Survey: US religious landscape in flux

From The Associated Press:

The U.S. religious marketplace is extremely volatile, with nearly half of American adults leaving the faith tradition of their upbringing to either switch allegiances or abandon religious affiliation altogether, a new survey finds.

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"Love Bomb" Misses the Mark

From Deconversion Bible, a new Atheist blog:

This post was inspired by vjack's article on Christian Culture.

I don't know how many atheists are intimately familiar with the evangelical and cultist tactic called a love bombing. I saw an article about it on Truthdig. The article discusses overt, sinister examples of the tactic where evangelical leaders consciously direct the group members to carry this out. I think sometimes it's just a little more subtle and love bombing is far more extensive than what we give it credit for. I'd like to broaden the applicability of love bombing here because I think it gives valuable insight into a whole set of Christian behavior.

I've always been aware of many Christian behaviors that are built into and thought of as the Christian lifestyle itself. The group members themselves often aren't even meant to be aware of the reasons for their own actions. And often, the group members are so well conditioned into this lifestyle that the group can carry out sophisticated coordinated efforts even with no leader at their center. It's automatic.

I don't think there's a single atheist who hasn't heard Christian leaders calling on their churches to go out into their cities and treat everyone in a loving, caring manner. They always stress the homeless, prostitutes, and even those "inner city" people. Churches then encourage their members to put together friend-making activities such as progressive dinner parties for new recruits. And smaller groups are encouraged to voluntarily go off the deep end with things such as cuddle parties or "ice breaker games" such as this. Christians are obsessed with inventing or adopting superficial friend-making activities.

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The full post is well worth reading, along with vjack's Christian Culture post that inspired it and in turn How do you escape a cult when it's all around you? posted by layla on exchristian.net to which vjack responds.

The Enemy Within

This Man Has No Business Being President

“I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution. But I believe it’s a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God. And thats what we need to do is amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards rather than trying to change God’s standards so it lines up with some contemporary view of how we treat each other and how we treat the family.”
--Mike Huckabee

Hello so-called mainstream media? Are you listening? Why is the coverage of this story so sparse on the major networks? Granted, this guy will not likely be elected and granted changing the constitution is very difficult indeed - this is a good example of the reasons for that - but this is an indication of this guy's mindset.

Reactions:

Keith Olberman on MSNBC:

• CBSNews.com: Anybody Up For Matthew 6:1?
• MSNBC: HUCK, THE CONSTITUTION AND 'GOD'S STANDARDS'
• The Huffington Post: Huckabee: Amend Constitution To Be In 'God's Standards'
  
• Crooks and Liars: Huckabee Wants A “Faith-based” Constitution
• Daily Kos: Huckabee's Stealth Theocracy
• AlterNet: Huckabee Wants to Rewrite Constitution, Says It's Easier to Change Than "Word of Living God"
• NJDC Blog: NJDC CONDEMNS MIKE HUCKABEE FOR SAYING CONSTITUTION SHOULD BE AMMENDED TO REFLECT GOD'S STANDARDS
• The Carpetbagger Report: Huckabee wants the Constitution to match ‘God’s standards’
  
• NoGodBlog: Anti-American Huckabee wants to Change the Constitution
• God is for Suckers: “We the People of God, in order to form a more perfect theocracy”
• RichardDawkins.net: Huckabee Wants A 'Faith-based' Constitution
• Deep Thoughts: Some might find that statement very troubling
• Stardust: “We the People of God, in order to form a more perfect theocracy”
• Gentoo Forums: Lord save me from your followers...
• LeftWord: Huckabee Wants A Faith-based Constitution
• Think Progress: Huckabee: ‘amend the Constitution’ to ‘God’s standards.
• The Raw Story: Huckabee: Amend Constitution to be in 'God's standards'
• Free Market News Network: Huckabee: Amend Constitution for God
• Perrspective: Huckabee Calls for Faith-Based Constitution
• Hot Air: Huckabee: Let’s amend the Constitution to bring it in line with “God’s standards”
  

Related:

The single greatest threat to church-state separation in America is the movement known as the Religious Right. Organizations and leaders representing this religio-political crusade seek to impose a fundamentalist Christian viewpoint on all Americans through government action.
--Americans United for Separation of Church and State

The goal of undermining this foundational principle of our nation poses nothing less than an existential threat to our most basic rights and freedoms, and to the United States of America itself. Does this constitute treason?

The United States of America was founded for the very specific purpose of protecting its citizens at large from the religious leanings of a subset of society. To weaken or eliminate such separation quite literally destroys the very freedoms the United States stands for and the purpose for and meaning of its existence as a nation.

Scientology Faces Criminal Charges

"BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) — A Belgian prosecutor on Tuesday recommended that the U.S.-based Church of Scientology stand trial for fraud and extortion, following a 10-year investigation that concluded the group should be labeled a criminal organization."

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The German government considers Scientology a commercial enterprise that takes advantage of vulnerable people.

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Perhaps Germany should also take them to court. Why stop with Scientology? Perhaps they should take all the 'commercial enterprises taking advantage of vulnerable people' to court. There are many such enterprises far more well established than Scientology that collectively have done far more harm throughout the millennia.

Know Them By Their Deeds: Southern Baptist Abuse Cases Getting Attention

From Athiest Revolution:

According to The Christian Post, sex scandals involving Southern Baptist clergy are receiving increased attention, with some fearing that we are looking at a similar pattern as the widely known epidemic facing Catholicism. I find this fitting because my experience has been that Southern Baptists are among the first to condemn other denominations as not being "real Christians."

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