The New Christianity under Pope-King

Leftist thinks MAGA not so bad due to odd facts - The king has no clothes (but uses a diaper)?

Americans invented a New Christianity: Here's why that's terrifying

We're both Christians. - I'm not. - Oh yeah, he's not. I'm not either really. - Aren't you? - Am I?

.

Touch it, Diablo, touch it! - No, I don't want to.

(Wisecrack) March 28, 2025:  Why American Christians love Trump. American Evangelicals and Don Jo Trump have always seemed like strange bedfellows, especially as Trump has spent most of his life flaunting the sort of Satanic debauchery that Christians usually despise. But if we look more deeply, this strange marriage of church and state actually makes a lot of sense. Let us explain in this video on how Trump won the hearts and minds of American Evangelicals. He is anointed (which used to mean smeared with entheogenic drugs, or mysteries, as explained by Dr. Ammon Hillman). He is the "Chosen One" put in office by the God, right? Right? The right wing says right.

• Meanwhile, in other "Chosen" news, Fathom Entertainment is releasing about three episodes of its successful Jesus TV show in theaters. The main actor is good, but the rest of the endeavor is a little perplexing, with added material to fill in the biblical account. It's not clear who this show is for, Christians, Jews, or agnostics needing something to watch. Atheists are sure to laugh and wish they'd seen Jesus Christ Superstar instead, which at least has a lot of good music and fast pacing, packing in the whole story in about 90 minutes.
• VIDEO: Christian faith-based movies 2025

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Written by Tom Ryan. Hosted by Michael Burns. Directed by Michael Luxemburg. Edited by Benji Dunaief. Produced by Olivia Redden. Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound. SPONSOR: Take back personal data with Incogni. Use code WISECRACK at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: incogni.com/WISECRACK.

Watch more episodes. Jordan Peterson Doesn't Understand Christianity ► • Jordan Peterson Doesn't Understand Ch... Do You Have A God Shaped Hole? ► • Do You Have a God Shaped Hole? Is Religion Dead? ► • Is Religion Dead? #trump #culture #religion © 2025 Wisecrack/Omnia Media, Inc. / Enthusiast Gaming

• Sheldon S., CC Liu, Crystal Q. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

US Latin population growth slips behind Asians

Russell Contreras (twitter.com/russcontreras/BigStory.ap.org/The Associated Press (via mail.com); Crystal Quintero, Ashley Wells, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico - The growth of the U.S. Latino (Latina, Latinx) population -- once the nation's fastest growing -- slowed considerably over the past seven years and slipped behind that of Asian Americans amid declining "Hispanic" immigration and birth rates, a study released [September 8th, 2016] found.

Update: I hate social media.

The Pew Research Center study, which analyzed U.S. Census Bureau data, found that the U.S. Hispanic population grew annually on average by 2.8 percent between 2007 and 2014. That's down from the 4.4 percent annual growth from 2000 to 2007, before the Great Recession [which was a new Depression].

 

By comparison, the Asian American population grew around 3.4 percent on average annually during the same period. William H. Frey, a demographer with the Brookings Institution's Metropolitan Policy Program, the slower growth is largely a factor of the economy. A slower economy is influencing families to hold off on having more children, and it's discouraging migration amid stronger border enforcement, he said.

 

Kenneth M. Johnson, a senior demographer at the University of New Hampshire's Carsey School of Public Policy, said U.S. Hispanic women between the ages of 20 to 24 have seen a 36 percent decline in birth rates.

 

"That's by far the largest decline of any other group," Johnson said. Despite slowing population growth, Latinos still accounted for 54 percent of the nation's population growth between 2000 and 2014, according to the nonpartisan Pew Research Center.

 

KFI AM's roving reporter Jo Kwon at the L.A. County Fair in Pomona with zebra (KFI).

.

Regional growth patterns also have changed some following the economic downturn of 2007 reflecting the changing economies of states, the study found. Counties in the South continued to account for the largest share of the nation's Hispanic population growth -- 43 percent between 2007 and 2014.

