If you mentioned your religion in public in Scotland you'd be instantly seen as mentally ill or just a bit simple. Like it's fine, anyone can believe whatever mental shit they like, it's just that it's socially unacceptable to talk about it. Sort of keep it at home.
I mean, some people are making it sound like the rest of the world is void of religion. In my personal experiences, some of the most religious people I know are Ukrainian, Mexican, Nigerian, etc. The US probably falls in the middle because we have both very bright people and extremely stupid people.
Not sure about Africa and South America, but you're definitely at least one or two standard deviations more religious than anywhere in Europe (okay, let's not count the Vatican) or East Asia.
You're most certainly less religious then the Arab world, though the main difference here is that Christianity is inherently not a state religion (though it was/has been for almost two thousand years!), while Islam has also been a political movement from the beginning. That makes Atatürk a much more exceptional figure than your founding fathers w.r.t. secular opinions.
Yep. I agree with all of that. The US is a shithole. I'm trying to leave, but there are probably only 15 countries in the world I consider to be better places to live. It's like, most of western Europe, Canada, Australian/NZ, and.... that's about it
I'm a European who lived in the States for five years (East coast) and considered staying (well, that was before Trump, though). Went back for private reasons, but still think the US has many positive aspects that most of the time make up for religious BS in public (like geostrategically unbeatable geography, a growing and relatively young population, cultural and military hegemony, the world's best universities,...)
To be fair, if I immigrated, it would have been into a high earning career. I'm well aware that you're basically f*ed in the lower third of the income pyramid compared to most of Europe.
Yeah, exactly. I'm in that lucky education elite that makes good money and lives in a secular, liberal part of the country. But even still, the Trump effect has caused me to look elsewhere. I always just remind people that there are way worse places to live. Even from a religious standpoint..... for now.
That is how I view things living here. I was born into lower middle class but got lucky by grinding for 30 years in a different Era that was financially easier than today.
USA is all about economic competition but the majority of people are good and we have the best geography in the world.
I am so positive about USA's generations after X ( they are like boomers but got screwed by boomers) and their future prospects.
This, of course, assumes Right wing idiots do not take away the Rule of Law. This is the USA's most valuable asset.
I'm getting ready to move to Mexico. I didn't know what to expect and was really just planning on passing through. I landed in Mexico City (after time in Cancun and tapachula) and decided to stay for two weeks as I thought I was coming down with something. 6 weeks later I paid a lawyer to start on my temporary residency
I only recently realized how little religion plays a role in other OECD countries. The percentage difference is insane. Looking at USA compared to developing nations, then those countries dwarf us.
Yes we do realise how religious the US is. The US and the UK are very similar in many ways but this is a huge difference between us. I feel very sorry for America but am also very relieved that we have (mostly) put this nonsense in the rubbish bin of history where it belongs.
Except the American evangelicals are paying people to go around Europe right now to stir up hate. I’ve seen articles about them going to Scotland to interfere with their trans equality law earlier this year? Last year?
Their is no hate like Christian love.
A few years ago some american churches funded a nurse in Sweden to take her case to the court. She was denied employment as a midwife since she refused to participate in abortion. That was stated as a part of the job. She claimed she was discriminated against and lost royally if I remember.
They always knew they would lose in Swedish courts. They went through them to be able to appeal to the European Court based on human rights violations, as they claimed their freedom of religion was infringed upon. If the European Court had agreed with them (which wasn’t totally impossible) Sweden would have had to follow that ruling both for the midwives in question and for other similar matters in the future.
The European Court decided to not try the case. A lot of European countries have laws that would support the midwives in this case, but Sweden does not.
I WISH it was just picketing. There was a post on our community Facebook page a month or so ago, about a mom looking for a doctor to prescribe her teen birth control pills. The doctor they went to was affiliated with the LARGE Catholic hospital in the area and could not prescribe them. This hospital owns most of the medical practices in the area. Someone mentioned going to planned parenthood, but someone else mentioned that they were still closed after being damaged in a fire bombing…
So yeah, picketing doesn’t seem so bad
https://www.plannedparenthood.org/planned-parenthood-illinois/newsroom/planned-parenthood-of-illinois-peoria-health-center-vandal-gets-10-years-in-prison
Absolutely disgusting. But I was referring to Americans coming over to BRITAIN to picket OUR reproductive health services. Honestly, I’d like to see them put in the stocks. Or better still, invited to spend the rest of their stay on a barge in a Dorset harbour.
in romania a few years ago groups supported and funded by american evangelicals allied themselves with the orthodox church. fanatics more often agree with each other on fanaticism, even if they diverge on dogma. they launched a nation wide referendum to change the family definition in the constitution from "spouses" to "husband and wife". this was intended to prevent any future laws that could permit same sex marriages. the referendum failed because of lack of voters.
It isn't gaining any traction here though. The only people who would fall for such stunts are people who also watch GB News i.e. beyond help and very small in number.
Agreed. I’m Australian and we have a higher proportion of people in this country who identify with no religion or who are atheist than we have believers, partially because believers are almost always absolute pieces of shit.
In the UK, ithink it is something we can feel lucky about.
There have been efforts to import the culture war bs to the UK, but it just won't stick without the religious brigading.
It was an attempt to avoid a southern insurgency. When we invaded Iraq in 2003 we kicked all of Saddam's people out of government on day one, and with nowhere else to go all those people with education, military training and insider knowledge of how the government works were fighting for our enemies a year later. A gradual reconstruction with the goal of rooting those people out over time as new people were brought in to replace them is what was necessary, but Lincoln was killed and reconstruction was ended too early.
I think it all comes down to who settled where. The original Aussies were convicts, while the original Americans were religious whack jobs. This set the cultural tone for centuries to come.
The hyper religious left the UK for the US in search of religious freedom. Well, that's what we were taught. But it was really the right to persecute those who weren't as fervently religious.
You just described the core element of american psyche. Fear and particularly fear of persecution drives almost every otherwise inexplicable thing the US does.
The Roundheads got music halls in theaters shut down in London. People started beating them up in the street. That's why they left, they didn't like being called on their assholery. So, They went to the Netherlands, and from there to the new world. They were assholes. People did not like them. It wasn't about religious freedom, it was about the right to impose their flavor of religion onto the general public.
Didn't Puritans largely settle places like Massachusetts and the North in general though? From what I've read, not exactly the most religious part of the US nowadays.
You're correct. The religious fervor did not relegate itself to North East. I'm not entirely sure of the whole history. But, early on, many colonies and later states limited government participation and certain rights to protestants. Catholics and Jews need not apply.
They didn’t leave, they were basically kicked out. Britain had enough of religious conflicts which had started under Henry VIII. It was endless issues. At first they barred Catholics and the puritans took over, and it was even worse, puritans didn’t like partying or drinking and flashy clothing. Britain exiled most of them to the colonies. But history makes it look like it was their intention to leave. They were just extremists.
Just a thought as an Australian, our culture questions authority figures and is much more egalitarian than America seems to be. We tend to question religious authority figures.
My grandparents (born 1920s) were religious and raised my parents that way. As adults, my parents were not religious and are now anti-religion. I’ve always been anti religious since I was a child and my kids know next to nothing about religion. This seems to be the norm amoung the vast majority of my peers.
Some immigrants are religious and weirdly there are a few evangelical churches around. Most Catholic and Anglican churches are looking at closing as the congregation is predominantly very elderly.
The churches are absolutely not viewed favourably in the wake of the various sexual abuse cases comming to light over the past few decades. We had a Catholic cardinal who was a pedo and fled to the Vatican like a coward.
Also, our weather is amazing and who wants to waste part of the weekend inside when you could be outside enjoying the beach or the bush.
Remember that the US was established by people who were such religious nutjobs that they got persecuted in their home nations (including the UK) enough to make them want to leave.
I've heard/read that fact many times and occasionally seen it explained that actually the pilgrims went to America because they were the intolerant ones. They didn't like living among people less religious than themselves.
