Donnie McClurkin, the pastor and gospel music singer who said God delivered him from homosexuality, is now under fire from critics after speaking out against last Friday's U.S. Supreme Court ruling which made same-sex marriage legal nationwide.
McClurkin received some harsh criticism after he shared his interpretation of the Bible's position on homosexuality on Facebook last Friday.
"We've just received the answer from man's Supreme Court ... we already received the answer from GOD," the pastor of Perfecting Faith Church in New York wrote. "With NO REGARD to what the Supreme Court of MAN decrees ... no matter what MY past was or feelings & struggles ... GOD has set the only standard for marriage to be between man and woman ... in biology, in physiology, in history, biblically & scripturally and that ... I will NEVER speak against!"
After one homosexual Facebook user questioned why his sins were scrutinized by believers more than heterosexual sins, McClurkin insisted his post was not questioning anyone's relationship with God.
"... I simply said I don't agree with the verdict of the Supreme Court. ... I don't have to be PERFECT to speak what the Bible says or what I know to be true," McClurkin responded to his critic. "I don't know where you'll be if you die tomorrow and that wasn't a point in my blog. ... I just don't agree with the verdict and believe the Bible — that's all."
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Showing posts with label culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label culture. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Friday, May 2, 2014
'Inside Edition's Megan Alexander on Faith and Abstinence
"Inside Edition" host Megan Alexander is no stranger to giving the inside scoop to the public, but now she is telling her own personal story of how her Christian faith influenced her decision to remain a virgin until marriage.
"I claimed my faith for myself in about junior high," Alexander told Fox News. "I think we should never just do what our parents tell us to do. We should find our faith and claim it for ourselves. So I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior in about 7th grade and made that decision myself and that's been the best thing I ever did."
Alexander wanted to share her faith with a younger audience, so she wrote a special article for WHOAwomen Magazine. In it she wrote of her faith and her decision to abstain from sexual relationships until marriage.
"I decided to speak out, because I feel like young people today, specifically teenagers and millenials in their 20s and 30s, there's so much pressure to just get involved [physically] and to think that that's normal. I wanted people to know hey, there's another option. This is the option that I chose and it can work for you too," she explained.
"I certainly wish it [sex] was a little better represented in television and movies and they gave us a couple different scenarios instead of just the one of jump into bed immediately," Alexander noted. "I want to encourage the next generation to take their time, to value their bodies, and to realize that it's okay to wait if you want to. And for me, it worked out great and I believe that other people need to hear that message and know that it's just fine to take their time."
Alexander eventually met husband Brian Cournoyer. She shared her decision with him, and the two agreed to set boundaries within their relationship, with the ultimate boundary being no sexual interaction until they were married.
"Because we were friends before and he knew what I stood for, what I was all about, what I believed in and I did in him. I knew that he was a Christian, I knew that he found his faith later in life, but I knew that that was also important to him. We had a really good relationship first. I say that we never really had that awkward first date because we were always really good friends. But I do remember us saying, 'Okay now that we're dating, let's set our boundaries,'" Alexander explained.
One thing that helps Alexander stand firm in her beliefs is the marriage Sunday school class she and Brian attend together. The two have attended for some time and Alexander equates its it to having a regular "checkup" with a marriage counselor or pastor. Alexander also encourages young women to stand firm in their own beliefs and not cave into the pressure of intimacy placed on them by peers and the Hollywood ideal.
"Be bold; dare to be different; and be proud of who you are and what you have to offer," Alexander wrote in WHOA. "It is never too early to prepare for your future marriage. Value yourselves and treat your bodies like temples. Look beyond the physical for someone who will be your best friend and biggest cheerleader."
"I claimed my faith for myself in about junior high," Alexander told Fox News. "I think we should never just do what our parents tell us to do. We should find our faith and claim it for ourselves. So I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior in about 7th grade and made that decision myself and that's been the best thing I ever did."
Alexander wanted to share her faith with a younger audience, so she wrote a special article for WHOAwomen Magazine. In it she wrote of her faith and her decision to abstain from sexual relationships until marriage.
"I decided to speak out, because I feel like young people today, specifically teenagers and millenials in their 20s and 30s, there's so much pressure to just get involved [physically] and to think that that's normal. I wanted people to know hey, there's another option. This is the option that I chose and it can work for you too," she explained.
