Confessions of a Recovering Pharisee

[The Economist]

ON THE campaign trail, Barack Obama famously claimed that blue-collar workers in Pennsylvania clung to religion because of bitterness over lost jobs. Americans are now truly fearful, as unemployment has mounted and house prices fallen. Yet the theory that church attendance grows in times of economic crisis seems to be a myth.

Last year David Beckworth, an assistant professor of Economics at Texas State University, examined historic patterns in the size of evangelical congregations and found that, during each recession cycle between 1968 and 2004, membership of evangelical churches jumped by 50%. This report filled the newspapers and TV news-shows at the height of the depression panic just before Christmas; but the report’s findings focused on evangelicals, and do not apply to Americans at large.

According to Frank Newport, the editor-in-chief of Gallup Poll, which interviews 30,000 Americans every month, “to guess that attendance would increase [in recessions] is a common-sense assumption with no basis in data.” John Green, a senior fellow at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, which recently published a study on the correlation between church attendance and economics, has found no link in the past 20 years.

Interestingly, says Gallup, the percentage of Americans who tick the “no religious preference” box has steadily grown, from 0-3% 40 years ago to 12-15% now, while church attendance has remained steady.

Mr Green says that real spikes in attendance have occurred only in times of national disaster, such as September 11th 2001, or the Cuban missile crisis. Mr Newport goes even further, noting that, after September 11th, there was only a short-term blip in attendance. Evidently, this recession is “not providing a society-wide worry about the future.”

Read article here.

[From me]

I wonder why attendance hasn’t gone up? Maybe people don’t see these times as bad as the media says it is. I just pray people see the need to worship God.

What do you think?

[AL.com]

 Is the recession a state of mind? Could consumers help local businesses stay alive just by thinking differently? Margie Smith thinks so. She’s handing out “No doom and gloom” stickers at Private Collection, the Spring Hill jewelry store she owns with her husband, Craig.

The slogan is Smith’s way of trying to get customers to spend instead of dwelling on bad news.

“I just got disgusted with people walking in and complaining about the economy,” she said. “We just wanted them to come in and feel happy.”

Private Collection initially gave out about 100 stickers. Now Smith has printed 400 more. Smith said she’s told employees to silence talk of the bad economy and to offer the stickers to customers instead. “We don’t allow that talk in this store,” she said.

Read more here.

[From me]

Amen!  Christians should  be shouting this from the Hilltops!  The sky is not falling! God is in control! 

What do you think?

[Fox Business]

The nation’s economy has had a positive effect on churches’ weekly attendance as people look for hope, but author Wayne Jacobsen says people may not find the answers they seek from organized religion alone.

“Though well-intended, many of the work-driven religious cultures thrive on guilt, conformity and manipulation, which devours the very love it seeks to sustain,” said Jacobsen. “Because organized religion is a man-made institution, it has, in instances, become more about the way people act, than truly engaging people with a Living God.”

This false, “works-based” system of religion can drive people away, says Jacobsen, leaving them disappointed, yet still searching for hope found through God’s love even in tough times.

“While some people find organized religion to be spiritually uplifting, others find it empty and irrelevant. They ‘leave religion,’ not to abandon their faith, but to find truer expressions of it,” Jacobsen said. “Faith is more than a performance-based attempt to ingratiate themselves to God. It’s a personal engagement of love and trust with the God of the Bible.”

Read more here.

[From me]

The author is right in his observation about the personal relationship with God.  If someone is turning to religion it will fail them. It is who people turn to that is going to make a difference! Going to church is great but that isn’t going to change your life unless you allowed God to take control of your life.

What do you think?

[My Fox]

With the economy stuck in a downward spiral, most people are doing everything they can to save money. But is it possible to be too frugal? There is the belief that if you don’t take any chances and spend some money, you risk regretting that you didn’t have a little more fun while you had the chance.

Consumer psychologists say that saver’s remorse is a real condition, according to The New York Times . Psychologists are so concerned with the affliciton that they have created a new label for it — hyperopia, the medical term for farsightedness. The theory is that people are so obsessed with preparing for the future that they can’t enjoy the present, and end up looking back with regret on all their lost opportunities for fun.

Psychologists say that splurging on big ticket items or a vacation can produce immediate buyer’s remorse, but over the long term, people regret not having enough fun, not traveling and not spending money rather than not saving enough.

Read more here.

[From me]

I think there is some truth to this.  I don’t think I will go out and buy a new car or plasma TV, but if we are constantly keeping our mind on doom and gloom we may end up there.  I remember during the late 1970’s and early 1980’s things were pretty scary.  We had double digit inflation and the threat of war with the USSR.  But President Reagan came in and said yes things are tough and they will get better.  What we need now is optimism!  We don’t need our nation’s leaders telling us how bad things are because then it is a self-fulfilling prophecy!  I don’t want to miss out of enjoying life right now.  

What do you think?

[Boston Globe]

For 15 years, Cascade College in Portland, Ore., struggled to find the financial necessities for any college: students to pay tuition and donors to help build an endowment. Then came the global economic crisis, and suddenly that struggle became an impossibility.

Late last month, the small Christian college with just 280 students and $4 million in debt announced that it would shut down at the end of the current academic year.

“Our hearts would have said we would like to continue trying,” said Cascade president Bill Goad, somberly adding he never imagined his duties would include closing the school. But on top of their long-term challenges, “small colleges like Cascade just don’t have the slack to survive those kinds of impacts,” he said.

Every year, a handful of institutions go under. And while a wave of college closings is unlikely, the economic turmoil could accelerate the pace.

In addition to Cascade, another Christian institution, Taylor University, announced last month that it would close the undergraduate program at a branch campus in Fort Wayne, Ind., while Pillsbury Baptist Bible College in Owatonna, Minn., said it would close.

Read more here.

[From me]

I really wonder if this is happening “because” of the ailing economy or is it just the final straw?  Colleges are getting more and more expensive.  The economy can’t be blamed for that.  I went to Samford University in Birmingham, AL in the 1980’s and paid for it for 10 years afterwards. I enjoyed my time there and met many friends. But in retrospect, should I have attended the University of Alabama where my mom worked for free?  Is being in a Fraternity and at a small campus for 4 years better than just getting a degree? Samford has a great reputation but I don’t think it ever got me an interview or a job.  Actually, my UAB degree got me more interviews than my Samford degree did. 

If I had to do it over, I would go to a Jr. College for free then transfer to a 4 year college.  There are very few jobs that will pay enough to get you out of college debt.

What do you think?