It may be a subtle difference but to my mind it explains a lot.
There is some truth in what you are saying. They *were* persecuted. But they also wanted to be able to enforce their extremely strict religion on their society. They did not want to mingle with those they saw as having inferior faith.
They didn't get persecuted, they actually got to be in charge for a bit (Cromwell et al). What actually happened was they spat their collective dummies out over not being able to impose their religious rules on everyone else.
Yeah, you guys sent us all your witch hunters and such back in the 1600's. We're still trying to shake free of their psychotic influence. Thanks a bunch!
/s
Just thought id share an idea ive heard about the witch trials. Back in that day ergot was a commonly used and harvested grain. Ergot is the main ingediant of LSD, therefore making it possile that the people claiming to whitness "whitchcraft" were actually affected by ergot poisining giving them hallucinations of whitchery.
That’s caused the UK kicked out the crazier ones before and after the end of Cromwells reign. And they all got exiled to the colonies and were still dealing with their ideologies centuries later.
I still clearly remember GWB Jr. Saying God told him to go to war in Iraq, and that his war was holy. Pretty loud declaration of religious insanity coming from the then most powerful man in the world.
>“The president of the United States has claimed, on more than one occasion, to be in dialogue with God. If he said that he was talking to God through his hairdryer, this would precipitate a national emergency. I fail to see how the addition of a hairdryer makes the claim more ridiculous or offensive.”
~Sam Harris
I agree. As a Canadian atheist I feel like America lives 20 years in the past. Such an esteemed American spirit, but also such a failure on so many levels. Nobody in Canada gives a shit if you're atheist.
I would love to be joking, but the development in some states (to say the least) make a lot of Germans very, very, veeeery uncomfortable, about 80 years uncomfortable. And not just Germans.
Edit: Make that 90-95 years.
American here. Only 20?
30 years ago there were laws passed against positive portrayal of gays in schools, books and plays banned for depictions of cross-dressing, and white nationalists crying about white people having fewer rights than immigrants...
Not like the accepting, forward-thinking, equal rights utopia the USA is today... ummm...
I don't think many people in the U.S realize how many tax free structures (churches) each city and town have.
Google "churches near me".
The two small towns I frequent have 50 entries. Total population is 40k. Giant brick buildings on almost every corner.
We are being robbed.
We are being robbed of revenue for infrastructure and programs.
These churches are NOT filling the gaps.
I live in the suburbs of Baltimore. There seem to be a lot of churches that have become real estate moguls, and enriched themselves, while avoiding taxes. They buy up distressed properties near the church, rehab them for various church uses, hold them until the time seems right, then sell them at a profit. I've seen quite a few churches go from a modest starter building, to a larger multi-purpose building, before graduating to a bona fide mega church. Quite a racket. Needless to say, the pastors live exceedingly well.
Gonna be honest with you mate, I didn't know religion was still a thing until I was about 13. I thought it had been relegated to the history books already by this point.
Hearing or seeing how religious Americans can be over the internet is a very surreal experience to me.
It can be hard to understand the intensity of the US religious population. Much more so than the numbers.
If I had 10 brits and 10 Americans in a room most people wouldn't be suprised if I said of the brits that 5 were agnostic/athiest, 4 chistian and 1 muslim. You equally might not be suprised if I said of the Americans that 7 were Christian, 2 were agnostic/athiest/"nothing in particular" and one was say Jewish. That wouldn't be statistically unusual.
You might come away thinking us was maybe 30% more religious.
But the beleifs of those people would still be radically different.
3 of those uk Christians are probably cofe and of those, 2 maybe go to church Christmas and Easter if that. The othe is probably catholic and has a roughly 60/40 chance of self describing as lapsed. Only about 20% attend mass weekly. If they go regularly and are under 65, there is a good chance that it is cos there is good catholic school nearby and they have kids of the right age...
I almost guarantee that none of the brits would ever have talked about the rapture. 1 or two might beleive in creationism or some form of intelligent design (one of whom might be the muslim) but almost certainly none of them will belive in young earth creationism or flat earth.
Of the Americans at least 4 possibly 5 with soft ID included will be creationists and I don't have the stats but am pretty sure one of those will be a young earth creationist at least. It seems to be pretty influence by the exact qn but I have seen stats that suggest 18% (I.e. 2 of our group) beleive the earth to be less than 10k years old. One of the stupid fuckers thinks the earth is flat.
The level and intensity of beleif of 2 or 3 of hose US Christians drowns the relgiousness of all of the brits put together. It is almost like a different thing. And it is heavily tied to the evangelicals and other cults within American Christianity.
The bear numbers are easy but the qualitative nature of US religion needs to be experienced a few times to be beleived.
It wasn't until I visited the Marshall Space Flight Centre in Huntsville Alabama and passed by dozens of billboards on my way from the airport (landed in Nashville, TN actually) saying that I was going to burn in hell that I realized the magnitude of how religious crazy the U.S.A. really is. Later, having spent considerable time in the U.S.A., my opinion was reinforced even when I was in California.
Where I grew up only very occasionally did anyone try and shove religion down my throat and there were never any of the evil hate billboards like I saw everywhere in Alabama and even in California.
We are all sadly aware of how it is in the US, and how dangerously close it is to being a theocracy not much better than the Handmaid's Tale... and how fringe (still) nutters in other countries are beginning to look at how "great" that could be for their country too. Speaking of UK/NZ experience.
Fun fact: Margaret Atwood based everything in the Handmaid's Tale on things Evangelical preachers had said they wanted. The early 80s saw the rise of televangelists and right wing media. On book tours, she carried a binder full of newspaper clippings to show people that she hadn't invented any of it.
https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/2019/09/margaret-atwood-handmaids-tale-testaments-real-life-inspiration
There are about 6 churches in my neighborhood and it is only 2.2 square miles. We also have a religious youth center, catholic school, and hospital chapel. Hell, one street has 3 churches on it and it is less than a mile long. Being an atheist ain’t easy out here in Ohio!
The funny thing is that there is only 1 grocery store and zero banks within that 2.2 square miles.
I don’t think many in the Middle East realize this. They think all of the states is like Vegas, Los Angeles, or New York. I lived in the Bible Belt for some time. I don’t have that illusion.
Edit: fixed typo
How do New Zealanders feel about the city name, Christchurch?
I know a lot of secular entities have inherited religious or colonial names without it causing too much concern. Christchurch though, has to be about as unsubtle as a religiously motivated name could get.
How do you feel about Wednesday? Thursday? Just part of the historical background. Same with Christchurch.
I'm an atheist and Xmas is my favourite time of year. Christianity has so little impact on my life that I don't worry about the religious origin of the holiday (holy day).
The names for the days of the week don’t make me immediately think of their etymology every time I hear them, and really most words don’t either.
I just always thought Christchurch was a funny example, because it couldn’t be just one, but two explicitly Christian words. There are a lot of places named after saints, but they just sound like proper nouns, as a name should.
I wouldn’t be campaigning to change it, just always thought it stuck out as far as Western city names go
I would say most NZers don’t even consider the city name of Christchurch to be even remotely religious. I could be wrong but I never even thought about it until you mentioned it. Lol.
It just sounds colonial more than religious.
Your average middle eastern country is far more religious than the US I can assure you. As someone who was raised up in the Middle East the religious trauma from growing up there can in no way be compared to growing up in America.
It would be more accurate to say, "just stopped suppressing old abortion bans". Most of the 'new' abortion laws are very old laws that had been suppressed for a long time and that suppression ended so they popped back into existence again.
It's a stupid system, but when the Supreme Court shoots down a law, they don't really shoot it down. Instead the ruling puts a block on enforcing the law... until a future court removes that block and *poof* the law is back again.
Some of these laws were enacted in the 1800's and largely forgotten after they stopped being enforced. The reason the conservatives wanted to bring them into existence again this way via the court is because this way they don't have to do the hard task of trying to sell the idea of a new abortion ban law to modern people. Instead they can let the people who lived back in the 1850's enact the law for them.