"I certainly wish it [sex] was a little better represented in television and movies and they gave us a couple different scenarios instead of just the one of jump into bed immediately," Alexander noted. "I want to encourage the next generation to take their time, to value their bodies, and to realize that it's okay to wait if you want to. And for me, it worked out great and I believe that other people need to hear that message and know that it's just fine to take their time."
Alexander eventually met husband Brian Cournoyer. She shared her decision with him, and the two agreed to set boundaries within their relationship, with the ultimate boundary being no sexual interaction until they were married.
"Because we were friends before and he knew what I stood for, what I was all about, what I believed in and I did in him. I knew that he was a Christian, I knew that he found his faith later in life, but I knew that that was also important to him. We had a really good relationship first. I say that we never really had that awkward first date because we were always really good friends. But I do remember us saying, 'Okay now that we're dating, let's set our boundaries,'" Alexander explained.
One thing that helps Alexander stand firm in her beliefs is the marriage Sunday school class she and Brian attend together. The two have attended for some time and Alexander equates its it to having a regular "checkup" with a marriage counselor or pastor. Alexander also encourages young women to stand firm in their own beliefs and not cave into the pressure of intimacy placed on them by peers and the Hollywood ideal.
"Be bold; dare to be different; and be proud of who you are and what you have to offer," Alexander wrote in WHOA. "It is never too early to prepare for your future marriage. Value yourselves and treat your bodies like temples. Look beyond the physical for someone who will be your best friend and biggest cheerleader."
Monday, April 28, 2014
Does the Rise of Stephen Colbert Signal Larger Changes in Culture?
Shameless Popery blogger Joe Heschmeyer writes that certain events, small in themselves, can serve as cultural bellwethers, pointing to the direction that the culture is going as a whole. He points out that two years ago, we saw one of these in the replacement of the Supreme Court's last Protestant, Justice David Souter (an Episcopalian), with Justice Sonia Sotomayor (a Catholic). Since that time, the Supreme Court has been made up of six Catholics and three Jews, with no Protestants.
Last week, he argued that we're seeing another of these bellwethers. Late-night host David Letterman recently announced his retirement and CBS announced his replacement: Stephen Colbert. Deacon Greg Kandra was quick to point out one reason that this was significant, with the headline: “The Catholic takeover of late night TV is complete.” Letterman was the Protestant hold-out in late night. Once Colbert replaces him, networks late night shows will be hosted by Catholics.
This is not necessarily a resurgence of Catholicism, at least in any meaningful sense. Not all of the people we're talking about here are model (or even practicing) Catholics, by any stretch. Rather, we're witnessing the collapse of Protestantism. That's born out by the data, as this 2012 Pew report shows:
In late 2012, Pew reported for the first time that a minority of Americans polled (48%) still considered themselves Protestants. Catholicism is gaining relative to Protestantism simply by holding steady, while Protestant ranks are falling. This is particularly true of liberal and “mainline” Protestantism, which is simply collapsing.
Meanwhile, it's irreligion, not Catholicism, that's on the rise. As the Pew report (and subsequent NY Times coverage) point out, most of these religious unaffiliated people still believe in God. It's not so much God that people have given up on, but religion. Part of this is a trend towards social alienation: one ironic result of technology is that we're lonelier than we used to be, more alienated from our friends and neighbors. The natural social cohesion that holds a congregation together is increasingly lacking. But whatever the cause(s), this is a reality that I think all of us, regardless of religious affiliation, have to take seriously.
read full article
Last week, he argued that we're seeing another of these bellwethers. Late-night host David Letterman recently announced his retirement and CBS announced his replacement: Stephen Colbert. Deacon Greg Kandra was quick to point out one reason that this was significant, with the headline: “The Catholic takeover of late night TV is complete.” Letterman was the Protestant hold-out in late night. Once Colbert replaces him, networks late night shows will be hosted by Catholics.
This is not necessarily a resurgence of Catholicism, at least in any meaningful sense. Not all of the people we're talking about here are model (or even practicing) Catholics, by any stretch. Rather, we're witnessing the collapse of Protestantism. That's born out by the data, as this 2012 Pew report shows:
In late 2012, Pew reported for the first time that a minority of Americans polled (48%) still considered themselves Protestants. Catholicism is gaining relative to Protestantism simply by holding steady, while Protestant ranks are falling. This is particularly true of liberal and “mainline” Protestantism, which is simply collapsing.
