Anti-gay activist J. Grant Swank Jr. claims that six inclusive Christian denominations have lost members since embracing same-sex believers. [Post Chronicle]
For Real?
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CitizenGeek
How can he get away with making up statistics like that? Christians are obviously very eager to believe that nothing but negativity comes from homosexuality; so eager that they’ll accept the “bad” news without even asking for it to be backed up.
Ann Coulter and Bill O’Reilly routinely invent their own convenient statistics, so I suppose further lies from conservatives should be expected.
Jere
I believe I first saw these statistics in “Microtrends” – and the conclusion of authors Mark Penn and E. Kinney Zalesne was that strict religions are growing while liberal religions are shrinking. This could be due to a variety of factors – liberal religions do not put as much emphasis on weekly attendance and obedience; strict religious traditions are “easier” because they don’t engage in a lot of difficult situational questions; strict religions are better tapping the political trends in this country that comfort rather than challenge people.
He could have just as easily tied those statistic to denominations that accept female pastors (as the authors of “Microtrends” do), denominations that have grown more accepting of abortion, or denominations that emphasize empathy and compassion over a strict moral code.
John
I think its lack of air conditioning and uncomfortable seating in these older denominations’ churches that has caused the decline in membership.
My argument is no more stupid than the cited here.
I never heard of this “Post Chronicle” and my suggestion would be not to spread this sort of inanity on the internet.