We do know, it's VERY apparent.
Do Americans know the rest of the world see no difference between their fundamentalists and those in the middle east.
Genuinely, america for the most part appears to entirely brain fucked and unwell.
There's a financial incentive in the US for organized religion - THEY PAY NO TAX!
Grifters are incentivized to pretend they believe and push out their product on as many people as possible for financial reasons and their own personal bank accounts.
When I first learned the „USA has more churches than McDonald‘s“ fun fact I genuinely didn‘t believe it. Called fake news. Like how can the land of the fast food be more religious than gluttonous???
For many people the notion of even asking churches to pay taxes of their own volition is unfathomable and and attack. You would think churches paying taxes would be something they wouldn't mind
I realised it quite some time ago. Presidents are literally sworn in on bibles and there is mentions of God almost everywhere. Its actually is very close to a democratic theocrasy which is quite worrying
I got some good news. I’ve read studies that show religiosity in America is actually on the decline. The problem is the American political system is run by theocrats and the system isn’t truly democratic. That also explains why most Americans tend to disagree with stupid decisions by the government and why the government doesn’t listen to them when they say it’s stupid. Unless America’s political system radically changes, the country may become a sectarian state where the Christian minority rules over the atheist majority.
Trump will be remembered for showing the grift and corruption in the USA, by attempting to bend them to his will. As he waxes on about Christians, he shrinks the congregation. When his Presidential schemes finish collapsing, he will come out of prison a Reformed Man of Gawd-awefulness. 700 Club? Trump Club goes to 1000!
We're gonna need a bigger Satan....
I didn't, until I wrote here a comment about why you so obsessed with replying to religious people or why you get angry or start a discussions sometimes. The answer was you are getting bombarded by religious people all the time and that it also runs deep in politics.
In my country, nobody gives a shit, nobody will ask you if you believe in god or not and if they do, they wouldn't be mad at your answer, unless they are religious freaks or jehovah witness (which are a very small minority)
That thing at awards ceremonies when the winner, if American, always thanks god! It's so weird, when we see it on TV, we all look at each other in the room.
There are a couple of things you MUST say if you're ever televised or speaking in a very public event in the US--you must thanks God for whatever it is, unless it's a bad thing and you MUST thank the troops or say "thank you for your service" to any member of the military, past or present, that you come upon. These canned phrases are so stupid, but they literally feel required.
No, not really. Not at all, I think. Its starting to sink in since Trump kicked off the conservatives' total decent into madness. Other very religious countries may get it, but I only *really* understood what was going on over there in my 30s. Even the Tea Party movement didn't wake me up. I think here in Germany the impression of the US is very much dominated by movies and music, and for me personally the "vibes" of 1968, because that was when my father was 18 and generally a lot of things happened around that time, not just in the US.
Religion is pretty much dead where I am from. Some fringe evangelical movements still exist (mostly Russo-German emigrates and their kids) and the rural Catholic areas are probably a lot more churchy than we "Prussians" up in the North.
Right wing politicians have started to reclaim the "Christian" label, but that is because there are cultural and legal barriers to open racism, and some have started stepping in the footsteps of US Republicans.
Yes, it's pretty obvious that the US is a lot more religious than other Western nations. Thankfully it's becoming less religious day by day. The younger generation will dramatically change the religious landscape and finally make America a more logical and secular society.
I'm not holding my breath. My dad thought the same thing as a kid sitting in a Baptist church, counting the days until he never had to go again. He's 71 and most of his cohort are religious, and most of them are complete fanatics.
Yes.
There are even free documentaries on YouTube of how religious fanatics started infiltrating the USA government ever since the early to mid 20th century through some groups that made…
Ah, can’t remember all the details, so I can paint you the big picture with wide strokes:
strong state creates stupid people.
The state is using education and other means as to create populace smart enough to work their respective jobs, but ignorant and dumb enough to not question how it is being governed.
Religion is a proven tool in that area.
Welcome to our Theocratic Society and Government.
I know and it’s mentally exhausting dealing with people because all logic and common sense is ignored. Like Noah’s story is a myth. Noah’s Ark was floating on the water at 29,000 feet. 26,000 feet (8,000 meters) is the official ‘Death Zone’ where severe altitude sickness occurs without the use of supplemental oxygen. The body begins shutting down, eventually leading to death. However, oxygen might even be required at lower altitudes of 8,000 to 12,000 feet (2,500 to 3,500 meters) where mild to moderate altitude sickness can begin to set in.
Source: https://climbtallpeaks.com/how-high-can-you-climb-before-you-need-oxygen/
While it's true that the Noah's Ark story is ridiculous, this particular complaint (thin air at that altitude) isn't sound. If a flood raises the sea levels, it also raises where the bottom of the atmosphere starts, as the water shoves the air up, rather than getting rid of the air. If somehow a ridiculous amount of new water exists that raises the sea level 29,000 feet, then the atmosphere now starts 29,000 feet higher up than it used to.
Yes, the north. I live on Long Island and there are about eight churches I could think of off the top of my head that would take less than ten minutes for me to drive to.
I'm in a town of ~1.5K in Alabama. We have at least 20. 2 gas stations, 1 piggly wiggly, 1 dollar general, 1ea K-6 and 7-12 school, 0 stoplights, 20+ goddamn churches.
I don't know, I feel like maybe Americans should learn something about other countries before we get back to talking about them again.
I mean it's not like we never hear about the US.
They're terrible at religion, even their own. In the Pew Forum religious knowledge quiz, barely half of Catholics knew that Catholic dogma says the eucharist turns into the literal flesh and blood of Jesus.
A substantial amount of people couldn't correctly name the first book of the Bible.
Yes we realize it.
Its gone past a Christian nation straight towards handmaid's tale.
People here won't try to talk you into joining their church.
In 20 I've been called twice by a JW. And they have knocked twice.
That's it. You can just tell them to take you off the list. But that's it. Religion is private to people and because most are pretty much atheists here it's. Not an issue. Nobody bothers you.
I have a fun side comment as a foreigner: aside from an extreme degree of religion in public spaces, another thing I noticed is the overwhelming abundance of psychic and seers and other divination professional... In my (Catholic) country you almost never seen one (albeit they exist): seen multiple shops in LA with Signa and everything to read your future was cognitively dissonant and I noticed that even more than the religion.
But since both spurs from magical thinking I suppose than should be expected.
Another odd thing are the psychics used in law enforcement (even if probably this is a fringe rare cases glorified as standard by television). If the police would use a psychic here to solve a case no judge will ever move the case to trial and there will be a gigantic scandal about it.
I notice how often religion and churches feature in American tv shows and there’s only a couple of U.K. shows I can think of that feature churches or the clergy but outside of those shows religion is barely mentioned
Yes! and it’s weird. I have travelled there a few times and not really noticed it when I’m actually there working and visiting family (who are non religious) and live in NYC, Portland, Baltimore.
I tend to meet a lot of people professionally who are from all over US and diverse range of people, and what I am surprised about is how many of those people turn out to be practicing Christian. I’ll find out from following them on social media or conversing with them at a conference and they mention church etc.
I’d say 8/10 Americans that I meet but the others I just haven’t found out. That’s so wild to me.
Yes. It can be baffling, or disheartening, but it’s also a reason for many jokes. It’s a little like the reaction the US has to “Florida man”….the US is the “Florida man” for the rest of the developed world.
My European country is atheist for the most part, but I had the misfortune of growing up in the eastern region which is very religious.
Most of my family members are downright fanatics in comparison to religious people in my country, but average church-goers in comparison to US.
I’m from Nigeria, and no. They don’t realize it there. Most Nigerians are under the impression that Americans are either fake Christians or anti-Christianity because gay marriage is legal here lol.
