TIME Magazine’s David van Biema gives us 2008’s Top 10 stories on religion.
For my money, this story is especially fascinating since it applies to our sangha in really specific ways.
A 35,000-person poll by the Pew Forum for Religion & Public Life found that 28% of U.S. adults have left their cradle faith for another one 44% if you’re talking about denominations rather than faiths. The poll suggests great national piety coupled with remarkable disdain for the multi-generational doctrinal and ethnic ties that used to define American religion.
Over the past few years, more and more people have approached me and described their feelings of an increasing irrelevance in relation to their traditional faiths. They keep lamenting the fact that their choice is a stark one: either stick with a tradition that no longer seems relevant, or avoid tradition altogether. Either way they feel lost.