There are more Atheists and Agnostics entering Harvard this year than Catholics or Protestants.

Courtesy of the Washington Post: 

Harvard’s combined number of atheists and agnostics among its incoming class exceeds the number of Catholics and Protestants, as Pew Research Center’s Conrad Hackett noted. The number appears to be a striking contrast with the rest of the U.S. millennial population, those from ages 18 to 34. 

Pew’s survey suggested a decline in Christianity in the U.S., especially among millennials, though Harvard’s freshman still don’t appear to reflect the rest of millennials in the U.S. 

Among the general population in the U.S., 52 percent of millennials identify as Protestant or Catholic, according to Pew, compared to 34.1 percent of Harvard’s incoming class. And 13 percent of millennial Americans identify as atheist or agnostic, compared with 37.9 percent of Harvard freshmen who said they were atheist or agnostic. 

Part of the reason why American Christianity is on the decline is due to the number of people who don’t self-identify with a religion anymore. Pew also asks survey respondents if they are unaffiliated with faith, and 36 percent of them describe themselves as not affiliated with religion.

This is just the kind of thing that makes me hopeful for the future of our country. 

The more critical thinkers that we produce, no longer hindered by superstitious nonsense, the stronger and more progressive we become as a nation. 

I am sure it is just a coincidence.

If image does not enlarge, click here.

White Evangelicals see themselves as the group most discriminated against in America. No, I am NOT making that up.

Courtesy of the Daily Banter:  

The Pew Forum has released a doozy of a poll about religion in public life in the United States showing that white evangelical Christians possess grossly overdeveloped feelings of victimhood. Given that the voting bloc evangelicals comprise is one of the most heavily pandered to in American politics, and given the fact that evangelicals themselves are the cause of some very real discrimination, there is thus a mountainous irony at play here. 

In a survey of 2,002 Americans, Pew found that 72% believe that religious influence is waning in the country, and sadly, 56% regard this as a “negative development.” A disturbing 59% of Americans say they want members of Congress to “have strong religious beliefs.” When it comes to discrimination, believe it or not, more Americans think that evangelicals are discriminated against than atheists.

Notice that of white evangelicals, white mainline Protestants, black Protestants, white Catholics, Hispanic Catholics, and those who are unaffiliated with any religion, it’s white evangelicals who are much more likely to think “there is a lot of discrimination” against them, with 50% believing their demographic is discriminated against “a lot.” Amazingly, white evangelicals believe there is more discrimination against them than there is against Muslims, blacks, Hispanics, Jews, and atheists. 

So to be clear, the group that has dominated politics in this country for the last forty years, and whose favorite holiday is celebrated nationally, believes that THEY are more discriminated against than any other group in a country founded by white Christians.

I have no words.

New survey shows that Evangelicals are the most likely to cheat on their spouse.

Courtesy of New York Daily News:

A new survey from Ashley Madison, a website for married people looking for something on the side, found that the religious affiliations of cheaters lines up with the breakdown of religion in the U.S., meaning the majority of them identify as Christian. 

In fact, a quarter of the survey participants self-identify as evangelical, making it the most common faith among the unfaithful. 

Here is the actual breakdown:

Evangelical 25.1% 

Catholic 22.75% 

Protestant 22.7% 

Agnostic 2% 

Mormon 1.6% 

Muslim 1.5% 

Jewish 1.4% 

Atheist 1.4% 

Jehovah's Witness .5% 

Hindu .3% 

Now this IS America so it is perfectly reasonable that the majority of respondents would be of some Christian denomination or another, you know of course unless being a Christian meant you were the moral superior of those who were NOT Christians, but who believes that?

 I mean it's not like I'm doing the Snoopy dance around my desk right now in celebration of the fact that Atheists are more trustworthy marriage partner than just about any other group except Jehovah's Witnesses and Hindus, or anything.

That would be juvenile.

Though perfectly justified.

Not only are divorce rates highest among Fundamentalists, but they infect others around them with their divorce virus as well.

Courtesy of LA Times:  

Divorce is higher among religiously conservative Protestants – and even drives up divorce rates for other people living around them, a new study finds. 

The study, slated to be published in the American Journal of Sociology, tackles the “puzzling paradox” of why divorce is more common in religiously conservative “red” states. If religious conservatives believe firmly in the value of marriage, why is divorce especially high in places like Alabama and Arkansas? 