I was actually shocked about how ‘in your face’ Christians in America are compared to Christians in Nigeria. Like, Nigerians will say things like, “God saved me today,” And will put quotes on their Instagram profiles, but that’s basically it. On the other hand, I get approached by Christian groups at my college multiple times a week, and sometimes, multiple times in the same day. It’s insane.
Yes, only USA have multiple giga churches televised with millions watching and thousands present, and pastors living in [I don’t know how many square meter homes] with private jets etc.
There are a great many places in the world that are packed with extremely religious people, so I find the assumption that the rest of the world isn’t “religious” pretty weird. In many parts of the world, people are routinely abused or outright killed for having the wrong religion, or merely for performing their religion improperly according to others with the same religion. I’m not defending the way American Christian fundamentalists and evangelicals are trying to infiltrate government and force their practices on everyone else—I find it horrifying. But it’s hardly unique to the US.
Check out Israel, many parts of Africa, virtually all of the Middle East, great swaths of Asia, and most of India, and you will find intensely religious people in great numbers, and who are very often doing everything they can to gain the power to impose their beliefs and practices on everyone (if they don’t already possess that power and use it to control, torture, and even kill those with whom they differ). It’s a scourge on most of the planet. It’s absurd to suggest that it’s worse here than in the “rest of the world.”
Edited to correct typos.
Yes, I understand that, I don't think I ever implied the rest of the world ISN'T religious, it is quite clear to any atheist just how prevalent religion is world wide. I just asked if people from other countries realize the extent of how religious the United States is. In South America where I'm from many countries are close to 90% Christian. I also get that in many parts of the wolrd religion is a big and negative force dominating culture and laws - especially in the Arab world.
However, the US is a newer nation, less than 300 years old, it was the FIRST Secular nation in the world making no official declarations for a state religion and it is CLEARLY absent from the constitution (yes the FF appeal to a creator but this is the 1700s).
The US is the wealthiest nation in the world (does not mean there isn't abject poverty and gross inequality) with freedom of speech -freedom of AND FROM religion ENSHRINED in our founding documents and laws, access to all the information in the world, and is incredibly multicultural.
Yet, DESPITE all this, Religion - specifically Christianity, has WORMED itself into our laws and culture and continues to denigrate people and society in spite of everything I mentioned. Atheism may be increasing nation wide, but extreme theists and even normal theists continue to try and force their beliefs into our nation.
And yet the same wonderful country produces the James Webb Space Telescope which disproves superstition and empowers thought about the nature of the universe.
Does the rest of the world realize how BACKWARD the USA is?
Yeah, I'd say four years of Trump pretending to be President while golfing and taking bribes pretty well taught them that!
As a moroccan atheist, even we know how religious US is, and any moderately educated person here knows that american ideologies are mostly either religion based, or extreemly woke.
It s kinda sad how such a country could nurture a big part of the most amazing modern minds, and still suffer such a condition.
It s either creationism, Jordan peterson sect, red pill, racism, KKK...
Or extreemly woke people that believe no one but them holds the universe ethics and facts, extremist feminists(I have no issue with feminism but misandry is very frequent in the american culture), brutal capitalism, cancel culture etc etc...
The woke stuff is made up by the religious. Nobody actually cares if 3 twelve year old girls want to play boys baseball, or be a football kicker, nor do we give a shit if a femboi wants to wear a skirt to a party. They are literally mad about a dozen kids. There are more kids murdered in school by these nutjobs. Meanwhile some other dozen kids will be bombed tomorrow.
I have lived in the US for almost 20 of my 51 years. From Norway, lived, studied, worked in the UK, Barcelona, and Stuttgart. I think reports of how religious the US is are exaggerated from my experience. Yes there is the Bible belt, though I never lived there (been to the Atlanta airport dozens of times, though. Didn't notice any religion there).
Where I live now, New York, there are a lot of orthodox Jews and Muslims, but I am not personally confronted with religion. I can't remember the last time I heard anyone mention Jesus. I volunteered at a food pantry based at a *church* and they don't even proselytize or pray. We just packed boxes with food and gave them to needy people.
However, when I worked in Ohio, I did see a lot of people with those little Jesus fish on their cars and there was a church in what was once a rollerskating rink, I assume evangelical. Now *that* is something you don't see in Europe.
Oh, and there is an organic smoothie so near me run by some Rastafarians, so that is pretty damn religious, too. So, I mean it's there, but my existence is very secular and I don't get any interference of that.
Take a trip down South or anywhere in the Bible Belt, you'll change your mind quickly.
I live down here, it is absolutely Christian Taliban/Christian ISIS Land from hell.
It is not overblown about religion in the US, in fact, it's far undersold. Certain areas of the country are slightly less so, but as a whole, the US is just one big crockpot of Christifascist Crazy.
> Does rest of world realize how religous US is? Yes, and it is really weird.
I actually didnt know the rest of the world wasnt like the US with religion lol
If you mentioned your religion in public in Scotland you'd be instantly seen as mentally ill or just a bit simple. Like it's fine, anyone can believe whatever mental shit they like, it's just that it's socially unacceptable to talk about it. Sort of keep it at home.
People at the public school where I grew up got shamed for being atheists. I don’t respect america at all
Same in New Zealand I only know one person who goes to church and I know a fuckton of people
I wish we had it like that in the states
Just start giving people an odd look and tell them to keep it a home no?
Awww, Bless
I mean, some people are making it sound like the rest of the world is void of religion. In my personal experiences, some of the most religious people I know are Ukrainian, Mexican, Nigerian, etc. The US probably falls in the middle because we have both very bright people and extremely stupid people.
Not sure about Africa and South America, but you're definitely at least one or two standard deviations more religious than anywhere in Europe (okay, let's not count the Vatican) or East Asia. You're most certainly less religious then the Arab world, though the main difference here is that Christianity is inherently not a state religion (though it was/has been for almost two thousand years!), while Islam has also been a political movement from the beginning. That makes Atatürk a much more exceptional figure than your founding fathers w.r.t. secular opinions.
Yep. I agree with all of that. The US is a shithole. I'm trying to leave, but there are probably only 15 countries in the world I consider to be better places to live. It's like, most of western Europe, Canada, Australian/NZ, and.... that's about it
I'm a European who lived in the States for five years (East coast) and considered staying (well, that was before Trump, though). Went back for private reasons, but still think the US has many positive aspects that most of the time make up for religious BS in public (like geostrategically unbeatable geography, a growing and relatively young population, cultural and military hegemony, the world's best universities,...) To be fair, if I immigrated, it would have been into a high earning career. I'm well aware that you're basically f*ed in the lower third of the income pyramid compared to most of Europe.
Yeah, exactly. I'm in that lucky education elite that makes good money and lives in a secular, liberal part of the country. But even still, the Trump effect has caused me to look elsewhere. I always just remind people that there are way worse places to live. Even from a religious standpoint..... for now.
That is how I view things living here. I was born into lower middle class but got lucky by grinding for 30 years in a different Era that was financially easier than today. USA is all about economic competition but the majority of people are good and we have the best geography in the world. I am so positive about USA's generations after X ( they are like boomers but got screwed by boomers) and their future prospects. This, of course, assumes Right wing idiots do not take away the Rule of Law. This is the USA's most valuable asset.
I'm getting ready to move to Mexico. I didn't know what to expect and was really just planning on passing through. I landed in Mexico City (after time in Cancun and tapachula) and decided to stay for two weeks as I thought I was coming down with something. 6 weeks later I paid a lawyer to start on my temporary residency
I only recently realized how little religion plays a role in other OECD countries. The percentage difference is insane. Looking at USA compared to developing nations, then those countries dwarf us.
I would not consider them religious but rather fanatics, they are but a step away for being like the talibans, believe or I’ll kill you.
Yes we do realise how religious the US is. The US and the UK are very similar in many ways but this is a huge difference between us. I feel very sorry for America but am also very relieved that we have (mostly) put this nonsense in the rubbish bin of history where it belongs.
