Courtesy of nimdok
The U.S. Religious Landscape Survey conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found that in the U.S. 88% believe in God, 82% believe religion is important in one’s life, and 75% pray at least once a week, but only 39% attend a religious service at least once a week.
I’ve been asking myself, “is church relevant to me?” The answer is yes. So this leads to the more important question, “how is church relevant to me?”
“It is the information at the core of religion where Believers and Non-Believers still have room to grow.” This was the conclusion drawn by Byron Pitts in his report on The CBS Evening News With Katie Couric on Tuesday, September 28, 2010 covering the survey on religious knowledge in the U.S. conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. With today’s news cycles, that seems like long ago, but Byron’s conclusion caught my attention.
As a Christian Scientist I am a Christian and I strive to follow Jesus’ teaching to love one another. So, a question I have to ask myself is, “do I love enough to gain a basic understanding of the core beliefs that are important to my neighbors?” While we will all likely have areas where we need to agree to disagree, it seems to me that we would all be better off if we had a better understanding of one another’s core beliefs. I took the test that was given as part of this survey, and while I did quite well, I did not get 100% correct. So I must admit that I still have room to grow.