You mean we need to stop using the word Christmas and letting the Salvation Army collect donations in front of stores because everyone isn't a Christian? Why?
The above statement doesn't even begin to correlate with what I posted to you. So I intend to ignore it.
I SAID I like XMAS songs but not right after Halloween. And the reason I don't like them that early is because merchants are trying ever more to capitalize on the alleged "good cheer" of the Xmas season in order to sell more products, further commercializing a special time of year.
So why did you blame you hearing Christmas songs in stores on evangelicals? Just looking for another reason to hate one of the groups you have a bias against?
Its common knowledge that evangelicals are pushing for Christianity to be more visible everywhere, and that includes XMAS.
I complain that I am tired of the religious right imposing their POV on my way of life
Just exactly how are you imposed on by the religious right? They can't compel you to become a Christian. They can't make you celebrate Christmas. They aren't even able to keep you from aborting your kids if you want to. They can't keep Chris from visiting prostitutes. They can't punish you for having homo sex if you want. What exactly are they doing to you or preventing you from doing? I don't think you can name anything - I think you're just looking for an excuse for your intolerance.
Evagelicals are pushing for more displays of Christianity in the public domain. I am opposed to such an approach......it was not the model for this country when it was founded and it should not be the model now as we become more religiously diverse.
Studies show that conservatives and religious people are happier, enjoy better physical and mental health, and are more charitable.
Love to see the study.....I'm sure you have a link.
arthurbrooks.net
familyfacts.org
psychservices.psychiatryonline.org
Plenty more where those came from.
I would not be surprised. The first two org. clearly have a religious and conservative bias. My experience has been studies completed by such organizations tend to support the biases of those org. Therefore, their conclusions are suspect IMO.
The last study appears to be a more mainstream, academic study but does not look like it underwent peer review. But in any case, lets look at its summary:
"To summarize data shown in Table 1 in terms of the number of significant relationships (p<.01) with outcome variables observed for each of the sociodemographic independent variables, there were four for mothers' attendance at religious services, one for race, none for type of religion, two for adolescent gender, one for family structure, seven for income, and two for maternal education. The only sociodemographic characteristic that surpassed mother's religious participation in the number of significant relationships with adolescent outcomes was family income."
Even as they conclude there are 7 significant relationships between family income and a child's cognitive development and emotional well being vs 4 for a mother's attendance at religious services, the authors suggest that a mother's religious service attendance is the more important sociodemographic and not surprisingly, conclude the following:
"The study results suggest that frequent maternal participation in religious services is associated with positive social functioning and well-being of children at the critical life phase of early adolescence. Furthermore, this association is stronger than that involving other traditional demographic variables with the exception of family income. Surveys of Americans indicate that the percentage of the population that attends religious services has been consistent since the mid-1940s and that the majority of Americans have some affiliation with religion and religious practices (12). Consequently, we suggest that participation in religious activities is an important, relatively stable sociodemographic factor that may be useful in understanding vulnerability and resilience of adolescents in studies of mental and physical health."
I am not a research fellow or academician but it seems to me if you have too very strong variables, at a minimum more research is needed before you can conclude that the lesser of the two is an important characteristic. In fact, the overriding characteristic, family income, may trump and neutralize all the other characteristics including religious service attendance. It may be the only characteristic of true import. In my estimation, this is not a well done study. |