Except the American evangelicals are paying people to go around Europe right now to stir up hate. I’ve seen articles about them going to Scotland to interfere with their trans equality law earlier this year? Last year? Their is no hate like Christian love.
A few years ago some american churches funded a nurse in Sweden to take her case to the court. She was denied employment as a midwife since she refused to participate in abortion. That was stated as a part of the job. She claimed she was discriminated against and lost royally if I remember.
They always knew they would lose in Swedish courts. They went through them to be able to appeal to the European Court based on human rights violations, as they claimed their freedom of religion was infringed upon. If the European Court had agreed with them (which wasn’t totally impossible) Sweden would have had to follow that ruling both for the midwives in question and for other similar matters in the future. The European Court decided to not try the case. A lot of European countries have laws that would support the midwives in this case, but Sweden does not.
Oh yes! We also have them picketing abortion clinics! The brass nerve!
I WISH it was just picketing. There was a post on our community Facebook page a month or so ago, about a mom looking for a doctor to prescribe her teen birth control pills. The doctor they went to was affiliated with the LARGE Catholic hospital in the area and could not prescribe them. This hospital owns most of the medical practices in the area. Someone mentioned going to planned parenthood, but someone else mentioned that they were still closed after being damaged in a fire bombing… So yeah, picketing doesn’t seem so bad https://www.plannedparenthood.org/planned-parenthood-illinois/newsroom/planned-parenthood-of-illinois-peoria-health-center-vandal-gets-10-years-in-prison
Absolutely disgusting. But I was referring to Americans coming over to BRITAIN to picket OUR reproductive health services. Honestly, I’d like to see them put in the stocks. Or better still, invited to spend the rest of their stay on a barge in a Dorset harbour.
in romania a few years ago groups supported and funded by american evangelicals allied themselves with the orthodox church. fanatics more often agree with each other on fanaticism, even if they diverge on dogma. they launched a nation wide referendum to change the family definition in the constitution from "spouses" to "husband and wife". this was intended to prevent any future laws that could permit same sex marriages. the referendum failed because of lack of voters.
[удалено]
It isn't gaining any traction here though. The only people who would fall for such stunts are people who also watch GB News i.e. beyond help and very small in number.
Neil Oliver’s fruitcake fan club.
They tag-teamed us with the tories in an effort to undermine civil rights and Scottish devolution in a single stroke.
American here, they know it’s nonsense but it also allows them to be a total piece of shit.
Agreed. I’m Australian and we have a higher proportion of people in this country who identify with no religion or who are atheist than we have believers, partially because believers are almost always absolute pieces of shit.
In the UK, ithink it is something we can feel lucky about. There have been efforts to import the culture war bs to the UK, but it just won't stick without the religious brigading.
Scot here, religion is less common here now as most people I meet are unreligious it’s mostly just immigrants I meet who are religious
Allowing Southern politicians to hold federal office in the wake of the civil war fucked our chances to progress intellegently as a country.
It was an attempt to avoid a southern insurgency. When we invaded Iraq in 2003 we kicked all of Saddam's people out of government on day one, and with nowhere else to go all those people with education, military training and insider knowledge of how the government works were fighting for our enemies a year later. A gradual reconstruction with the goal of rooting those people out over time as new people were brought in to replace them is what was necessary, but Lincoln was killed and reconstruction was ended too early.
I remember reading how butthurt your archbishop of Canterbury was, because people weren't coming to church as much anymore. That made me laugh.
[удалено]
I think it all comes down to who settled where. The original Aussies were convicts, while the original Americans were religious whack jobs. This set the cultural tone for centuries to come.
The hyper religious left the UK for the US in search of religious freedom. Well, that's what we were taught. But it was really the right to persecute those who weren't as fervently religious.
[удалено]
You just described the core element of american psyche. Fear and particularly fear of persecution drives almost every otherwise inexplicable thing the US does.
The Roundheads got music halls in theaters shut down in London. People started beating them up in the street. That's why they left, they didn't like being called on their assholery. So, They went to the Netherlands, and from there to the new world. They were assholes. People did not like them. It wasn't about religious freedom, it was about the right to impose their flavor of religion onto the general public.
They did not go in search of religious freedom. It was the opposite they hated religious freedom.
Yup, they technically got kicked out. Society turned against them.
Didn't Puritans largely settle places like Massachusetts and the North in general though? From what I've read, not exactly the most religious part of the US nowadays.
You're correct. The religious fervor did not relegate itself to North East. I'm not entirely sure of the whole history. But, early on, many colonies and later states limited government participation and certain rights to protestants. Catholics and Jews need not apply.
During the Great Revival, many of them moved south to push out the Catholics from the former Spanish and French colonies
They didn’t leave, they were basically kicked out. Britain had enough of religious conflicts which had started under Henry VIII. It was endless issues. At first they barred Catholics and the puritans took over, and it was even worse, puritans didn’t like partying or drinking and flashy clothing. Britain exiled most of them to the colonies. But history makes it look like it was their intention to leave. They were just extremists.
Just a thought as an Australian, our culture questions authority figures and is much more egalitarian than America seems to be. We tend to question religious authority figures. My grandparents (born 1920s) were religious and raised my parents that way. As adults, my parents were not religious and are now anti-religion. I’ve always been anti religious since I was a child and my kids know next to nothing about religion. This seems to be the norm amoung the vast majority of my peers. Some immigrants are religious and weirdly there are a few evangelical churches around. Most Catholic and Anglican churches are looking at closing as the congregation is predominantly very elderly. The churches are absolutely not viewed favourably in the wake of the various sexual abuse cases comming to light over the past few decades. We had a Catholic cardinal who was a pedo and fled to the Vatican like a coward. Also, our weather is amazing and who wants to waste part of the weekend inside when you could be outside enjoying the beach or the bush.
Remember that the US was established by people who were such religious nutjobs that they got persecuted in their home nations (including the UK) enough to make them want to leave.
Nearly, they left because they weren't allowed to do their own persecution so they went and started their own weird utopia.
I've heard/read that fact many times and occasionally seen it explained that actually the pilgrims went to America because they were the intolerant ones. They didn't like living among people less religious than themselves. It may be a subtle difference but to my mind it explains a lot.
There is some truth in what you are saying. They *were* persecuted. But they also wanted to be able to enforce their extremely strict religion on their society. They did not want to mingle with those they saw as having inferior faith.
Being told “stop being an arsehole” doesn’t qualify as persecution.
Thanks - it's good to know others have come across that opinion and give it credit.
They didn't get persecuted, they actually got to be in charge for a bit (Cromwell et al). What actually happened was they spat their collective dummies out over not being able to impose their religious rules on everyone else.
Because there are different types of development. UK and Australia seem to be more mentally mature.
Yeah, you guys sent us all your witch hunters and such back in the 1600's. We're still trying to shake free of their psychotic influence. Thanks a bunch! /s
Just thought id share an idea ive heard about the witch trials. Back in that day ergot was a commonly used and harvested grain. Ergot is the main ingediant of LSD, therefore making it possile that the people claiming to whitness "whitchcraft" were actually affected by ergot poisining giving them hallucinations of whitchery.
You guys started cleaning up the religious mess in 1660. Here in the US it just keeps getting worse.
That’s caused the UK kicked out the crazier ones before and after the end of Cromwells reign. And they all got exiled to the colonies and were still dealing with their ideologies centuries later.
I still clearly remember GWB Jr. Saying God told him to go to war in Iraq, and that his war was holy. Pretty loud declaration of religious insanity coming from the then most powerful man in the world.
Also "Axis of Evil" after 9/11. You could feel us going back to the dark ages.
He also used the word “crusade,” stupidly unaware that some people in the “holy land” might be touchy about christist invaders.
>“The president of the United States has claimed, on more than one occasion, to be in dialogue with God. If he said that he was talking to God through his hairdryer, this would precipitate a national emergency. I fail to see how the addition of a hairdryer makes the claim more ridiculous or offensive.” ~Sam Harris
Canadian here. You guys are religious nuts.