Meanwhile, it's irreligion, not Catholicism, that's on the rise. As the Pew report (and subsequent NY Times coverage) point out, most of these religious unaffiliated people still believe in God. It's not so much God that people have given up on, but religion. Part of this is a trend towards social alienation: one ironic result of technology is that we're lonelier than we used to be, more alienated from our friends and neighbors. The natural social cohesion that holds a congregation together is increasingly lacking. But whatever the cause(s), this is a reality that I think all of us, regardless of religious affiliation, have to take seriously.
read full article
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
What Low-budget Hit 'God's Not Dead' Says About Christians and Hollywood
It may be “The Year of the Bible” in Hollywood, but American moviegoers are still startling the industry with their robust enthusiasm for faith-filled films targeting the tastes of the faithful.
This weekend, the small-budget “God’s Not Dead” took in more than $8.5 million Friday through Sunday – a surprising fifth-place in this weekend’s box office numbers.
Even more startling, say observers, is the fact that the movie, aimed toward Evangelical Christians, was shown in only 780 theaters – far fewer than those ahead of it, each of which were showing on more than 3,000 screens.
“While this huge opening may be a surprise to the industry, it is not so much to us,” said Mark Borde, co-president of the film’s distributor, said over the weekend. “The in-house tracking, the legitimate one million Facebook fans, the very high trending on Twitter and Fandango, among many other platforms, and the huge positive reaction from the hundreds of screenings over the many past months, gave us hope for a significant opening.”
While not a blockbuster of biblical proportions, the small film’s significant success this weekend comes at a time when Hollywood has been trying to capitalize yet again on the faith-based market, which also made a hit out of “Son of God” earlier this month. The film was condensed from the History Channel’s smash TV hit, “The Bible,” and has taken in nearly $56 million since its release Feb. 28.
But “God’s Not Dead” is a very different kind of film, many observers say. It has a deep resonance in the Evangelical subculture, which often feels mocked and demeaned by the nation’s media and entertainment elites.
“There's a negativity towards Christians in Hollywood,” said Kevin Sorbo, the actor who plays the atheistic philosophy professor. “And a negativity towards people who believe in God.”
“The silent majority is starting to get annoyed with what’s going on,” the Christian actor continued. “I think more people need to start speaking about it instead of just sitting there and taking it.... It’s happening; you’re getting attacked; you need to stand up for yourself and your beliefs.”
Indeed, the film leaps headlong into the culture wars, striking back against famous atheists, referencing the views of Stephen Hawking, Noam Chomsky, and others.
The film also has a number of subplots that reference real-life issues that chafe many Evangelicals. A journalist, described as a radical vegan, conducts ambush interviews with “Duck Dynasty” star Willie Robertson and his wife, who play themselves. It also follows the story of a young Muslim woman, who converts to Christianity and secretly listens to podcasts of the evangelist Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham. Her enraged father violently kicks her out of the house. There is also a subplot about a local pastor struggling with his faith, the vegan journalist who later discovers she has cancer, and the philosophy professor’s mistress, who becomes a Christian.
“I’m so glad a film like ‘God’s Not Dead' is bringing to the public the very real culture clash going on in American public life, especially in education,” e-mails Mitch Land, professor and dean at the School of Communication & the Arts at Regent University, an Evangelical school in Virginia Beach, Va. “We have a right and obligation to express our faith without fear of discrimination or reprisal.”
But responses to the film are as stark as red and blue.
Scott Foundas, chief film critic at Variety, called it a “ham-fisted Christian campus melodrama,” saying its depiction of the college professor was “rather like the Jews in the wartime Nazi propaganda films.”
And so far, some 2,000 ratings on the site imbd.com reveal a divide as wide as it could possibly be. On Monday morning, about half of the arm-chair critics on the site rate the film a "Citizen Kane"-level 10 out of 10 stars (46.3 percent). A full third, however, give it a rock-bottom, "Ishtar"-level 1 star out of 10 (32.8 percent). There's no shades of gray for those who see this film.
Still, others see it in a far less conflict-laden context.
“The success of 'God’s Not Dead' shows at least three things,” says Paul Levinson, media critic and professor of communications and media studies at Fordham University in New York: “Big budgets are not necessary to make popular movies, there is a significant part of the population that cherishes faith-based movies, and students like narratives about arrogant professors who get their due.”
read full article
This weekend, the small-budget “God’s Not Dead” took in more than $8.5 million Friday through Sunday – a surprising fifth-place in this weekend’s box office numbers.