To figure that out, researchers from the University of Texas and the University of Iowa analyzed county divorce statistics against information from an earlier study of religious congregations. They categorized Protestant denominations that believe the Bible is literally true as "conservative Protestants." 

Researchers discovered that higher divorce rates among conservative Protestants were tied to earlier marriages and childbearing – factors known to ramp up divorce. Starting families earlier tends to stop young adults from pursuing more education and depresses their wages, putting more strain on marriages, University of Texas at Austin professor Jennifer Glass said. 

But the study went a step further: Glass and another researcher also discovered that people living in areas with lots of conservative Protestants were at higher risk of getting divorced, even if they weren’t conservative Protestants themselves. 

And these are the people who want to "protect the sanctity of marriage" from the gays.

Kind of late for that, now isn't it?

To be fair I myself am twice divorced so I don't get to throw stones.

However I could mention that my second wife was the daughter of a minister, and that my first became a Fundamentalist right after we split up as my excuse. However that would be blaming others for my failings and I don't do that.

People fall out of love all the time. It happens.

However it just feels especially ironic to have so many from a group that places so much importance on the institution and who want to deny it to others.

Abortion opinions based on race and religion.

Courtesy of Talking Points Memo:

As part of its extensive study on Americans' views of abortion that was released Monday, Pew Research Center broke down the findings to provide a closer look at a number of groups and sub-groups, including by region and gender.

You know what I find fascinating?  That the Evangelicals, who seem to take most of their cues from the Old Testament rather than the New, are overwhelmingly anti-abortion, while the Jewish community, whose Torah essentially IS the Old Testament, are overwhelmingly pro-choice.

It would seem that SOMEBODY is suffering from difficulties with reading comprehension.

That reminds me by the way of this brilliant bit by Lewis Black pertaining to Christians misunderstanding or the Old Testament.  

Religion, bringing people together for over 200 years. Except of course when it kept them apart.

Courtesy of Varik and Church records of the 17th Century: 

In 1842 a twenty-two year old Catholic woman of nobility (J.W.C. van Gorkum) married a colonel in the Dutch Cavalry. He was not of nobility and was Protestant as well. That must have been the scandal of the century in Roermont. However, the marriage had lasted almost forty years, when the colonel died. Eight years later the woman past away also. She had refused to be laid to rest in the family's large tomb and, instead, had ordered the monument that you can still see today. She lies on one side of the wall, he on the other, still holding hands.

40 years of marriage, and yet at the end it was friction between two differing denominations of the same Christian religion that kept them apart.

Religion, giving people a reason to hate when no other reason exists.

Insanity on Hannity, as the Grizzled Mama returns to the fake backdrop of Wasilla, to cry foul at the "lamestream" media and to defend Santorum's remarks about Satan attacking America.

To play video click fake backdrop.

Essentially Palin performs the same old song and dance that we have all come to expect from her in these bullshit interviews. The only real difference with the newer ones is that she has released her death grip on Newt's...let's say ego, and is now stroking Santorum's with the gusto of a woman desperate to get that number two spot on the GOP ticket again.

(Now let us pause in our critique of this interview to ponder just how happy the Obama campaign would be to learn that the GOP had chosen a Santorum/Palin ticket to go up against them in 2012. You think the President smiles a lot now, just imagine how big his grin would be at that news!)

(Nope, even bigger than that!)

Anyhow back to business.  Like I said this interview follows the same pattern we have seen numerous times before of Hannity asking Palin who she would endorse, or vote for, and Palin dancing around the issue like a stripper with sticky loose change caught up between her g-string and her "lady business."

However there are couple of points worth discussing.

Around the 4:40 mark Hannity asks Palin who she would vote for in Michigan, like somebody actually gave a shit, but her response is kind of intriguing.

"I don't know at this point who I would vote for there in Michigan, I..I do want the process to continue. We know that we had a poor process the last go around, and it's the fault of the media, the leftist mainstream media, that did not vet Barack Obama who then obviously became our president and now we are suffering the negative ramifications of what Barack Obama stands for and, and stood for as a candidate, as he promised to fundamentally transform us and that's exactly what he's doing to the determent to the future of our country."

Now while she focused this criticism of the media to how they covered Obama, I could not help but think, "She's talking about herself."

Which by the way is not uncommon for Palin. If you read past interviews there are a number of times that she points out the shortcomings of others, that are clearly mirror images of her own shortcoming or behaviors.

