{"id":103569,"date":"2024-01-25T12:42:32","date_gmt":"2024-01-25T19:42:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=103569"},"modified":"2024-01-25T12:45:51","modified_gmt":"2024-01-25T19:45:51","slug":"can-the-great-de-churching-be-reversed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2024\/01\/can-the-great-de-churching-be-reversed.html","title":{"rendered":"Can the great American de-churching be reversed?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

"Temple<\/a>

At Medinet Habu, in Upper Egypt \u00a0 (Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Conference Talks: The Two Ways in Ancient Egyptian Religion and Israelite Temple Theology<\/em><\/a>, presented at the 2018 Temple on Mount Zion Conference by John Thompson<\/a><\/p>\n

The fourth \u201cTemple on Mount Zion\u201d Conference was held on Saturday, November 10, 2018 in the Tanner Building at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.<\/p>\n

The presentations were filmed, and both video and audio recordings of each presentation are available. The videos are currently available both at https:\/\/interpreterfoundation.org\/conferences\/2018-temple-on-mount-zion-conference\/2018-temple-on-mount-zion-conference-videos\/<\/a>and on the Interpreter Foundation YouTube channel at https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/theinterpreterfoundation<\/a>. A YouTube playlist is also available at https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLRMn4gyXMWLsWt34zVNC5FmTqBtFfcnxl<\/a>. The audio recordings are available at https:\/\/interpreterfoundation.org\/conferences\/2018-temple-on-mount-zion-conference\/2018-temple-on-mount-zion-conference-audio\/<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Nibley Lectures: Come, Follow Me<\/em> Book of Mormon Lesson 5: \u201cI Will Prepare the Way before You\u201d: 1 Nephi 16-22<\/a><\/p>\n

During 1988, 1989, and 1990, Hugh Nibley taught Honors Book of Mormon classes for four semesters at Brigham Young University. The lectures were video-taped and audio cassettes and printed transcripts were made of the lectures. We believe these recordings will be interesting to listen to and valuable to your Come, Follow Me<\/em> study program this year. Each week, we will include the lectures covering the Book of Mormon chapters being studied that week.<\/p>\n

This week, we have lectures 14 and 15, covering 1 Nephi 15-19 and 22.<\/p>\n

All 112 lectures are immediately available in PDF, audio, video, and electronic formats, as well as in paperback books that are available for purchase. Links for all of the available online sources can be found in the Complete Bibliography for Hugh Nibley at https:\/\/interpreterfoundation.org\/bibliographies\/hugh-w-nibley\/lectures\/<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Book of Mormon in Context Lesson 5: \u201cI Will Prepare the Way before You\u201d: 1 Nephi 16-22<\/p>\n

In the 7 January 2024 Come, Follow Me<\/em> segment of the Interpreter Radio Show, Spencer Kraus, Martin Tanner, Hales Swift, and Brent Schmidt discussed Book of Mormon lesson 5, \u201cI Will Prepare the Way before You\u201d on 1 Nephi 16-22. \u00a0That discussion, liberated from commercial interruptions, has now been archived and made available for your listening pleasure. \u00a0The other segments of the January 7 radio show can be accessed at https:\/\/interpreterfoundation.org\/interpreter-radio-show-january-7-2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Interpreter Radio Show can be heard Sunday evenings from 7 to 9 PM (MDT), on K-TALK, AM 1640, or you can listen live on the Internet at ktalkmedia.com<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Come, Follow Me<\/em> \u2014 Study and Teaching Helps (2024): Lesson 5, January 29-February 4: 1 Nephi 16-22: \u201cI Will Prepare the Way before You\u201d<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s Note: Four years ago, Jonn Claybaugh began writing the Study and Teaching Helps series of articles for Interpreter. We now have these wonderful and useful posts for all four years of Come, Follow Me lessons. Beginning this year we will be reposting these articles, with dates, lesson numbers, and titles updated for the current year\u2019s lessons. Jonn has graciously agreed to write new study aids for those lessons that do not directly correspond to 2020 lessons.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

An occasional reader of this blog who (I\u2019m guessing) would probably prefer that I not name him here has called my attention to two relatively short videos featuring the Oxford mathematician and Christian apologist John Lennox. \u00a0I\u2019ve enjoyed several prior speeches and debates from Dr. Lennox, and, despite the rather hyper-enthusiastic first title, I look forward to watching these, as well:<\/p>\n

