Re: How many Christians are there in America?

Lee Ratner wrote:
 
>      This OT for the newsgroup but considering the collective
> knowledge and wisdom of the people here, I thought this is the best
> place to clarify something that has been confusing me for years. Most
> people here know that I am a Jew and an American. Growing up, I always
> assumed that most of the non-Jews in America were Christian. Then I
> learned that many Americans consider themselves to be agnostics,
> athiests, Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists etc. Still, most Americans were
> Christian. However, the way some Christian Americans depict
> themselves, you would think that only a minority of Americans are
> Christians and the rest of the country is filled with heathens. I
> point to Evangelical Christians as an example of this. Now are they
> just using some definition of Christian that I am unaware of or is
> something else going on?

If it's about a political matter, then they're using a narrow
definition (certain churches aren't really Christian, anyone who hasn't
been born again isn't really Christian, anyone who only attends church
once a week...) so that they can claim to be a persecuted minority.

In other situations, the same people might claim that Christians are a
_majority_, and are being forced to give special privileges to
religious minorities.

In other contexts, they might be inaccurately extrapolating from their
own communities.

-- 
Dan Goodman
"I have always depended on the kindness of stranglers." 
Tennessee Williams,  A Streetcar Named Expire
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