Scary Statistics and Terrifying Trends!

Steve Court posts some scary statistics and terrifying trends over at http://www.armybarmy.com/blog.html (Aug. 9, 2010). And his accompanying challenge is not only courageous; it’s spot on!

His concluding comment: “The Army is better than this. It deserves better than this. God certainly deserves better than this. If you aren’t uncomfortable reading this post, you should be, so ask the Lord to make you uncomfortable (and to show you what you should do to help)”. Click on over there, check out the numbers, and test your own personal comfort level. 

If you go back into the archives of my blog, “Slightly Irregular” (www.joenoland.blogspot.com), you’ll find posts on this theme, ad nauseam. So, I’ll spare you further comment on my part and share some outside, intelligent, authoritative voices. 

Anne Rice, on her Facebook page, recently announced that she is quitting Christianity. Interviewed, she says in part: “I’ve also found that I can’t find a basis in Scripture for a lot of the positions that churches and denominations take today, and I can’t find any basis at all for an anointed, hierarchical priesthood. So all of this finally created a pressure in me, a kind of confusion, a toxic anger at times, and I felt I had to step aside. And that’s what I’ve done.” The entire interview is worth a read: 

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-beliefs-anne-rice-20100807,0,5152082.story 

Leonard Pitts writes brilliantly in his Miami Herald column: “According to a 2008 study by Trinity College, religiosity is trending down sharply in this country. The American Religious Identification Survey, which polled more than 54,000 American adults, found that the percentage who call themselves Christian has fallen by 10 since 1990 (from 86.2 percent to 76 percent) while the percentage of those who claim no religious affiliation has almost doubled (from 8.2 to 15) in the same span…Organized religion, Christianity in particular, is on the decline, and it has no one to blame but itself: It traded moral authority for political power.”

He concludes, “But what of those who are not atheists? What of those who feel the blessed assurance that there is more to this existence than what we can see or empirically prove? What of those who seek a magnificent faith that commits and compels, and find churches offering only a shriveled faith that marginalizes and demeans?

Its response to those people, those seekers, will determine the future of organized religion. And it might behoove keepers of the faith to keep in mind the distinction Anne Rice drew in her farewell: Christ didn’t fail her, she said. Christianity did.” Read more:

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/04/1760058/keeping-faith-losing-religion.html 

Phil Wall, insider-outsider, writes in his book I’ll Fight…’ Holiness at War’,

“Secondly, the nature of leadership is changing dramatically in the Western world. To say that top-down hierarchical leadership is dead is an understatement. Current specialists in leadership such as Charles Handy and Professor John Hunt of London Business School, suggest that linear and relational leadership will shape future organisations, and emerging generations will have little attraction to heavy authoritarian institutions.” 

Notice a unifying theme here? 

Can’t resist it. Here’s my slightly irreverent insider’s take (perhaps not as intelligent and authoritative) on it all: http://slightlyirreverent.blogspot.com/2008/12/i-had-dream.html. 

To nudge you over there, here’s a question asked within the post: “Were Jesus here in the flesh today, would He even entertain taking on a title: General Jesus or Pope Jesus or Archbishop Jesus?” 

 

Writer: Commissioner Joe Noland’s ministry can be summed up in three words: chaos, creativity and controversy - three elements implicit in any successful innovative endeavor. Cecil B. DeMille, renowned producer of Biblical epics, once wrote, “Creativity is a drug I cannot live without.” Joe’s mantra reads, “Creativity is my drug of choice.”  Access Joe Noland’s complete bio, among other things, by clicking into his website.

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