[lbo-talk] how many Americans go to church, and why?

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

On 4/6/07, Dennis Claxton <ddclaxton at earthlink.net> wrote:
> Yoshie wrote:
>
> >For the religious worth their name, believing in God,
> >worshipping God, sustaining faith, seeking spiritual growth, keeping
> >themselves grounded and inspired, etc. can't be solitary activities --
> >they are communal activities.
>
> This is pie in the sky. Christianity as practiced in the U.S. very
> solitary.  At the end of the day it's between you and God.

There are people for whom religion is a matter between them (as
isolated individuals) and God, just as there are people for whom
socialism, anarchism, etc. are a matter between them (as isolated
individuals) and Marx, them (as isolated individuals) and Bakunin,
etc. in the USA.  America is a country of loners who have few friends
other than their family, and that's no secret.  Such loners, however,
seldom join any religious congregation and go to church, synagogue,
mosque, etc. regularly, nor do they join any socialist, anarchist, or
any other political group and do politics with like-minded people.
Those who attend church, etc. regularly are more politically important
than those who are secular, have beliefs on the broadly defined Left,
but can't be bothered to join anything.
-- 
Yoshie