types are not as open-minded.

When did I say I was a "non-religious type"?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

And BRTD, you only care about how much sex and lapdances you can have and whether or not your church/religion supports that. Grow up already and stop hiding behind your "mainline" and "liberal" BS.

Pretty much everyone I know is Christian outside of a few ultra-indie/punk/DIY folks who have a similar to attitude to opebo, but this doesn't include any girl I've had sex with, as far as I know. I'd wager all the girls I've had sex with have been Christian.

Strippers can be Christians too. I've seen some with religious jewelry or tattoos. Remember when I posted about that one who had the saint tattooed on her arm? If they can be Christian it's also to be Christian and get a lapdance from one.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

That would depend how "mainline" is defined and how "liberal" is defined

Mainline is pretty easy, any non-evangelical or fundamentalist Protestant. I'd also expand it to Catholics who largely don't care what their church says and should really be Protestant.

Liberal is more difficult though. It's not difficult if you're using it in a political sense, although there are definately liberal evangelicals (most obvious being Jimmy Carter). Now if you're talking about a theological sense that gets more difficult. Still this is what wikipedia says: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Christianity

Most religious groups don't believe that y'know...

Of course not. But it's something lots of fundamentalists still do and like to use to define themselves as "true believers".

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Yes, but what is "evangelical" and what is "fundamentalist"?

Well what wikipedia says: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evangelicalism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamentalist_Christianity

Not all that easy to define, but there are obvious examples, it's safe to say Jimmy Carter is an Evangelical while not a Fundamentalist and Jerry Falwell is an Evangelical and Fundamentalist.

But I'd really say anyone who doesn't get "born again" is mainline.

Btw, there are some Anglicans that I'd describe as fundies; are they "mainline"?

Even in denominations there are some varieties, there are fundamentalist Lutheran churches that have virtually nothing in common with my denomination. So in the case of these folks, no.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

There was a good article in my school paper on this actually (basically why science and religion are not neccesarily opposed), I'll post it tommorow once the current issue goes online.