Give me that old time religion.
Give me that old time religion.
Give me that old time religion.
It's good enough for me. (Traditional hymn)
Today, the "old fashioned" way of practicing religion does continue do just fine for a lot of folks. West Virginia is a good example of how the traditions of God-fearing, church-going, sin and salvation continue to be practiced today.
There remains in our country a strong sense of faith. The new poll by Parade Magazine shows that 69 percent of Americans believe in God and 77 percent pray outside the church. Only five percent of those questioned don't believe in God, while seven percent weren't sure.
But the new poll finds that while America remains one of the most religious countries in the west, our view of what makes a person religious and how we practice our faith is changing.
More of us today are willing to consider ourselves "spiritual" without necessarily being traditional church-goers. The Parade poll says one-fourth of Americans put themselves in the category of "spiritual, but not religious."
Author Christine Wicker, who has written four books about faith and spirituality and penned the piece in Sunday's Parade, said of this relatively new development, "Some may be members of traditional religions, but want to signal that they aren't legalistic or rigid."
But these folks are hard to classify, Wicker points out, because the concept of "spiritual without being religious" can mean different things to different people."
This broader view of faith is likely also responsible for people being more tolerant of other beliefs.
The Parade poll found that only 12 percent believe their religion is "the only true faith." Fifty-nine percent answered that all religions are valid.
This tolerance extends to critical life decisions, but only so far. Eight out of every ten Americans would consider marrying someone of another religion. But, Wicker points out that almost the same number would not consider changing their religion.
Half of us pray every day, but don't do it because we fear God's wrath if we don't pray. Rather, we want something from God.
The Parade poll says 72 percent of us pray for the well-being of others. Sixty percent pray for forgiveness. But some of our prayers are somewhat less altruistic. Twenty-seven percent pray for personal success and one in five pray for money or some material thing.
Interestingly, even though so much of Christianity--the dominant religion in America--is based on the afterlife, many of us have our doubts about what happens when we die. The Parade poll found that just 43 percent "thought people go to heaven or hell depending on their actions on earth."
Wicker concludes that these and other results of the Parade poll confirm some of the generalities we have about faith; most of us believe in God, pray and teach our children to do the same.
But Wicker says the poll also shows that beyond the common themes, there are complexities and subtleties that are not as easily understood. Our spirituality is less structured than it used to be.
"Americans are a very practical people," Wicker says, "moderate and tolerant in ways that would have astonished our grandparents."
