www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall religion survey: 2007

JOHN:

Great survey. Like Alice, I'd like to offer a few suggestions. There is room in this one for another possibility. For Catholics, other religions--other than Christianity--have elements of truth that can allow them to be open to the working of the Holy Spirit even though they do not know of Him or how He works. I hope by this question you didn't mean other Christian communities--there are those who still refer to others who call themselves followers of Christ as "other religions."


I think there's another choice here, too. It is a serious theological matter but may have resulted from historical events that made it something more than it needs to be. The first use of it did not come from the Bishop of Rome, but he has become the lightening rod for it when the discussion begins with our Orthodox brethren.


I think this one should have another choice, too. Absolute Evil is not necessarily found in every sin, so the two should not be confused and equated. Evil is, by the definiton I was taught, a bad thing, action, or intention wrapped in soemthing good so as to deceive.


The Eastern Catholic Churches are the result of a different history and time than we find ourselves in at this moment of history. They have the right to be who they are and to find their own place in the family of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. They have much to offer us in understanding how we profess our faith under trying circumstances and how faith in Christ can call us to heroic witness for the Truth we have been given.

In Christ,

BOB

The number of people planning on going into Holy Orders was a surprise for me as well. What I found disappointing though was that 21 pct think Euthanasia is sometimes acceptable, along with the numbers who feel that outlawing abortion is the best solution. It's not that I don't believe the second most popular solution is without merit, it's just that I believe we need the stop the slaughter first.

Thank you, BOB; those are good ideas !

-- John

Good point Alice. We should not be scrupulous.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13640a.htm

However, in this day and age is is sometimes very hard for people to even admit that they've done something sinful. Secular society tends to exalt the individual to the status of God.

Me Deum laud�mus, me D�minum confit�mur...

Indeed, today's mentality is the opposite extreme of scrupulosity! A rebuff that many priests get when they try to urge their parish members to participate in Holy Confession is: "why...I am a good person"

Alice

If you haven't done so yet, please take the religion survey !

-- John

Sorry for allowing this to go off topic.

Forum members: Please participate in this poll !!! We are still interested in the final results!

Alice, Moderator

Thank you, Alice.

If you haven't done so yet, please take the religion survey !

And many thanks to everyone who has taken it !

-- John

John, my brother,

Incredible - you make me blush at the thought of the simple polls which I used to be so pleased to post here once a year. I have a few (very few) suggestions - which I'll mull over and get to you once I decompress physically, intellectually, and spiritually from taking this - shouldn't be more than a couple weeks.

Many years,

Neil

Please take the religion survey if you haven't already !

And if you are a lurker, feel free to create an account and join in the conversations here !

-- John

Please take the religion survey if you haven't already !

Please take the religion survey if you haven't yet !

Interesting: 49% report they might have a religious vocation in the future (and 8% have a religious vocation now). WOW !

We are up to 43 respondents ! Yay ! Thank you !

-- John

John,

I think you have more posts than everyone else combined on this thread.

Dr. Eric

PS Take the poll, our brother John worked hard on it!!! Yes, that means you!

One more day: Please take the religion survey if you haven't yet !

-- John

Thank you for participating in the religion survey for 2007 ! Here are the results.

-- Over five days, 46 people began the survey and 36 completed it.

-- Demographically, almost everyone who took the survey was from North America. There was an almost even split by age: half were younger than age 40, and half were 40 years old or older. Interesting, only four people reported being divorced (and one being widowed); the rest are either married or have never been married. Most respondents were male, although 1/6th of respondents (8 people) are female. Most respondents are well educated. Also, many respondents are converts: many were raised in the Roman Catholic Church and mainline Protestant Churches, but they converted to the Eastern Catholic Churches and the Orthodox Church. Finally, this is a small group of people: 46.

-- The big surprise was about vocations. Only 7% reported having a religious vocation now, but 46% report that they might have a religious vocation in the future. Most of those possible vocations would be in the clergy, and one person is considering the monastic life. WOW !

-- The respondents are very traditional in their views on theology, morals and practices. They are also quite certain about their views. The vast majority, even though they come from different denominations of Christianity, believe that their religion is �the truth.�

-- The subjects for disagreement were unsurprising, given that this is a forum about the Eastern Church. Topics included the nature of the Church, Church authority, the papacy, the filioque, relations between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, the Eastern Catholic Churches, and the extent to which ethnic heritages should be preserved in the Church.

-- Also, the subjects of controversy of the wider society produced differences of opinion in the respondents. The subjects include non-marital sex, contraception, abortion, divorce and euthanasia. However, the respondents� views were traditional; and their differences of opinion were differences in degree of being traditional.

-- The respondents uniformly reported behaving piously: daily prayer, frequent religious study, weekly worship, frequent Communion, even going to Confession once per month.

-- However, less than half of respondents reported practicing any kind of fasting. Hmm. Fasting is most commonly reported to be practiced on Fridays and Lent, and it is most commonly practiced by abstaining from meat. Only about 1/3 of respondents reported fasting more often than Fridays and Lent, and less than � of respondents reported abstaining from anything more than meat. Hmm.

-- Most respondents have a positive view of God, viewing God positively in personal terms (loving Father or Lord or Savior) and / or mystically.

-- The most common reasons given by respondents for practicing religion were (1) to live in loving communion with God and neighbor, (2) for context for life and meaning for life and purpose for life, (3) for the good and the beautiful and the true, which was tied with moral strength and personal discipline, and (4) to cultivate enlightenment and selfless compassion.

-- Finally, most respondents are at this Forum for the following three reasons: (1) communicating with others about Eastern Christianity, (2) learning about the Eastern Church, and (3) for a safe place to debate or discuss religion. And, by their own admission, they (we) could all stand to work on being more charitable with each other.

Thank you again for participating !

Be well.

-- John