Among the other fastest-growing counties for Latinos were Luzerne County in Pennsylvania, Beadle County in South Dakota, Duchesne County in Utah, and Burleigh County in North Dakota.

"Latinos are coming to Utah because the government here is doing a lot to create jobs," said Rogelio Franco of Entre Latinos, a Salt Lake City, Utah advocacy group that works to integrate Hispanics into the state. Entre Latinos was not affiliated with the study.

 

Franco said he thinks the declining birth rate is a result of Latino millennials holding off on having children while pursuing their education. "They are planning more," Franco said. "They are focusing on other things."

I'm white, you're Latina, and we're best friends. Should we go to Hawaii again? - No.

 

The growth in North Dakota's statewide Latino population nearly doubled to 18,000, making it the state with the highest Hispanic growth rate over seven years. Though small in numbers compared to states like California and Texas, the rise in Latino residents has put pressures on local governments and nonprofits to accommodate the new residents.

 

For example, in 2014 Catholic nuns from Mexico were sent to North Dakota to help serve new Hispanic parishioners in that state. North Dakota had experienced an oil boom until recently, attracting workers from around the country. It remains one of the least diverse states in the country. 

• The Making of a People: "Hispanics" and the Future of America (NCBI)
• Census: Asians remain fastest-growing racial group in US
• Trump paints new target on legal immigration

I'm Asian, you're Jewish, should we run FB?

"Latino population growth has become less concentrated in counties with historically large Latino populations and whose Latino population grew by at least 10,000," the study's authors wrote. Though the growth has slowed in the last seven years, the Latino population in the South has exploded when examined over 14 years.

We're not a model.

From 2000 to 2014, Latino populations in Tennessee and South Carolina, for example, nearly tripled. North Carolina also saw its population spike 136 percent since 2000, the report said. Mauricio Castro, an organizer with the North Carolina Congress of Latino Organizations, said Latino immigrants coming to the region tend to work in the construction or service industry.

Still, between 2007 and 2014, nearly 40 counties experienced declines in the percentage of Latinos. Most of those counties were in Colorado, New Mexico and Texas -- states with traditionally large Hispanic populations.

 

Frey said once the U.S. economy starts picking up, he expects to see a return of higher rates of immigration and increase births. "This is not the end of Latino growth in the United States by any means," Frey said. Source

"Militant Monks" in Buddhist Burma? (audio)

Wisdom Quarterly; Bruce Wallace ("The Buddhist Path for Young Men in Myanmar," Public Radio International, TheWorld.org, May 8, 2013)

Buddhist novices chant at Maggin Monastery in Burma (Bruce Wallace/theworld.org)

 

Somewhere around 85 percent of Burma’s [Myanmar’s] 50 million people are Buddhist -- the third-highest concentration in the world after Thailand and Cambodia, according to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

  

And roughly half-a-million people in the country enter monasteries and devote their lives to Buddhist practice. They’re a ubiquitous presence in Burma’s cities and towns -- monks and novices wrapped in maroon robes, nuns in pink ones. And many young people in the country will spend some time in Buddhist monasteries and nunneries.
 

If you wander into any monastery in Burma, there’s a good chance you’ll hear Buddhist chanting coming out of an open window.
  

Reading Pali Buddhist texts (Bruce Wallace)

The scene at Maggin Monastery in Rangoon (Yangon) is replicated around the country:
  
Young novices [samaneras, shramaneras or wandering-shamans, training to become monks] sit on the floor, cross-legged on mats, leaning over open books, their fingers following the lines as they recite.

 

The lack of unison isn’t an accident. Everyone’s reciting different passages from the collection of texts [patimokkha, sutras, parittas, Vinaya, Abhidharma] that make up the canon for Theravada Buddhism -- the predominant type practiced in Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka. They’re all at different stages in their lesson. Reciting out loud tests their ability to focus on their particular text. More

• What’s Fueling the Buddhist-Muslim Clashes in Burma
• Dalai Lama decries Buddhist attacks on Muslims in Burma
• Six Muslims charged over monk's death in Burma's Meiktila

• Bruce Wallace is a Brooklyn-based journalist and multimedia producer who reports regularly for The World, This American Life, the New York Times Magazine, and the Washington Post.

