According to a study by the Pew Research Center last year, people who don’t identify with any particular religion are now the second largest “religious” group in most industrialized nations.
In this nation, the growing abandonment of organized religion is becoming more and more tangible, especially with young people. Reasons for the lack of religiosity vary, mostly boiling down to the unbelievability of stories that come from ancient texts. But as religion in the U.S. becomes more and more politicized, with a powerful contingent in Washington using the Bible as justification to legislate their version of morality, many see the moral hypocrisy of religious leaders and politicians as reason enough to abandon an institution that has an underwhelming track record.
This week, the Twitter hashtag #ImNotGoingToChurchBecause began trending, and most of the sentiments expressed were a perfect window into people’s changing attitudes.
Religious Right, take note:
#ImNotGoingToChurchBecause your faith doesn't make you a good person. Your actions do. pic.twitter.com/UokvA7wsCc
— Orlando 🤘🏼😎 (@TeamLando) January 22, 2017
https://twitter.com/JessicaMcCann17/status/823157586841182208
https://twitter.com/TheBaxterBean/status/823238673462427648
#ImNotGoingToChurchBecause there has been 3000 Gods so far but only yours exists. The others are silly made up nonsense. But not yours.
— katykin.eth (@katy_kin) January 22, 2017
The #ImNotGoingToChurchBecause is filled with a lot of people who lost their faith because people let them down, not God. Pretty sad
— kenna (@kennaschott) January 22, 2017
#ImNotGoingToChurchBecause the wine is OK, but the crackers are awful
— I, Robert (@papermonkeynz) January 22, 2017
https://twitter.com/mr_brad_/status/823184541003247616
#ImNotGoingToChurchBecause I'm still waiting for the almighty God to reveal why exactly he thinks 5 year olds should die of bone cancer.
— Amir (@AmirAminiMD) January 22, 2017
https://twitter.com/bbidunk/status/823606742382743554
#imnotgoingtochurchbecause watching the religious right & conservatives the last 9 years has proven that religion offers no moral compass
— The Sum of My Ancestors 👊🏾🪶 (@hi_pah) January 23, 2017
Naturally, some didn’t appreciate the hashtag:
There's an #ImNotGoingToChurchBecause hashtag..ugh this makes me sick.
— Greyson LaPlant (@greysonlaplant) January 23, 2017
Heartbroken reading #ImNotGoingToChurchBecause. I'm so sorry if you've been hurt by a Christian, but don't give up on Jesus because of it.
— Zach W. Lambert (@ZachWLambert) January 23, 2017
why is #ImNotGoingToChurchBecause trending??? i AM going to church b/c god is good to us and i'm going to thank him endlessly #godsgotme
— liv (@oliviaslater99) January 22, 2017
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