Americans Belief in the Ressurection of Christ Plummets

CNS News has the details...

A study released by the Rasmussen Reports polling firm on Good Friday found that 64% of Americans believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. While Americans who believe in the resurrection remain in the majority, that number is down significantly when compared to a Rasmussen Poll that asked the same question, released a year ago. On April 7th, 2012 Rasmussen released a poll finding that 77% of Americans believed the resurrection of Christ to be historical fact. The difference between the two polls shows a 13 percentage point drop in the number of Americans who believe that Christ rose from the dead, since last Easter. Additionally, this year's poll found that 19% of Americans reject the central tenet of the Christian faith and do not believe that Christ was resurrected. That's compared to only 7% who said they didn't believe that Christ rose from the dead a year ago. A staggering 12 percentage point jump.

I don't find the general trend of the loss of faith to be such a surprise, after all we have been witnessing this same trend across the pond in Europe now for a few decades. What is shocking to me is the disparity in numbers in such a short time. I'll be interested to see next years numbers around Easter time to see if this trend continues, or if this sample was an anomaly.

Birth Rates Tick Up in the English Speaking World

Life Site News has the details...

The birthrate of the developed world has stopped plummeting, at least in those areas that speak English. The Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, in Germany studied 37 of the world's leading economic powers and found that Great Britain, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland have boosted their births enough to stave off a drop in population. That conflicts with previous estimates, which did not account for the fact that women are having children later in life. This may have set those calculations off by as much as 20 percent, the group stated. “These results suggest that the long-term fertility decline in the developed world has come to an end or at least stalled,” the study concluded. “[This] confirms that much of the very low fertility is the result of later, not less, childbearing.” The U.S. birthrate dropped below replacement level in 2010. Much of America's booming births are attributable to immigrants, who made up 80 percent of all U.S. population growth between 2002 and 2012.

I have to admit that when I first read the headline on this article I was somewhat skeptical precisely because of the demographic shifts that have taken place in these same countries over the past 20 years, and that last line in the quote from the article confirmed that suspicion. It's no secret that western culture has chosen the pathway to good times, and the mass distribution of contraception and abortion since the early 1960's have triggered a collapse of birth rates all across this region of the world. In the U.S. it has been a flood of immigrants from South America that has fueled the stagnant population growth over the last several decades, while Europe has been depending on immigrants from Africa and the Middle East as a dependent underclass to help fund the giant socialist state. The problem is still the same, low birth rates from indigenous populations combined with high birthrates from immigrants continues the fundamental shift of values that is affecting most of western society. I'll be keeping an eye out for this study to see if we can gather some more details into the potential good news, but until we confirm with certainty that these increases in birthrates are not coming just from immigrants, there's very little to celebrate here.

Ryan T Anderson on The Blaze TV Talking About DOMA and the Supreme Court

Ryan T Anderson of the Heritage Foundation made a guest appearance on The Blaze TV to talk about the implications of the arguments made against the Defense of Marriage Act in front of the Supreme Court last week. Mr. Anderson breaks with the Libertarian ranks and argues on behalf of the constitutionality of DOMA at the behest of those same Libertarians on the panel who predictably called the legislation unconstitutional. What is particularly striking about the interview is the ease in which the fellow at the Heritage Foundation breaks down the arguments of the other panelists pointing out that the case involved could more easily be supported by anti-government types if they actually opposed the inheritance tax that is really the most unconstitutional aspect of the lawsuit presented in Unites States vs Windsor. Another great moment in this interview is when Mr. Anderson is asked about the general breakdown of marriage within the heterosexual community in which he responds by citing no fault divorce as the main culprit to that problem, and essentially destroying one of the key arguments made by gay activists. The video runs about 12-13 minutes, it's well worth the time...

Give Them Bread and Circuses

This is another text post as I build this new blog dedicated to the political,. cultural and moral decline of western civilization.

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