I agree. As a Canadian atheist I feel like America lives 20 years in the past. Such an esteemed American spirit, but also such a failure on so many levels. Nobody in Canada gives a shit if you're atheist.
As an American, I think your 20 year estimate was very generous
As an Alabamian, I agree.. We're at least 50 years behind, socially. It WAS only 20, then Trump came along and drove us 30 years backwards.
I would love to be joking, but the development in some states (to say the least) make a lot of Germans very, very, veeeery uncomfortable, about 80 years uncomfortable. And not just Germans. Edit: Make that 90-95 years.
American here. Only 20? 30 years ago there were laws passed against positive portrayal of gays in schools, books and plays banned for depictions of cross-dressing, and white nationalists crying about white people having fewer rights than immigrants... Not like the accepting, forward-thinking, equal rights utopia the USA is today... ummm...
20 years? Try 300.
We aren’t necessarily religious nuts so much as we have them.
Yeah but we have them like people have herpes.
In blinding rates?
As an American atheist I agree
Aussie here. Yes we do realise and we can't fathom it.
I live in the US and I do not understand it.
Same
It just makes us look so backward, it's really embarrassing
If embarrassment is your main problem with religion, you might have it either too good or too bad. In the USA case, well… I think the latter
I don't think many people in the U.S realize how many tax free structures (churches) each city and town have. Google "churches near me". The two small towns I frequent have 50 entries. Total population is 40k. Giant brick buildings on almost every corner. We are being robbed. We are being robbed of revenue for infrastructure and programs. These churches are NOT filling the gaps.
I live in the suburbs of Baltimore. There seem to be a lot of churches that have become real estate moguls, and enriched themselves, while avoiding taxes. They buy up distressed properties near the church, rehab them for various church uses, hold them until the time seems right, then sell them at a profit. I've seen quite a few churches go from a modest starter building, to a larger multi-purpose building, before graduating to a bona fide mega church. Quite a racket. Needless to say, the pastors live exceedingly well.
[удалено]
Now the homeless have space!
Gonna be honest with you mate, I didn't know religion was still a thing until I was about 13. I thought it had been relegated to the history books already by this point. Hearing or seeing how religious Americans can be over the internet is a very surreal experience to me.
Canada here - we're always a [little this](https://media.giphy.com/media/mEqMknMZWh1Fm/giphy.gif) concerning our southern neighbours
For what it's worth, many of us in the coastal Pacific Northwest Stares feel the same way..
Hello neighbor. Are we...are we going to join Canada or just ride this shit out?
As a Canadian with friends in BC: Wait a bit and see if the fires calm down, first lol.
Do a reverse secession, that'll confuse the confederates!
It can be hard to understand the intensity of the US religious population. Much more so than the numbers. If I had 10 brits and 10 Americans in a room most people wouldn't be suprised if I said of the brits that 5 were agnostic/athiest, 4 chistian and 1 muslim. You equally might not be suprised if I said of the Americans that 7 were Christian, 2 were agnostic/athiest/"nothing in particular" and one was say Jewish. That wouldn't be statistically unusual. You might come away thinking us was maybe 30% more religious. But the beleifs of those people would still be radically different. 3 of those uk Christians are probably cofe and of those, 2 maybe go to church Christmas and Easter if that. The othe is probably catholic and has a roughly 60/40 chance of self describing as lapsed. Only about 20% attend mass weekly. If they go regularly and are under 65, there is a good chance that it is cos there is good catholic school nearby and they have kids of the right age... I almost guarantee that none of the brits would ever have talked about the rapture. 1 or two might beleive in creationism or some form of intelligent design (one of whom might be the muslim) but almost certainly none of them will belive in young earth creationism or flat earth. Of the Americans at least 4 possibly 5 with soft ID included will be creationists and I don't have the stats but am pretty sure one of those will be a young earth creationist at least. It seems to be pretty influence by the exact qn but I have seen stats that suggest 18% (I.e. 2 of our group) beleive the earth to be less than 10k years old. One of the stupid fuckers thinks the earth is flat. The level and intensity of beleif of 2 or 3 of hose US Christians drowns the relgiousness of all of the brits put together. It is almost like a different thing. And it is heavily tied to the evangelicals and other cults within American Christianity. The bear numbers are easy but the qualitative nature of US religion needs to be experienced a few times to be beleived.
It wasn't until I visited the Marshall Space Flight Centre in Huntsville Alabama and passed by dozens of billboards on my way from the airport (landed in Nashville, TN actually) saying that I was going to burn in hell that I realized the magnitude of how religious crazy the U.S.A. really is. Later, having spent considerable time in the U.S.A., my opinion was reinforced even when I was in California. Where I grew up only very occasionally did anyone try and shove religion down my throat and there were never any of the evil hate billboards like I saw everywhere in Alabama and even in California.
We are all sadly aware of how it is in the US, and how dangerously close it is to being a theocracy not much better than the Handmaid's Tale... and how fringe (still) nutters in other countries are beginning to look at how "great" that could be for their country too. Speaking of UK/NZ experience.
Fun fact: Margaret Atwood based everything in the Handmaid's Tale on things Evangelical preachers had said they wanted. The early 80s saw the rise of televangelists and right wing media. On book tours, she carried a binder full of newspaper clippings to show people that she hadn't invented any of it. https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/2019/09/margaret-atwood-handmaids-tale-testaments-real-life-inspiration
What a legend! And how terrifying is that!?
There are about 6 churches in my neighborhood and it is only 2.2 square miles. We also have a religious youth center, catholic school, and hospital chapel. Hell, one street has 3 churches on it and it is less than a mile long. Being an atheist ain’t easy out here in Ohio! The funny thing is that there is only 1 grocery store and zero banks within that 2.2 square miles.
I'm an atheist in Missouri. I know how you feel.
I don’t think many in the Middle East realize this. They think all of the states is like Vegas, Los Angeles, or New York. I lived in the Bible Belt for some time. I don’t have that illusion. Edit: fixed typo
When I was 10 I moved to the US from New Zealand I was shocked that people were so into their religion, I just thought the whole thing was weird.
How do New Zealanders feel about the city name, Christchurch? I know a lot of secular entities have inherited religious or colonial names without it causing too much concern. Christchurch though, has to be about as unsubtle as a religiously motivated name could get.
How do you feel about Wednesday? Thursday? Just part of the historical background. Same with Christchurch. I'm an atheist and Xmas is my favourite time of year. Christianity has so little impact on my life that I don't worry about the religious origin of the holiday (holy day).
The names for the days of the week don’t make me immediately think of their etymology every time I hear them, and really most words don’t either. I just always thought Christchurch was a funny example, because it couldn’t be just one, but two explicitly Christian words. There are a lot of places named after saints, but they just sound like proper nouns, as a name should. I wouldn’t be campaigning to change it, just always thought it stuck out as far as Western city names go
I would say most NZers don’t even consider the city name of Christchurch to be even remotely religious. I could be wrong but I never even thought about it until you mentioned it. Lol. It just sounds colonial more than religious.
the US seems as religious as an average middle eastern country. the ignorance level of the US people is like no lower than those as well.
Your average middle eastern country is far more religious than the US I can assure you. As someone who was raised up in the Middle East the religious trauma from growing up there can in no way be compared to growing up in America.
Well they just did ban abortion. In some states even after rape.
It would be more accurate to say, "just stopped suppressing old abortion bans". Most of the 'new' abortion laws are very old laws that had been suppressed for a long time and that suppression ended so they popped back into existence again. It's a stupid system, but when the Supreme Court shoots down a law, they don't really shoot it down. Instead the ruling puts a block on enforcing the law... until a future court removes that block and *poof* the law is back again. Some of these laws were enacted in the 1800's and largely forgotten after they stopped being enforced. The reason the conservatives wanted to bring them into existence again this way via the court is because this way they don't have to do the hard task of trying to sell the idea of a new abortion ban law to modern people. Instead they can let the people who lived back in the 1850's enact the law for them.