Asian-Americans and Religion (Pew Forum)

Leslie Berestein Rojas (MultiAmerican.SCPR.org); Pew Forum

One-in-seven Americans are now Buddhists. Most in the US are fluid and searching.

  

A month after a Pew Research Center report on Asians becoming the nation’s fastest-growing immigrant group faced criticism for downplaying Asian Americans’ diversity, Pew has come back with a new report that focuses on the diversity of their religious beliefs.

   

While it does not address the socioeconomic and educational diversity and disparities that critics pointed out in the last month, the report from the Pew Forum on Religious & Public Life does adjust some misperceptions, while revealing several facts that are not particularly well known beyond Asian American diasporas. Here’s [some]: 

• Asian Americans are neither predominantly Buddhist nor Hindu.
• In the United States, there are more Asian Americans who are Christian (42 percent) than any other religion.
• Many of these Christians are Filipinos, who are traditionally Catholic, and Koreans, many of whom are Protestant.
• The percentage of Buddhists (14 percent), Hindus (10 percent), and Muslims (4 percent) is small by comparison. 

Labels do not really tell us what people believe.

Still, as migration from Asia has increased, so has the the nation’s share of Buddhists and Hindus. 

   

Buddhists now account for one in seven Americans, according to the report, and counted together, the share of Americans who practice Buddhism and Hinduism is about the same as that of those practicing Judaism (about 2 percent).

  

At the same time, in contrast, a large share (26 percent) of Asian Americans consider themselves “unaffiliated,” that is, not practicing any particular religion. More

   

We have a choice, even if our choice is "none."

  

Asian Americans: A Mosaic of Faiths 

Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life (pewforum.org)

When it comes to religion, the Asian-American community is a study in contrasts, encompassing groups that run the gamut from highly religious to highly secular. A new survey report examines the Asian-American population from the angle of religious affiliation, highlighting the beliefs, practices and views of diverse faith groups. More

• The Dalai Lama's generosity in San Diego 
• Pew study says politics now divides Americans more than race
• Pew Poll: Trust In Government Hits Near-Historic Low
  New Pew report says one in five adults doesn't use the Internet

Poll: Nearly 1 in 5 won't fill out census form

New York launches its census awareness campaign (AFP/Stan Honda)

WASHINGTON (AP) – With the launch of the decennial census just weeks away, nearly 1 in 5 people may not participate in the high-stakes head count, citing mostly a lack of interest but also a broader distrust of government.

A poll released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center highlights the challenges as the Census Bureau prepares to begin its tally in March. The findings come as some groups question whether the agency's $300 million outreach effort is doing enough to reach hard-to-count communities.

"The big picture message is they've got a lot of work to do in terms of informing people," said Andrew Kohut, president of the Pew Research Center. He cited young people in particular, as well as those with less education and Hispanics who have had less exposure to the census or government. More>>

GET A JOB

The 2010 Census is hiring like crazy. This is how, and this is why. Thousands of Americans are needed to verify questionnaires sent back incomplete. Doing so is a monumental task requiring clerks, crew leaders, supervisors, support staff, and census takers. Guess what? They're all being hired now. The pay runs between $13 to $22.50 an hour. It's easy money for routine work that has all been streamlined and standardized. How do you get hired? Call (866) 861-2010. You'll be routed to your local Census office to sign up for a simple 28 question test. (Take the practice exam to know what to expect at 2010census.gov). You only need 10 out 28 to pass. If you live in an area that needs counting and have a good score, you'll be called in. Let's all count and be counted. The Federal government allocates its funding based on population. The more of us there actually are, the more money will be poured into our area.