Even more startling, say observers, is the fact that the movie, aimed toward Evangelical Christians, was shown in only 780 theaters – far fewer than those ahead of it, each of which were showing on more than 3,000 screens.
“While this huge opening may be a surprise to the industry, it is not so much to us,” said Mark Borde, co-president of the film’s distributor, said over the weekend. “The in-house tracking, the legitimate one million Facebook fans, the very high trending on Twitter and Fandango, among many other platforms, and the huge positive reaction from the hundreds of screenings over the many past months, gave us hope for a significant opening.”
While not a blockbuster of biblical proportions, the small film’s significant success this weekend comes at a time when Hollywood has been trying to capitalize yet again on the faith-based market, which also made a hit out of “Son of God” earlier this month. The film was condensed from the History Channel’s smash TV hit, “The Bible,” and has taken in nearly $56 million since its release Feb. 28.
But “God’s Not Dead” is a very different kind of film, many observers say. It has a deep resonance in the Evangelical subculture, which often feels mocked and demeaned by the nation’s media and entertainment elites.
“There's a negativity towards Christians in Hollywood,” said Kevin Sorbo, the actor who plays the atheistic philosophy professor. “And a negativity towards people who believe in God.”
“The silent majority is starting to get annoyed with what’s going on,” the Christian actor continued. “I think more people need to start speaking about it instead of just sitting there and taking it.... It’s happening; you’re getting attacked; you need to stand up for yourself and your beliefs.”
Indeed, the film leaps headlong into the culture wars, striking back against famous atheists, referencing the views of Stephen Hawking, Noam Chomsky, and others.
The film also has a number of subplots that reference real-life issues that chafe many Evangelicals. A journalist, described as a radical vegan, conducts ambush interviews with “Duck Dynasty” star Willie Robertson and his wife, who play themselves. It also follows the story of a young Muslim woman, who converts to Christianity and secretly listens to podcasts of the evangelist Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham. Her enraged father violently kicks her out of the house. There is also a subplot about a local pastor struggling with his faith, the vegan journalist who later discovers she has cancer, and the philosophy professor’s mistress, who becomes a Christian.
“I’m so glad a film like ‘God’s Not Dead' is bringing to the public the very real culture clash going on in American public life, especially in education,” e-mails Mitch Land, professor and dean at the School of Communication & the Arts at Regent University, an Evangelical school in Virginia Beach, Va. “We have a right and obligation to express our faith without fear of discrimination or reprisal.”
But responses to the film are as stark as red and blue.
Scott Foundas, chief film critic at Variety, called it a “ham-fisted Christian campus melodrama,” saying its depiction of the college professor was “rather like the Jews in the wartime Nazi propaganda films.”
And so far, some 2,000 ratings on the site imbd.com reveal a divide as wide as it could possibly be. On Monday morning, about half of the arm-chair critics on the site rate the film a "Citizen Kane"-level 10 out of 10 stars (46.3 percent). A full third, however, give it a rock-bottom, "Ishtar"-level 1 star out of 10 (32.8 percent). There's no shades of gray for those who see this film.
Still, others see it in a far less conflict-laden context.
“The success of 'God’s Not Dead' shows at least three things,” says Paul Levinson, media critic and professor of communications and media studies at Fordham University in New York: “Big budgets are not necessary to make popular movies, there is a significant part of the population that cherishes faith-based movies, and students like narratives about arrogant professors who get their due.”
read full article
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Kevin Sorbo: Morals are Falling but Biblical Films are on Rise
Modern society may be in moral decline, but Hollywood seems to be warming up to telling Biblical tales.
"Morals are declining and I don't care if you're religious or not. Morals are declining," Sorbo told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV. "The country is going under. We're getting worse and worse and everything is okay according to half the population in this country. Not everything is okay."
In his new movie, "God's Not Dead,” Sorbo plays a college philosophy professor who demands that his freshmen students accept that God is dead. If that seems like a far-fetched premise, Sorbo says there have been dozens of court cases that have dealt with such situations.
"The atheists are stirring up. You know, I find it interesting that people who don't believe in something get so angry about it," Sorbo said. "You've got extremes on both sides and I get it and I understand it."
Sorbo said that Hollywood may be coming around to Christian-themed movies, in part because they have proven money potential, and because the quality has improved.
