O'Reilly Says Hip-Hop Is More Popular Than Jesus

++In responding to the Pew poll on "The Changing Religious Landscape of America" , Bill O'Reilly blames the drop-off in the young to hip-hop and rap music.Or Elvis, then the Beatles.

++But the poll on millennials is interesting and has implications both culturally and economically.

++56% of millennials are Protestants.
++16% are Catholics.
++8% are other religions.
++36% are unaffiliated,agnostic or atheist.

++In the country overall,Christians have dropped from 78.4% to 70.6%. But it is the rise of unaffiliated among the millennials that has caught people's eyes.

++I would argue that the politicization of religion has turned off millennials. The proliferation of the religious right on the media turns off everyone and makes one want to hide from the so-called "American Christian". On issues which millennials and the rest of America has finally accepted like same-sex marriage and partnerships or even the legalization of marijuana,the Religious Right is seen as the major reactionary force which is not persuasive in even their own scriptural analysis. This hypocrisy is blatant to all the young. The so-called Gospel of Wealth obviously runs counter to the experience of the young, except the trust-funders. The Gospel of Wealth has a very shady history, having first been sold by Andrew Carnegie to the local Presbyterian churches in Pennsylvania. Now it is mainstreamed by Bill O'Reilly. 

++I think a major turn-off on American religion is the degrading of the religious imagination. Obsessing about what goes into an anus isn't conducive to contemplating the cosmos and the meaning of life. The "unaffiliated" don't lack for an interest in the spiritual but can't find it in our society.

++And there is a lack of humor. Hillary Clinton is right. Americans need to have more fun. Mike Huckabee commented that he was so thankful that when he was governor of Arkansas, Monty Python's "Meaning of Life" could not be played in his state. But he was ashamed that it was shown around the nation. You have to be too grim in your worldview not to have a laugh at the "Meaning of Life". 

++And for the first time in my lifetime,"American Christianity" is challenging basic science like it did before 1930. The problem with this is that the reasons of this challenge are linked to support for major fossil fuel corporations and the young can see through this a mile away. 

++What is interesting is that the richest and the poorest are the two "most religious" classes.