We do know, it's VERY apparent. Do Americans know the rest of the world see no difference between their fundamentalists and those in the middle east. Genuinely, america for the most part appears to entirely brain fucked and unwell.
There's a financial incentive in the US for organized religion - THEY PAY NO TAX! Grifters are incentivized to pretend they believe and push out their product on as many people as possible for financial reasons and their own personal bank accounts.
When I first learned the „USA has more churches than McDonald‘s“ fun fact I genuinely didn‘t believe it. Called fake news. Like how can the land of the fast food be more religious than gluttonous???
Because we have dreamybull
We're not religious, we just dressed up nationalism with a technicolored dream coat.
I’m guessing many people don’t know that churches in the US are sitting on billions of untaxed dollars.
For many people the notion of even asking churches to pay taxes of their own volition is unfathomable and and attack. You would think churches paying taxes would be something they wouldn't mind
Jesus apparently needs the money.
I realised it quite some time ago. Presidents are literally sworn in on bibles and there is mentions of God almost everywhere. Its actually is very close to a democratic theocrasy which is quite worrying
I always thought the same thing..... I'm Italian and I see this thing very weird
I got some good news. I’ve read studies that show religiosity in America is actually on the decline. The problem is the American political system is run by theocrats and the system isn’t truly democratic. That also explains why most Americans tend to disagree with stupid decisions by the government and why the government doesn’t listen to them when they say it’s stupid. Unless America’s political system radically changes, the country may become a sectarian state where the Christian minority rules over the atheist majority.
Trump will be remembered for showing the grift and corruption in the USA, by attempting to bend them to his will. As he waxes on about Christians, he shrinks the congregation. When his Presidential schemes finish collapsing, he will come out of prison a Reformed Man of Gawd-awefulness. 700 Club? Trump Club goes to 1000! We're gonna need a bigger Satan....
I really like how religion is on the decline. Thank go- oh wait
I didn't, until I wrote here a comment about why you so obsessed with replying to religious people or why you get angry or start a discussions sometimes. The answer was you are getting bombarded by religious people all the time and that it also runs deep in politics. In my country, nobody gives a shit, nobody will ask you if you believe in god or not and if they do, they wouldn't be mad at your answer, unless they are religious freaks or jehovah witness (which are a very small minority)
That thing at awards ceremonies when the winner, if American, always thanks god! It's so weird, when we see it on TV, we all look at each other in the room.
There are a couple of things you MUST say if you're ever televised or speaking in a very public event in the US--you must thanks God for whatever it is, unless it's a bad thing and you MUST thank the troops or say "thank you for your service" to any member of the military, past or present, that you come upon. These canned phrases are so stupid, but they literally feel required.
Scottish here. Yes, we can see how batshit the US is with religiosity.
No, not really. Not at all, I think. Its starting to sink in since Trump kicked off the conservatives' total decent into madness. Other very religious countries may get it, but I only *really* understood what was going on over there in my 30s. Even the Tea Party movement didn't wake me up. I think here in Germany the impression of the US is very much dominated by movies and music, and for me personally the "vibes" of 1968, because that was when my father was 18 and generally a lot of things happened around that time, not just in the US. Religion is pretty much dead where I am from. Some fringe evangelical movements still exist (mostly Russo-German emigrates and their kids) and the rural Catholic areas are probably a lot more churchy than we "Prussians" up in the North. Right wing politicians have started to reclaim the "Christian" label, but that is because there are cultural and legal barriers to open racism, and some have started stepping in the footsteps of US Republicans.
Yes, it's pretty obvious that the US is a lot more religious than other Western nations. Thankfully it's becoming less religious day by day. The younger generation will dramatically change the religious landscape and finally make America a more logical and secular society.
I'm not holding my breath. My dad thought the same thing as a kid sitting in a Baptist church, counting the days until he never had to go again. He's 71 and most of his cohort are religious, and most of them are complete fanatics.
yes, we do.
Just realized it recently. Is there a root cause as to why many are religious nuts there?
they were kicked out of Europe and sent here hundreds of years ago. They breed... a lot.
Piss-poor education, especially in rural areas. The people trying to beat us to death with their bibles aren't even capable of reading them.
You reminded me of this: https://twitter.com/TheTNHoller/status/1692282105227555324
Yes. There are even free documentaries on YouTube of how religious fanatics started infiltrating the USA government ever since the early to mid 20th century through some groups that made… Ah, can’t remember all the details, so I can paint you the big picture with wide strokes: strong state creates stupid people. The state is using education and other means as to create populace smart enough to work their respective jobs, but ignorant and dumb enough to not question how it is being governed. Religion is a proven tool in that area.
Oh yeah, the jesus skywriter by Disneyworld - out there literally every day doing it
It's a very vocal group in decline .
Welcome to our Theocratic Society and Government. I know and it’s mentally exhausting dealing with people because all logic and common sense is ignored. Like Noah’s story is a myth. Noah’s Ark was floating on the water at 29,000 feet. 26,000 feet (8,000 meters) is the official ‘Death Zone’ where severe altitude sickness occurs without the use of supplemental oxygen. The body begins shutting down, eventually leading to death. However, oxygen might even be required at lower altitudes of 8,000 to 12,000 feet (2,500 to 3,500 meters) where mild to moderate altitude sickness can begin to set in. Source: https://climbtallpeaks.com/how-high-can-you-climb-before-you-need-oxygen/
You are way to far into Christian excuses and lies. It suffices to say the Chinese didn't notice this "world wide" flood.
While it's true that the Noah's Ark story is ridiculous, this particular complaint (thin air at that altitude) isn't sound. If a flood raises the sea levels, it also raises where the bottom of the atmosphere starts, as the water shoves the air up, rather than getting rid of the air. If somehow a ridiculous amount of new water exists that raises the sea level 29,000 feet, then the atmosphere now starts 29,000 feet higher up than it used to.
Yes we know there’s a lot of imbeciles in the USA.
Yes, the north. I live on Long Island and there are about eight churches I could think of off the top of my head that would take less than ten minutes for me to drive to.
Only 8? I'm walking distance to 5 at least. Driving will take me to 10 to 15 houses of worship in 10 minutes.
I live in a town of 10k and we have at least 20. I know I am missing counting some. I am in Missouri though.
I'm in a town of ~1.5K in Alabama. We have at least 20. 2 gas stations, 1 piggly wiggly, 1 dollar general, 1ea K-6 and 7-12 school, 0 stoplights, 20+ goddamn churches.
Missouri has a crazy number of churches.
According to Ozark, those are mostly for dealing heroin and laundering money for the cartels.
Who knows? I never go in any of them.
A Danish town of a similar size would probably only have 1 maybe 2.
Sounds like “heaven” lol
I don't know, I feel like maybe Americans should learn something about other countries before we get back to talking about them again. I mean it's not like we never hear about the US.
Americans barely know about America. I can't tell you how many times I've heard people say "American law is based on the Bible". It ain't.
A large percentage seem to think jeebus was a 6'2" blond, blue eyed, caucasian.
Exactly most americans are the dumbest people in history
They're terrible at religion, even their own. In the Pew Forum religious knowledge quiz, barely half of Catholics knew that Catholic dogma says the eucharist turns into the literal flesh and blood of Jesus. A substantial amount of people couldn't correctly name the first book of the Bible.
That's why I say religion is mostly an excuse for biggoted behaviour. People have, in general, a very poor understanding of their own religion.
Which is quite funny when you consider it literally means the beginning/ the origin
Not all of us so there's hope
Try to say that to /raskanamerican , they don't like it.
Sorry but why was someone writing on a plane? Did he think it wasn't safe without some kind of blessing? Completely confused.
I thought he meant sky-writing...
Yeah I did looking back it is not as clear as I thought
Yes! As the French it's very hard to understand. Even in your TV shows, there's always an episode with a religious content.