""Blindside' was the kick off point," Sorbo said. "[Hollywood executives] said, "you know what, there's an audience out there we're not serving.'"
Sorbo said that faith and politics don't have to be divisive issues, but he sees hypocrisy on how people approach them.
"I don't vote with anger. I vote with my head and my gut and my heart," Sorbo said. "I look at the person, I look at what they stand for and what they believe in, and I just know, during the last two elections, if you didn't vote for Obama, you're considered a racist and I said "what does racism have to do with it?'
"I have white actor friends who said "I'm going to vote for him because he's black, it'll be cool to have a black president.' I said, "but that's racist.' If I said I'm going for McCain because he's a white guy, you'd call me a racist. But it's such a weird reverse thing. No matter if you say anything negative about anybody nowadays, they want to play the race card and it's insane. I just don't believe in his politics."
Sorbo said that regardless of belief, the ability to turn personal hardships into inspiration has been key to his personal success. At the end of his "Hercules" run Sorbo suffered three strokes, the result of an aneurism, that impacted his balance and vision and took years for him to recover from. He has since become a health and fitness advocate; he is a spokesman for antioxidant measurement product Fluitec and he said that simply stretching before going to sleep at night can have positive long-term health benefits.
"You've got to make tragedies comedies real quick in your life otherwise you're in for a long life," Sorbo said.
Read full article
"Morals are declining and I don't care if you're religious or not. Morals are declining," Sorbo told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV. "The country is going under. We're getting worse and worse and everything is okay according to half the population in this country. Not everything is okay."
In his new movie, "God's Not Dead,” Sorbo plays a college philosophy professor who demands that his freshmen students accept that God is dead. If that seems like a far-fetched premise, Sorbo says there have been dozens of court cases that have dealt with such situations.
"The atheists are stirring up. You know, I find it interesting that people who don't believe in something get so angry about it," Sorbo said. "You've got extremes on both sides and I get it and I understand it."
Sorbo said that Hollywood may be coming around to Christian-themed movies, in part because they have proven money potential, and because the quality has improved.
""Blindside' was the kick off point," Sorbo said. "[Hollywood executives] said, "you know what, there's an audience out there we're not serving.'"
Sorbo said that faith and politics don't have to be divisive issues, but he sees hypocrisy on how people approach them.
"I don't vote with anger. I vote with my head and my gut and my heart," Sorbo said. "I look at the person, I look at what they stand for and what they believe in, and I just know, during the last two elections, if you didn't vote for Obama, you're considered a racist and I said "what does racism have to do with it?'
"I have white actor friends who said "I'm going to vote for him because he's black, it'll be cool to have a black president.' I said, "but that's racist.' If I said I'm going for McCain because he's a white guy, you'd call me a racist. But it's such a weird reverse thing. No matter if you say anything negative about anybody nowadays, they want to play the race card and it's insane. I just don't believe in his politics."
Sorbo said that regardless of belief, the ability to turn personal hardships into inspiration has been key to his personal success. At the end of his "Hercules" run Sorbo suffered three strokes, the result of an aneurism, that impacted his balance and vision and took years for him to recover from. He has since become a health and fitness advocate; he is a spokesman for antioxidant measurement product Fluitec and he said that simply stretching before going to sleep at night can have positive long-term health benefits.
"You've got to make tragedies comedies real quick in your life otherwise you're in for a long life," Sorbo said.
Read full article
Friday, April 30, 2010
Why Film's Golden Age Ended
Chuck Colson argues modern films are on-the-whole inferior because filmmakers have lost the art of storytelling-along with their grounding in a view of life that fits with the structure of reality. Instead, they offer false claims of salvation-along with graphic sex and violence to titillate instead of challenging the imaginations of their viewers. Requiring movie makers to exercise restraint “was, on balance, beneficial to the creative process."
Monday, March 9, 2009
More Americans Say They Have No Religion
A wide-ranging study on American religious life found that the percentage of Christians in the nation has declined and more people say they have no religion at all.
Fifteen percent of respondents said they had no religion, an increase from 14.2 percent in 2001 and 8.2 percent in 1990, according to the American Religious Identification Survey.
Northern New England surpassed the Pacific Northwest as the least religious region, with Vermont reporting the highest share of those claiming no religion, at 34 percent. Still, the study found that the numbers of Americans with no religion rose in every state.
"No other religious bloc has kept such a pace in every state," the study's authors said.
