Jesus, we’re being oppressed!

I ran across the image at left the other day. At first I thought the pie chart was incorrect but after searching the number of religions in the U.S. it more or less correct.

I am always amused when I hear of a Christian, especially on TV or in the press, that complains that someone (the left, Atheists, liberal media, etc.) is running things and the god fearing Christians are getting the short end of the stick. When you see a graph like the on the left you have to chuckle. Poor Christians! With that much dominance in the U.S., what are you bitching about?

The truth is that we are a Christian country, not in a governmental sense but in the population that holds Christianity, in one form or another, as their religion and how it shapes their lives. Most statistics show that the U.S. population is anywhere from 70 to 80 percent Christian, or at least most respondents declare they are Christian in some form. Whether or not they attend church is another matter – just look at the declining Catholic church attendance. The percentages for other faiths is also quite small in the U.S. with one exception. The nonreligious segment is increasing probably due to the influence of younger people who don’t see the value of religion. Numbers are hard to get for that group but most surveys show it to be anywhere from 12 to 14 percent.

Now when you compare religious affiliation across the world you see a different picture. Christianity hold a third of the adherents with Islam garnering 21%. Notably “nonreligious” comes in at 16% and that segment still appears to be growing.

In any event, when Christians play the “Oppressed” card, we should remember graphs like these. The influence the Christian religion has in the U.S. and around the world is enormous. Unfortunately it’s not going away any time soon. Sigh!