USA Today, Cover Story:
Most religions are losing ground. Gee, those of us with some kind of brain and belief could have told you that! There in lies the sad part of this entire newspaper article. It appears all major religions are losing ground in this country. The 3rd largest number of polled persons stated "none" as their religion. Numbers are fine but like the mathematician said, Numbers can lie. I don't believe these numbers lie. They are what they are. In my opinion, sad.
After reading this lengthy article what struck me was a comment by a couple who reportedly "left behind their childhood religion". They had no religious ceremony at their wedding and failed to have their child baptized. Here is what is disturbing to me. The wife said,"we discussed Baptism, but we would only have done it for his mother and my father, so we decided no,". That's fine if you don't want to do it just to please another. I would almost call that commendable. But,
WHAT ABOUT THE CHILD!
Morons! How about giving the child a fighting chance! I call it preparing for the future. Kind of like being a Boy Scout. Be Prepared. You may choose to live your life without God in it but, as this young child gets older at least give him a chance! Like your parents gave you the opportunity to make a choice, no matter how wrong. You made your choice.
Sad part number 2 on this is I work with so many young people that have no belief, no concept, or no understanding of what religion is all about. Regardless of the religion, they just don't care. It's ok if they live together, it's ok if children are born out of wedlock, it's ok if they cheat on a test. As long as it doesn't affect them. They say it's none of my business. Being a couple generations older than some of the people I work with I try to explain the concept. I fear more often than not it falls on deaf ears.
I will say one thing for me personally. My parents raised me in the church. I wandered away for several years and then came back. My wife and I gave our children a chance to decide. Does that make us good parents. I don't know, but we gave them a chance.
