Welcome to the fourth annual edition of So What Faith's 5 Star Books of the Year! This year, 17% of all books rated received a rating of 5 or 5+ to earn this honor (in prior years the percentage has ranged from 15% to 17%). Anthony M. Annett. Cathonomics: How Catholic Tradition Can Create a More Just Economy.Jennifer Garcia Bashaw. Scapegoats: The Gospel through the Eyes of Victims.Molly Phinney Baskette. How to Begin When Your World is Ending: A Spiritual Field Guide to Joy Despite Read More …
Christian
Just How Christian are Christians? (#1982)
Holy Week is a time when many Christians spend more time engaged in overtly religious activities than any other week of the year. Given such, it seems an appropriate time to ask the question, "Just how Christian are Christians today?" Or, put differently, how do others experience and perceive the Christians around them and how do Christians perceive themselves? Looking Back Fifteen years ago, I was introduced to a book to what was then a recently published book considering how Read More …
A Decade of Rapid Decline in American Christianity (#1831)
Earlier this week the Pew Research Center published an update on America's changing religious landscape titled In U.S., Decline of Christianity Continues at Rapid Pace. Rapid Decline The following statistics from this new report showcase just how rapidly Christianity has declined in America over the last decade 12% fewer Americans identify as Christian (down from 77% to 65%)8% fewer Americans identify as Protestant (down from 51% to 43%)3% fewer Americans identify as Catholic (down Read More …
Top 5 Posts of 2017 (#1716)
2017 has been a year marked by transitions in my personal life. And, not surprisingly, posts about two of those transitions rank among the top five posts of the year here at So What Faith (ranking determined by number of page views during this calendar year among all posts made during 2017). The top five are I'm Back: My Return to Ministry Christian Alternative Facts The Immigrants Creed Our Search for a Church is Over The Least Educated Americans: Read More …
Water is Life (#1683)
I grew up taking water for granted. Wherever my little feet took me, water flowed freely whenever I turned on a faucet. It was always there when I was thirsty. It was a given for bathing and toileting. It filled pools and lakes and oceans providing endless options for summer fun. Water was everywhere. Water was always there. Water is More and Less Of course, water was, is and always will be far more and far less than my childhood memories. It is more as it signals the Read More …
Being American, Being Christian? (#1679)
Does Believing in God Make You a Better American? This question is the title of a recent article by Kelsey Dallas that addresses how many Americans feel about what the role of Christianity should be in shaping the American experience. While most readers can and will quickly answer the question, it is important to also be aware of how other Americans have answered it in recent years. 4 out of 10 think a culture grounded in Christianity is an extremely or very important Read More …
Identity: Who Are We? Who Am I? (#1598)
I am a planner. The tendency to plan my work and work my plan is a part of my identity. As a pastor, I planned worship themes well in advance. Since I left my last call before the end of the liturgical year, I never fully developed what would have become the last two sermon series before Advent. Identity Identity was a big part of my work as an interim or transitional pastor. In my last call, prior to the start of what would have become back-to-back series on Read More …
Am I a Christian? (#1505)
Christianity is the world's largest religion. Nearly 1 in 3 people (31.5%) are Christian. In 2011 following extensive research, Pew released "Global Christianity: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Christian Population." They found: About half of all Christians worldwide are Catholic (50%), while more than a third are Protestant (37%). Orthodox communions comprise 12% of the world’s Christians. Other Christian groups, which make up the remaining 1%, include the Church Read More …
Christian Belief in a Personal God (#1489)
Tobin Grant recently wrote an insightful article calling attention to the fact that just because American Christians believe in God does not mean that they believe in is a personal God. Using data from the 2007 Religious Landscape Survey Grant provides graphical representations of what percentage of American Christians in each of 43 religious traditions believe in God followed by another illustrating what percentage of these believe in a personal God. Focusing on belief in a personal God Read More …
What Do You Call Yourself? (#1348)
Douglas Lobb, retired minister and former executive secretary of the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches, recently wrote about an increasingly challenging and vitally important term often used as a means of identifying oneself with the Way of Jesus: Christian (The Congregationalist, Dec. 2013, p.21-23). Relating his own experience, Lobb writes: In the light of today's Christian world, I find that I have great difficulty calling myself a Christian; because what is Read More …