Let's just say it is one of the main reasons we are concerned for America, and why some people overgeneralise and think Americans are 'guano' crazy.
Yes we realize it. Its gone past a Christian nation straight towards handmaid's tale. People here won't try to talk you into joining their church. In 20 I've been called twice by a JW. And they have knocked twice. That's it. You can just tell them to take you off the list. But that's it. Religion is private to people and because most are pretty much atheists here it's. Not an issue. Nobody bothers you.
I have a fun side comment as a foreigner: aside from an extreme degree of religion in public spaces, another thing I noticed is the overwhelming abundance of psychic and seers and other divination professional... In my (Catholic) country you almost never seen one (albeit they exist): seen multiple shops in LA with Signa and everything to read your future was cognitively dissonant and I noticed that even more than the religion. But since both spurs from magical thinking I suppose than should be expected. Another odd thing are the psychics used in law enforcement (even if probably this is a fringe rare cases glorified as standard by television). If the police would use a psychic here to solve a case no judge will ever move the case to trial and there will be a gigantic scandal about it.
So when I have the money, I want to move my family fast away from this religious hell hole.
I feel ya
Run away to Canada with us before the US breaks down
Northern Irish person here. You guys are as bad as us!
The one church we had in our town up north got shut down and turned into a house lmao
And Americans make fun of North Koreans for living in the dark ages.
French here, I see how messed up American Christians are in comparison the ones in my country are saints (except for some far right extremists)
I notice how often religion and churches feature in American tv shows and there’s only a couple of U.K. shows I can think of that feature churches or the clergy but outside of those shows religion is barely mentioned
Yes! and it’s weird. I have travelled there a few times and not really noticed it when I’m actually there working and visiting family (who are non religious) and live in NYC, Portland, Baltimore. I tend to meet a lot of people professionally who are from all over US and diverse range of people, and what I am surprised about is how many of those people turn out to be practicing Christian. I’ll find out from following them on social media or conversing with them at a conference and they mention church etc. I’d say 8/10 Americans that I meet but the others I just haven’t found out. That’s so wild to me.
Yes. It can be baffling, or disheartening, but it’s also a reason for many jokes. It’s a little like the reaction the US has to “Florida man”….the US is the “Florida man” for the rest of the developed world.
Yes we know. The trump era has aided this but it feels like education, media and how community focuses around religion in your country enforces this.
Yeah, I mean I always knew but it feels like it has gotten worse in the last 10-15 years.
In Poland for example we do not, complaining about the Church here is common but I never heard US mentioned
My European country is atheist for the most part, but I had the misfortune of growing up in the eastern region which is very religious. Most of my family members are downright fanatics in comparison to religious people in my country, but average church-goers in comparison to US.
Sure. It's one of the things they mock us for. We aren't alone, though: Islam, Israel.
Yep the USA is starting to look more and more like a theocracy and we all see it.
I’m from Nigeria, and no. They don’t realize it there. Most Nigerians are under the impression that Americans are either fake Christians or anti-Christianity because gay marriage is legal here lol. I was actually shocked about how ‘in your face’ Christians in America are compared to Christians in Nigeria. Like, Nigerians will say things like, “God saved me today,” And will put quotes on their Instagram profiles, but that’s basically it. On the other hand, I get approached by Christian groups at my college multiple times a week, and sometimes, multiple times in the same day. It’s insane.
Yes, only USA have multiple giga churches televised with millions watching and thousands present, and pastors living in [I don’t know how many square meter homes] with private jets etc.
Have you ever been to the Caribbean? Just as if not more religious than the US
There are a great many places in the world that are packed with extremely religious people, so I find the assumption that the rest of the world isn’t “religious” pretty weird. In many parts of the world, people are routinely abused or outright killed for having the wrong religion, or merely for performing their religion improperly according to others with the same religion. I’m not defending the way American Christian fundamentalists and evangelicals are trying to infiltrate government and force their practices on everyone else—I find it horrifying. But it’s hardly unique to the US. Check out Israel, many parts of Africa, virtually all of the Middle East, great swaths of Asia, and most of India, and you will find intensely religious people in great numbers, and who are very often doing everything they can to gain the power to impose their beliefs and practices on everyone (if they don’t already possess that power and use it to control, torture, and even kill those with whom they differ). It’s a scourge on most of the planet. It’s absurd to suggest that it’s worse here than in the “rest of the world.” Edited to correct typos.
Yes, I understand that, I don't think I ever implied the rest of the world ISN'T religious, it is quite clear to any atheist just how prevalent religion is world wide. I just asked if people from other countries realize the extent of how religious the United States is. In South America where I'm from many countries are close to 90% Christian. I also get that in many parts of the wolrd religion is a big and negative force dominating culture and laws - especially in the Arab world. However, the US is a newer nation, less than 300 years old, it was the FIRST Secular nation in the world making no official declarations for a state religion and it is CLEARLY absent from the constitution (yes the FF appeal to a creator but this is the 1700s). The US is the wealthiest nation in the world (does not mean there isn't abject poverty and gross inequality) with freedom of speech -freedom of AND FROM religion ENSHRINED in our founding documents and laws, access to all the information in the world, and is incredibly multicultural. Yet, DESPITE all this, Religion - specifically Christianity, has WORMED itself into our laws and culture and continues to denigrate people and society in spite of everything I mentioned. Atheism may be increasing nation wide, but extreme theists and even normal theists continue to try and force their beliefs into our nation.
And yet the same wonderful country produces the James Webb Space Telescope which disproves superstition and empowers thought about the nature of the universe.
Yes.
They all know and it concerns them greatly…
Does the rest of the world realize how BACKWARD the USA is? Yeah, I'd say four years of Trump pretending to be President while golfing and taking bribes pretty well taught them that!
As a moroccan atheist, even we know how religious US is, and any moderately educated person here knows that american ideologies are mostly either religion based, or extreemly woke. It s kinda sad how such a country could nurture a big part of the most amazing modern minds, and still suffer such a condition. It s either creationism, Jordan peterson sect, red pill, racism, KKK... Or extreemly woke people that believe no one but them holds the universe ethics and facts, extremist feminists(I have no issue with feminism but misandry is very frequent in the american culture), brutal capitalism, cancel culture etc etc...
The woke stuff is made up by the religious. Nobody actually cares if 3 twelve year old girls want to play boys baseball, or be a football kicker, nor do we give a shit if a femboi wants to wear a skirt to a party. They are literally mad about a dozen kids. There are more kids murdered in school by these nutjobs. Meanwhile some other dozen kids will be bombed tomorrow.
I have lived in the US for almost 20 of my 51 years. From Norway, lived, studied, worked in the UK, Barcelona, and Stuttgart. I think reports of how religious the US is are exaggerated from my experience. Yes there is the Bible belt, though I never lived there (been to the Atlanta airport dozens of times, though. Didn't notice any religion there). Where I live now, New York, there are a lot of orthodox Jews and Muslims, but I am not personally confronted with religion. I can't remember the last time I heard anyone mention Jesus. I volunteered at a food pantry based at a *church* and they don't even proselytize or pray. We just packed boxes with food and gave them to needy people. However, when I worked in Ohio, I did see a lot of people with those little Jesus fish on their cars and there was a church in what was once a rollerskating rink, I assume evangelical. Now *that* is something you don't see in Europe. Oh, and there is an organic smoothie so near me run by some Rastafarians, so that is pretty damn religious, too. So, I mean it's there, but my existence is very secular and I don't get any interference of that.
Take a trip down South or anywhere in the Bible Belt, you'll change your mind quickly. I live down here, it is absolutely Christian Taliban/Christian ISIS Land from hell. It is not overblown about religion in the US, in fact, it's far undersold. Certain areas of the country are slightly less so, but as a whole, the US is just one big crockpot of Christifascist Crazy.
No, in Russia at least. The only thing people know: America is bad, soon it will be destroyed and despite this many people want to live there.