In 2008, Christians comprised 76 percent of U.S. adults, compared to about 77 percent in 2001 and about 86 percent in 1990. Researchers said the dwindling ranks of mainline Protestants, including Methodists, Lutherans and Episcopalians, largely explains the shift. Over the last seven years, mainline Protestants dropped from just over 17 percent to 12.9 percent of the population.
The report from The Program on Public Values at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., surveyed 54,461 adults in English or Spanish from February through November of last year. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 0.5 percentage points. The findings are part of a series of studies on American religion by the program that will later look more closely at reasons behind the trends.
The current survey, being released Monday, found traditional organized religion playing less of a role in many lives. Thirty percent of married couples did not have a religious wedding ceremony and 27 percent of respondents said they did not want a religious funeral.
About 12 percent of Americans believe in a higher power but not the personal God at the core of monotheistic faiths. And, since 1990, a slightly greater share of respondents — 1.2 percent — said they were part of new religious movements, including Scientology, Wicca and Santeria.
The study also found signs of a growing influence of churches that either don't belong to a denomination or play down their membership in a religious group.
Respondents who called themselves "non-denominational Christian" grew from 0.1 percent in 1990 to 3.5 percent last year. Congregations that most often use the term are mega-churches considered "seeker sensitive." They use rock style music and less structured prayer to attract people who don't usually attend church. Researchers also found a small increase in those who prefer being called evangelical or born-again, rather than claim membership in a denomination.
Evangelical or born-again Americans make up 34 percent of all American adults and 45 percent of all Christians and Catholics, the study found. Researchers found that 18 percent of Catholics consider themselves born-again or evangelical, and nearly 39 percent of mainline Protestants prefer those labels. Many mainline Protestant groups are riven by conflict over how they should interpret what the Bible says about gay relationships, salvation and other issues.
The study found that the percentage of Americans who identified themselves as Muslim grew to 0.6 percent of the population, while growth in Eastern religions such as Buddhism slightly slowed.
Fifteen percent of respondents said they had no religion, an increase from 14.2 percent in 2001 and 8.2 percent in 1990, according to the American Religious Identification Survey.
Northern New England surpassed the Pacific Northwest as the least religious region, with Vermont reporting the highest share of those claiming no religion, at 34 percent. Still, the study found that the numbers of Americans with no religion rose in every state.
"No other religious bloc has kept such a pace in every state," the study's authors said.
In 2008, Christians comprised 76 percent of U.S. adults, compared to about 77 percent in 2001 and about 86 percent in 1990. Researchers said the dwindling ranks of mainline Protestants, including Methodists, Lutherans and Episcopalians, largely explains the shift. Over the last seven years, mainline Protestants dropped from just over 17 percent to 12.9 percent of the population.
The report from The Program on Public Values at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., surveyed 54,461 adults in English or Spanish from February through November of last year. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 0.5 percentage points. The findings are part of a series of studies on American religion by the program that will later look more closely at reasons behind the trends.
The current survey, being released Monday, found traditional organized religion playing less of a role in many lives. Thirty percent of married couples did not have a religious wedding ceremony and 27 percent of respondents said they did not want a religious funeral.
About 12 percent of Americans believe in a higher power but not the personal God at the core of monotheistic faiths. And, since 1990, a slightly greater share of respondents — 1.2 percent — said they were part of new religious movements, including Scientology, Wicca and Santeria.
The study also found signs of a growing influence of churches that either don't belong to a denomination or play down their membership in a religious group.
Respondents who called themselves "non-denominational Christian" grew from 0.1 percent in 1990 to 3.5 percent last year. Congregations that most often use the term are mega-churches considered "seeker sensitive." They use rock style music and less structured prayer to attract people who don't usually attend church. Researchers also found a small increase in those who prefer being called evangelical or born-again, rather than claim membership in a denomination.
Evangelical or born-again Americans make up 34 percent of all American adults and 45 percent of all Christians and Catholics, the study found. Researchers found that 18 percent of Catholics consider themselves born-again or evangelical, and nearly 39 percent of mainline Protestants prefer those labels. Many mainline Protestant groups are riven by conflict over how they should interpret what the Bible says about gay relationships, salvation and other issues.
The study found that the percentage of Americans who identified themselves as Muslim grew to 0.6 percent of the population, while growth in Eastern religions such as Buddhism slightly slowed.
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