In this interview I think she is projecting how the media let HER slide by without serious critique (Right up until she shot herself in the foot with her answers to softball questions from Katie Couric, Matt Lauer, and Charlie Gibson), and projecting that onto Obama to help buoy up her revisionist version of history, in which SHE was the one that was poorly treated by the press.

The next part which must be addressed (Around the 10:00 mark) is Palin's response when Hannity brings up Santorum's statement that Satan is actively attacking America through colleges, universities, and the Protestant church. (Of course Hannity conveniently leaves out the part about Protestantism.)

"Yeah Sean but that's foreign to so many in that leftist media that kind of runs the show here, that narrative that they create. They will attack any conservative who boldly proclaims their faith and talks about there is good in the world and there is evil in the world, and that's what Rick Santorum was talking about. And this was a speech that he gave back in 2008, where he named evil as "Satan." and for these lamestream media characters to get all wee wee'd up about that...first you have to ask yourself, have they ever, EVER attended a Sunday School class even? Have they never heard this terminology before? And that's why they just got so you know just..just..so..whacked out about this speech."

Well speaking as one of the so-called "leftists" that the Creature from Lake Lucille is referring to, I would simply explain that, yes I did attend Sunday School, and I did hear about Satan, as well as good and evil.

But a funny thing happened later in my life. I grew up! And while growing up I came to realize that the world is not simply right and wrong, good and evil, or black and white. And somebody who is not intelligent enough to understand that simple reality should NEVER be put in charge of this great country. EVER!

I would also like to point out that Sanrtorum was NOT simply making a childish argument that a magical mythological creature was attacking America, but also that this evil creature was attacking this country through our institutions of higher learning and the Protestant church. You know the one where 51% of ALL Christians attend services.

But of course Palin is going to defend him, because let's face it he's leading.  Well he was, but that was before Palin defended him.

Welcome to the world of Tim Tebow and Jeremy Lin, Frothy!

In 2008 speech Rick Santorum claimed that Satan hates America and is attacking it through some surprising venues. Uh oh!

"What? Do I have some frothy mixture around my mouth?"

In 2008 Rick Santorum gave a speech at a Catholic University, in which he may have completely destroyed his chances of EVER being seriously considered for the GOP nomination.

While speaking of Satan, you know the devil, Santorum claimed that he has focused his attacks on America. (On account of the fact that we are so damn awesome!)  And in Santorum's bizarre religious worldview these attack came first through higher education.

Because you know smart people are so easily tricked by imaginary hobgoblins.

According to Santorum: "The place he was, in my mind the most successful, first successful, was in academia. He understood pride of smart people, he attacked them at their weakest, that they were in fact SMARTER than everybody else. And could come up with something new and different, pursue new truths, deny the existence of truth. Play with it because we're smart. So academia, a long time ago, fell."

So just to drive home the point that Santorum seems to be making is that intelligence is a deficit that allows the powers of darkness, and sin, to systematically destroy this great nation.

In contrast if you are a simple minded moron, say somebody who actually supports Santorum, YOU are the shining example of what this country stands for. Congratulations Jethro, you're a role model!

Ah but if Santorum stopped there he might STILL be able to maintain the support of many on the religious right, they hate smart people anyhow, but Santroum is frothing out of control and turns his attention to the religion that he believes has been corrupted by Satan. Oh you are going to love this!

Frothy Mixture: "Once the colleges fell, and those who were being educated in our institutions, he next was the church. Now you say wait, the Catholic Church? (Remember he is speaking to Catholics) No, we all know that this county was founded on the Judeo-Christian ethic. But he Judeo-Christian ethic, was a Protestant Judeo-Christian ethic. Sure the Catholics had some influence but, this was a Protestant country, and a Protestant ethic. Mainstream, mainline Protestantism. And of course if we look at the shape of mainline Protestantism, it is in a shambles, it is gone. From the world of Christianity, as I see it. So they attacked mainline Protestantism, they attacked the church, and what better way to go after smart people, who are also believe their pious, than to use both vanity and pride to go after the church."

Here is the audio of these remarks courtesy of Mediaite.

Now here's the thing. The overall LARGEST group of Christians in this country are, you guessed it, Protestants.

51% of Christians are Protestants. Only about 24% of them are Catholics.

Now how do you think these Protestants are going to respond to Santorum blaming their religion for allowing Satan to take over America? And if your political base is exclusively made up of religious voters, and you anger over 50% of them, what do you think that does to your chances of winning the GOP nomination?

In other words, can you say buh-bye Frothy?