  • \n\u201cOxford Mathematician DESTROYS Atheism (15 Minute Brilliancy!)\u201d<\/a><\/li>\n\u201cWho created God?\u201d<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    "By<\/a>

    \u201cThe Triumph of St Thomas Aquinas over the Heretics\u201d (detail), painted between 1489 and 1491 in the Carafa chapel of the Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome, by Filippino Lippi (1457-1504), the son of the more famous Fra Filippo Lippi \u00a0 (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    I call your attention to an interesting article in the Deseret News<\/em>. \u00a0(Other outlets have also picked the story up already, but they are all, thus far, situated behind pay walls.). Here it is:\u00a0 \u201cSurvey offers new answers to an old question: What do religious \u2018nones\u2019 believe? \u00a0You\u2019ve heard of the rise of the nones. But do you really know who they are?\u201d<\/a>I offer some quotations from it, with commentary:<\/p>\n

    \n\u201cFor the first time in decades, the rise of religiously unaffiliated Americans is slowing and potentially reversing course.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n*
    ** If this is true, I\u2019m not especially surprised at it \u2014 \u00a0such things tend to be cyclical and, for many people, I would expect, a life lived without larger meaning and without a sense of community can easily become its own antidote \u2014 though I could not have predicted its timing. \u00a0(I recall a historian of modern Europe confidently predicting to me, several decades ago, that the secularization of that continent would eventually reverse itself as Europe recognized its own hunger and emptiness; the reversal has not yet taken place.).<\/p>\n
    ** *There are, of course \u201cobstacles that stand in the way of those working to bring [the \u2018nones\u2019 back] to church,\u201d but there are also, according to the Pew Foundation survey data discussed in the article, \u201cmany positive links that exist between religiously unaffiliated Americans and organized religion.\u201d<\/p>\n

    \n\u201cThe label [\u2018nones\u2019] implies, at least to some Americans, that nones have no attachment to religion. \u00a0In reality, the nones are a complex group with varied ideas about God, spirituality and religious institutions. They\u2019re linked together not by a shared set of beliefs, but by what they say when asked about their religious affiliation. \u00a0\u201cReligious \u2018nones\u2019 are people who describe themselves as atheist, agnostic or \u2018nothing in particular\u2019 when asked about their religious affiliation in our surveys,\u201d Pew\u2019s report explains. \u00a0Among the 28% of U.S. adults who fall into the broad category of nones, [only] 17% identify as atheists, 20% as agnostics and 63% as \u201cnothing in particular,\u201d Pew found. . . . Fully 7 in 10 nones say they believe in God or a higher power and 63% believe there\u2019s something spiritual beyond the natural world, according to the survey.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    To me, at least, the fact that at least 83% appear to be potentially open for some sort of \u201creligion\u201d is encouraging, and I remind you again in this context of Gary Lawrence\u2019s stimulating book Millions Believe As We Do<\/em>, which I briefly discussed here in this space<\/a> back on 3 January 2024.<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    \n\u201cAlthough much of the debate around nones centers on whether they\u2019ll become religiously affiliated in the future, a growing group of community leaders is worried about their civic participation more broadly. The fear is that when people drop out of organized religion, they also drop out of other social groups.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n*
    ** *Since religiously-affiliated people have a strong record of charitably giving and community involvement, we have reason to believe that private philanthropy, charity, and civic participation will be diminished to the extent that religious commitment declines, to say nothing of the mental health issues that ensue upon social isolation. \u00a0Meaning that, most likely, the government will need to intervene in order to maintain the social safety net.<\/p>\n

    "Cambodian<\/a>

    An artist\u2019s rendering of the Phnom Penh Cambodia Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a>, which is currently under construction. \u00a0(LDS Newsroom)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Here\u2019s a new item that has been retrieved from the Christopher Hitchens Memorial \u201cHow Religion Poisons Everything\u201d File<\/em>\u2122: \u00a0\u201cIn Cambodia, Elder Renlund Visits Prime Minister and Ministers to Saints:Apostle also announces US$2 million donation for a heart hospital in Siem Reap.\u201d<\/a> \u00a0(It might be worth keeping the fact in mind that Elder Renlund is himself a retired cardiologist.)<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u00a0 Conference Talks: The Two Ways in Ancient Egyptian Religion and Israelite Temple Theology, presented at the 2018 Temple on Mount Zion Conference by John Thompson The fourth \u201cTemple on Mount Zion\u201d Conference was held on Saturday, November 10, 2018 in the Tanner Building at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. 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