NOTE: The more people who refuse to fill out their census forms, which will be mailed out in May, the more jobs/work there will be to get the information in person.

Buddhism by Numbers (Pew Survey)

Hoko Jan Karnegis
(Tricycle Magazine) When you think of the words "American Buddhist," what do you see? Someone White, middle-aged, no kids? An adult convert from Protestantism? Someone with a graduate degree, living in the western United States?

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life's "2008 U.S. Religious Landscape Survey," released in late February, may provide some new clues about what American Buddhists are like. The Pew Forum conducted more than 35,000 telephone surveys with adult respondents, 0.7% of whom identified themselves as Buddhist.

A caveat: While the resulting figures are interesting and may be useful in evaluating American Sangha development, care must be taken in relying heavily on them. The margin for error is +6.5%, and only 411 respondents identified themselves as Buddhist. Also, Hawaii, home to a significant number of Buddhists, was not included in the survey. Nonetheless, larger trends and themes emerge and help to point out where further study is needed. More>>

Kate Moss spends another New Year in Thailand
(Daily Mail Reporter) Kate Moss has escaped the gloom and grey of London at New Year and yet again swapped it for a New Year's break in Thailand.... [T]he slim model and boyfriend Jamie Hince spent New Year's Eve taking a boat trip and walking along golden sands together. More>>

US Christians add Eastern, New Age beliefs

More U.S. Christians mix in "Eastern," New Age beliefs

Cathy Lynn Grossman (USA TODAY)

Going to church this Sunday? Look around. The chances are that one in five of the people there find "spiritual energy" in mountains or trees, and one in six believe in the "evil eye," that certain people can cast curses with a look — beliefs your Christian pastor doesn't preach.

In a Catholic church? Chances are that one in five members believe in reincarnation in a way never taught in catechism class — that you'll be reborn in this world again and again.

Elements of Eastern faiths and New Age thinking have been widely adopted by 65% of U.S. adults, including many who call themselves Protestants and Catholics, according to a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life released Wednesday.

• FAITH & REASON: Christmas or Hanukkah? Holidays or holy days? Interfaith families make choices
• ON THE WEB: Pew's report

Syncretism — mashing up contradictory beliefs like Catholic rocker Madonna's devotion to a Kabbalah-light version of Jewish mysticism — appears on the rise. And, according to the survey's other major finding, devotion to one clear faith is fading.

Of the 72% of Americans who attend religious services at least once a year (excluding holidays, weddings and funerals), 35% say they attend in multiple places, often hop-scotching across denominations. They are like President Obama, who currently has no home church. He has worshiped at a Baptist church, an Episcopal one, and the non-denominational chapel at Camp David.

"Mixing and matching practices and beliefs is as much the norm as it is the exception," Pew's Alan Cooperman says. "Are they grazing, sampling, just curious? We really don't know." Even so, says Pew researcher Greg Smith, "these findings all point toward a spiritual and religious openness — not necessarily a lack of seriousness."

Among the findings:
•26% of those who attend religious services say they do so at more than one place occasionally, and an additional 9% roam regularly from their home church for services.
•28% of people who attend church at least weekly say they visit multiple churches outside their own tradition.
•59% of less frequent church attendees say they attend worship at multiple places.
The survey of 2,003 adults Aug. 11-27 has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points. It measures Protestants, Catholics and the unaffiliated; there were not enough people of other faiths surveyed for analysis.

"For an extremely long time, most of us thought belonging or membership or home church was monogamous, even if it was serial monogamy, because we all know about church-switching," says sociologist of religion Scott Thumma, a professor at the Hartford Institute for Religion Research in Hartford, Conn. "Today, the individual rarely finds all their spiritual needs met in one congregation or one religion."

"Rampant confusion"
In the 1980s, Albert Mohler and Julia Jarvis were in graduate school together at Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville. Today, Mohler is president of the seminary and a leading voice for Baptist orthodoxy. He sees a "rampant confusion" about faith revealed in the Pew findings.

