Well, really, do your own research. Please. Don't just say you doubt my factual claims.
I already gave the factual basis why secular ideology and morality doesn't work compared to Christianity. Christians believe in an objective basis for morality and how society and the world should be ordered.
Whereas secular ideology has no objective basis and is relative. This means secular morality does not even have a basis to compare with Christians fullstop. Its a human made morality and ideology and therefore has no factual basis.
So comparing Christianity to secular morality makes no sense because there is nothing within secular morality to compare with. If you were comparing Christian morality with Christian living up to that morality then thats ok. But not Christian to secular because it cannot be done.
These are not anecdotal. Nor out of context. Check for yourself.
"Anecdotal" describes information, arguments, or evidence based on one or two correlations that are not necessarily causes. I am not disputing your stats but rather that this is the cause of the problems like divorce.
For example secular society broadly reject the idea of marriage. Marriage has decreased in secular society. You are going to find higher rates of divorce within Christians because they are more likely to marry.
But the stats for breakdowns in relationships including families may be much higher in secular society. They just don't reflect this with divorce because they don't marry as much to get divorced. So its not a true reflection of the situation.
Poverty is another factor that may cause family breakdowns or teen pregnacies or crime and murder. Which has nothing to do with Christianity and yet may be a factor in why there are high rates of these issues.
Another factor noted was that Christian teens may not use contraception like non Christian communities. The rate of sexual promisquity may be higher in secular society but they use contraception more. Thus a Christian teen may only have sex once or twice and they get pregnant because its taboo for them to have sex in the first place. Thus distorting the reality that Christian teens have less sex overall.
You have to include all the factors otherwise it gives a false connection and cause.
I have no desire to lie to you. But the facts are the facts. 68% of the Southeast claims to be Christian. Yet their influence to address the eight immoral conditions I listed is less than the effectiveness of much more secular regions. Again, do your own research. I wasn't lying.
But how do you know those who claim to be Christians are Christians. Has anyone checked this to see if its correct. People may put on a survey they are Christian when they have not attended church r practiced Christianity in years. You can't just take their words for it.
But I am not sure what your point is. Are you arguing that there are Christians who don't practice what they preach and produce bad results compared to secular society. Or are you saying these poor results for Christians shows that secular societies morals and ideas are better than Christianity in general.
Also, economically there are deep pockets of economic stress in many secular areas of the U.S. Yet those same areas do better than the Southeast. And, as you say, "this is a different argument to whether Christianity is bad". Thanks! I'm glad you finally see that. I am a Christian.
That cannot be true as survey after survey show that poverty alone is associated with the highest rates of all these negative issues. Regardless of religion or politics ect. I can show you high rates of teen pregnancies, murder, crime and famility breakdown in all sorts of demographics which are not Christian. Therefore it negates the claim that just Christians suffer this at the highest rates.
Its also strange. A religion that is anti murder, teen pregnancies, and divorce having a higher rate of these issues in a church congregation compared to say the Hood seems crazy. Completely different sets of morals which have to influence outcomes.
Its like saying the hood is the church and the church is the hood. I don't think thats the case.
Plus who said being poor is bad. The bible says Christians should live with little money and give it away to help others. They make themselves poor for Gods Kingdom. How do you know Christians are not sacrificing wealth to love and help others.
This is what I mean by correlations are not causes. You have to determine the true cuase of teen pregnacies, murder, divorce ect and not just assume its all because of Christianity.
I have been saved by Christ. My life has been changed by Christ. I believe that is true for many, many Southeast Christians. We are not bad. But we have failed. Consistently. The facts don't lie. We cannot claim that Christian influence would make our country better as long as the region we can influence most heavily actually does worse, morally, than the other secular regions. It's just facts. So, could we make a difference? Sure. We could. But we don't. And as long as the Southeast continues to prove that, we are lying if we claim our country would do better if Christians had more influence in it.
I think this is a strange way to spread the gospel. The gospel stands on its own. It is not the results of people or claims of Christians that makes Christainity. Otherwise we could never confidently declare the gospel as truth that will not only save people in this world but forever.
You say you are a saved Christian. Then could you ever see yourself allowing a world with teen pregnancy, abortion, murder, glutony, and the breakdown of Gods marriage and families.
So whatever is happening in the South East it ain't Christianity. But some false ideology. Which I agree is not good and hypocritical.
Culture: Christian marriage & divorce
Research consistently shows that committed Christian couples who regularly attend church experience better marital outcomes, including higher relationship satisfaction, lower divorce rates, and even higher sexual satisfaction. [
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Religious Communities and Human Flourishing
Participation in religious services is associated with numerous aspects of human flourishing, including happiness and life satisfaction, mental and physical health, meaning and purpose, character and virtue, and close social relationships. Evidence for the effects of religious communities on these flourishing outcomes now comes from rigorous longitudinal study designs with extensive confounding control.
Participation in religious services is associated with numerous aspects of human flourishing, including happiness and life satisfaction, mental and physical health, meaning and purpose, character and virtue, and close social relationships. Evidence ...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Religious upbringing linked to better health and well-being during early adulthood
Researchers found that people who attended weekly religious services or practiced daily prayer or meditation in their youth reported greater life satisfaction and positivity in their 20s—and were less likely to subsequently have depressive symptoms, smoke, use illicit drugs, or have a sexually transmitted infection—than people raised with less regular spiritual habits.
Participating in spiritual practices during childhood and adolescence may be a protective factor for a range of health and well-being outcomes in early adulthood.
hsph.harvard.edu
