Leviathan.Chaosx said:
Just saw this interesting poll asking Americans if Christianity and capitalism are really as compatible as republicans make them seem to be.
Quote:
A new poll released Thursday (April 21) found that more Americans (44 percent) see the free market system at odds with Christian values than those who don't (36 percent), whether they are white evangelicals, mainline Protestants, Catholics or minority Christians.
But in other demographic breakdowns, several categories lean the other way: Republicans and Tea Party members, college graduates and members of high-income households view the systems as more compatible than not.
Source
So what do you guys think? Could this be the reason for a decline in the religious numbers? Or do you think there is a decline of the spirit of capitalism because religion is making a come back?
Interesting article.
I do not believe religion is "making a comeback", as you suggested. Not sure where you got that idea from.
Americans under age 50 (and especially under age 30) are more likely than any time in the past to self-identify as unaffiliated/non-religious, even if they are still cautious about labeling themselves as an atheist or agnostic.
Approximately 59% of American adults are between the ages of 18 and 49 (inclusive), but 71% of American adults who self-identify as unaffiliated/non-religious are 18-49. Basically this means that the unaffiliated/non-religious Americans are more prevalent in the 50-and-under crowd.
Furthermore, the percentage of American adults that identified as "Christian" in 1990 was 86.2% ... in 2008 this fell to 76%. Meanwhile, the percentage of American adults identifying as non-religious in 1990 was 8.2% ... and in 2008, this rose to 15%.
So, yeah, there's still plenty of religious Americans, and the raw number of religious people is probably more now than it was 20 years ago ... just simply due to overall population growth. However, the percentage of Americans who are religious is sharply on the decline now.
Maybe there's been some religious revival since 2008 that you know of and I am unaware of, but I doubt that's the case.
Anyways, pardon the semi-digression. Capitalism isn't incompatible with any specific religion. The USA has flourished for centuries (with some notable hiccups and major setbacks along the way at times) with both Capitalism and Christianity co-existing. Whether it's a "happy" ' co-existence or a reluctant co-existence is irrelevant to this discussion. The bottom line is that while Christianity and Capitalism may not be madly-in-love bedfellows, they are indeed compatible in the sense that they can operate independently within the same political borders.
On the contrary though, I would sternly argue that Christianity (like all modern monotheistic religions) is a massive obstacle preventing the evolution of mankind. So, I suppose I could see how one might interpret that as making Capitalism and Christianity
incompatible going forward into the future.
After all, increased stem cell research and its potential applications to cure (or treat) previously incurable (or untreatable) illnesses would be a MASSIVE corporate/economic windfall ... and yet, as it stands, Christianity is pretty much single-handedly holding back progress with stem cell research. That's just one example.
Ultimately though, I don't think Capitalism is harmed by Christianity NEARLY as much as humanity overall is harmed by Christianity.