wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Comments

• [1] JJ from NYC February 27, 2008 - 11:27AM

  Blah. Most Americans are still Christians - they just change denominations.

  
  
• [2] James from Brooklyn February 27, 2008 - 11:28AM

  Please also mention one of the most quickly growing groups, atheists. More and more people are realizing that they don't need ANY superstitious beliefs.

  
  
• [3] Suzanne from New York City February 27, 2008 - 11:28AM

  I went from cradle Catholic to Unitarian, back to Catholic. Am very active in my church / with my faith, but I feel VERY VERY STRONGLY about the lack of transparency at high Catholic levels, and the lack of commitment to women in the Catholic Church proper, and in "organized" religion as a whole.

  
  
• [4] Suzanne from New York City February 27, 2008 - 11:30AM

  Why are so many no longer catholic? Because the Catholic Church does not well cultivate its ability to speak to the heart. It is so easy to isolate, insulate, and insult ... I have seen all of this in my life, as both a Catholic and non-, and a RETURNED Cath.

  
  
• [5] hjs from 11211 February 27, 2008 - 11:30AM

  james,

  so there is hope. even in America, of modernity

  
  
• [6] empty from new york city February 27, 2008 - 11:31AM

  Brian,

  You seemed to imply that unaffiliated would be 'empty'. Why? It seems to me that accepting religion is what is empty because subverts the struggle of the individual with life and death. Affiliated means accepting a doctrine or part of a doctrine. If anything it is empty to just accept a limited interprettion.

  By the way, the global violence that has been so inspired by religion is what has kept me away from this easy way out.

  
  
• [7] Brian Hynes from Bronx, NY February 27, 2008 - 11:32AM

  I used to describe myself as a 'religious fanatic' b/c of my enthusiasm for the anti-war Catholic left. I saw the metaphor of god-parent as a goad to a familial social priorities. In families every pot shares. I thought society should follow a similar model. Now, I think religion is more divisive and sectarian than helpful to the human family. What matters to me is here in history. The outside of history is grist for argument, little, perhaps nothing, more.

  Peace

  
  
• [8] Suzanne from New York City February 27, 2008 - 11:33AM

  Also, I forgot this ... "the family" proper has lost a LOT in the last 40 years ... children tend to be religious IF THE FATHER is religious (there are studies that show this) ... if the family declines, this "faith of the father" transfer may just not be happening.

  
  
• [9] Suzanne from New York City February 27, 2008 - 11:37AM

  Brian Hynes, are you perhaps single, late 40-ish(+) and not gay?

  [grin]

  
  
• [10] Daniel from Midtown February 27, 2008 - 11:38AM

  I'd like to hear whether there has been an increasing in agnosticism or atheism?

  
  
• [11] Seth from Astoria February 27, 2008 - 11:38AM

  I was baptised Catholic, but that was about it. My mother was very into the earth, and she had a bumper sticker on her peg board that said Born again Pagan. That's not the Satanic meaning that people associate with it, but very much, higher power spiritual and being part of the universe, just not organized christianity.

  I recomend for anyone who is looking for something new and fun, The Tao of Pooh, which takes the Tao and relates it to the classic Milne characters and makes it nice to understand, written by Benjamin Hoff.

  
  
• [12] Stephen from Manhattan February 27, 2008 - 11:38AM

  Brian, does the pew report detail anything about mormonism?

  
  
• [13] Chris O from New York February 27, 2008 - 11:40AM

  I always saw religon as irrational b/c you are just the religion of your parents and if this is some everlasting truth on the meaning of life, it seems quite arbitrary to be based on the faith of your parents. Especially when your friends' parents are of a different religion it becomes transparent that there is no truth there.

  It is hard in the modern era to take many of these religions seriously when they seem based on impossible folklore. On the other hand, to have no religion whatsoever can lead a void for many people and it seems like most humans need some kind of belief system.

  I learned all this in 12 years of Catholic school.

  
  
• [14] B from New York February 27, 2008 - 11:42AM

  I joined the New Thought Movement from Episcopalian. It has been amazing--bringing Eastern thought and metaphysics into Judeo-Christianity in a multi-cultural community. The old faith traditions suppress mystical experience, and while they mention it, don't emphasize the 'practice' of stilling the mind like Buddhism does. New Thought is about using your mind for positive experience.

  
  
• [15] Will from Oakland February 27, 2008 - 11:44AM

  They forgot to mention Obamaism

  
  
• [16] Julie from Brooklyn February 27, 2008 - 11:51AM

  I was born Catholic and quite active until my college years.

  I am now atheist... as the first poster indicated; I realized that religion is more the means to explain the unexplainable. Looking at early civilizations belief compared to what we know as scientific truth – religion just simply does not make sense.

  Add to that the maltreatment of so many different groups by the Catholic church (women, gays and cheap shot here: young boys), I simply could not reconcile my up bringing with what I see as a more moral acceptance of humanity.

  
  
• [17] Suzanne from New York City February 27, 2008 - 11:53AM

  Chris O: I am _not_ the Catholic of "my parents faith" ... they were of the "pay, pray, and obey" ilk, questioning nothing. I had 11 years of RC school ... by highschool I was taken aside and told not to ask Qs in religion class because I took the class "in the wrong direction" ... I considered life in the convent (some of my best friends are nuns!) and am now a religious associate. The real, true core of the RC faith is in its creed, and in its lovely, meditative, prayer life (Buddhism has some close rivalling elements), not in its gender bias. To look at the RC church, just by it "rules of practice" is to miss its fundamental welcoming and blessing of the Universe (see Teilhard de Chardin, Martin Buber, St. John of the Cross, Joan Chitister, Elizabeth Johnson, MANY others). Most RCs know very little of their rich, religious heritage ... my deceased parents among them.

  There is SO MUCH dialogue here ... it is not easily qualified or quantified.

  As for Atheism ... I fall more into Carl Sagan's CONTACT camp ... right on the line between religion and science. It's not called a "leap of faith" for nothing!!

  
  
• [18] Winfried Kramer from Jersey City February 27, 2008 - 11:57AM

  I'm 76 years old, was baptized and confirmed lutheran, never gave any importance to religion but after 9/11 and the invasion of Irak by Bush I became completely antireligious and I mean any religion, because I think is about time to speak against this people.

  
  
• [19] Cliff February 27, 2008 - 01:56PM

  It's difficult to believe in something beyond space and time if you've never experienced transcendence. It's perfectly logical to be an atheist when you're bound by the notion of intellect that only what can be perceived through the five senses exists.

  
  
• [20] Connie February 27, 2008 - 02:38PM

  Transcendence is as transcendence does. With due respect to Cliff, and speaking as a lifelong atheist, you can't tell me that the transcendence I feel walking in the woods watching the wildlife is any more or less meaningful than what you experience beyond space and time. I can't say I'll ever understand how it feels to believe in a god, but I expect that you'll never understand how it feels not to. We all each have our own path.

  
  
• [21] Bernie from Bronx February 27, 2008 - 04:22PM

  Unfortunately, and somewhat predictably, most of the comments have been retreads about the evils of religion in general and Catholicism in particular (but thanks to both Suzanne and Cliff for their original and thoughtful comments). However, the most interesting thing about the segment was that the idea that the tremendous diversity of religions in this country gives people opportunities to encounter new ways of believing. The separation of church and state is good for religion (Garry Wills' idea, not mine)!