"This is a failure of the pulpit as much as of the pew to be clear about what is and is not compatible with Christianity and belief in salvation only through Christ," Mohler says. Pew says two in three adults believe in or cite an experience with at least one supernatural phenomenon, including:

•26% find "spiritual energy" in physical things.
•25% believe in astrology.
•24% say people will be reborn in this world again and again.
•23% say yoga is a "spiritual practice."

Mohler calls these "the au courant confusions," attachments to the latest fashionable free-floating beliefs. "One hundred years ago, it would have been 'spiritualism.' They wouldn't have known what yoga was but might have been attracted to the 'New Thought' of the time," Mohler says. More>>

Pew Forum on Buddhism

Scientists to Clone Bodhi Tree
[A] plan to preserve the sacred tree, which grew from the banyan tree (Ficus religiosa) under which the Buddha attained enlightenment more than 2500 years ago.... (News ID 15350, 4/8/09).

Buddhism strengthens ties to church
Buddhism is not only accepted as a mainstream American religion, it is a path increasingly trod by faithful Christians and Jews who infuse... (News ID 18536, 8/9/09).

Buddhism gets political, sometimes violent, over Tibet
In March, Chinese officials used force and armed troops to put down demonstrations by Buddhist monks inside Tibet and China (News ID 16281, 8/15/08).

In Japan, Buddhism may be dying out
OGA, Japan -- The Japanese have long taken an easygoing, buffetlike approach to religion, ringing out the old year at Buddhist temples and... (News ID 16033, 7/14/08).

One priest, two faiths, and lots of questions
The only candidate on the ballot, Thew Forrester, 51, has practiced Zen meditation for a decade and received lay ordination from a Buddhist... (News ID 17707, 3/12/09).

Summary of Key Findings
Similarly, more than half of Buddhists (0.7% of the overall adult...). In sharp contrast to Islam and Hinduism, Buddhism in the U.S. is primarily made up of...

Russian Buddhists: "White Tara" Medvedev Pledges Cash
Russian Buddhists revere Dmitry Medvedev as a deity, and the president seemed to live up to their expectations.... (News ID 18606, 8/25/09,).

American Buddhists get engaged in race for president
So American Buddhists aren't likely to become a political machine or a crucial swing vote any time soon. But as the religion born in the... (News ID 16778, 10/28/08).

Hindus Thrive as Buddhists Struggle to Pass on the Dharma
In contrast, only 45 percent of Buddhists are married to another Buddhist, and only half of Buddhists who were raised in the faith remain... (News ID 15035, 2/25/08).

Thai Monks Want Buddhism in Constitution
Hundreds of monks called for Buddhism to be named Thailand's national religion, a move rejected as too divisive in the past... (News ID 13249, 4/17/07 [PDF]).

RLS Report 2-22.indd
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View

• More (pewforum.org)

Atheists on Twitter; Science and Religion

Text: S.J. Velasquez (Pew Forum, Religion News Service)

P.Z. Myers' Twitter bio reads, "godless liberal biologist." The avid atheist is far from alone in the cyber world. He has more than 7,700 followers, who subscribe to his atheism- and evolution-themed Internet updates.

When Myers led about 300 like-minded evolutionists to the Creation Museum, thousands more followed along via the Internet, avidly anticipating each 140-character "tweet" about the Kentucky center, which renounces evolution in favor of a Bible-based view of natural history.

"It's a very peculiar medium," Myers said of Twitter. "I can also see that it is quite useful." Complete story (Mayrequire registration)

• Buddhism coverage (pewforum.org)

Religion and Science: Conflict or Harmony?
On August 7, Francis S. Collins was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the new director of the National Institutes of Health. At the May 2009 Faith Angle Conference on religion, politics, and public life, Collins (the former director of the Human Genome Project and an evangelical Christian) discussed why he believes religion and science are compatible. Barbara Bradley Hagerty, the religion correspondent for National Public Radio (NPR), discussed how the brain reacts to spiritual experiences.