Someone who I’ve never met, the sister of a friend of mine, sent me the following message today. (It should be noted that in Ugandan SMS culture it’s commonplace to find lengthy, pensive text messages):
"Do u know dat christ’s death wasnt easy at al, he was beaten nd tortured, denied aplace among his pple, pple spitted on him, every sort of evil word was said nd al sorts of accuzations were made, BUT WHY? bse he saw it worthy 2 save me nd u, indeed his death wasnt easy bt it was worthy. Christ paid d price, lets be glad nd rejoice 4 we a free indeed. Happy easter may d risen christ rise in u too."
A couple weeks ago in Apac I participated in the following exchange with Robert, a young Ugandan and fellow mosquito-catcher. I had wondered out loud why all the pictures of Jesus in the restaurant where we were eating portrayed Our Lord and Savior as if he were from Norway.
Me: “I was raised in a secular household. We didn’t go to church.”Him: “In America? There are secular people in America?”
Me: “Yeah, there are a lot.”
Him: “Like 10,000 or 20,000?”
Me: “Probably more like 50 million.”
Him: “In America? But there are so many missionaries that come here!”
Me: “Yeah…”
"Let there be IKEA."
"No, Officer, I don't smell anything."
http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/sun_news/Gadaffi_ignorant.shtml
Honkies are being recruited to smuggle drugs in and out of Kampala. Did someone say supplemental grant writing?
http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/insights/How_K_la_has_become_a_drug_lord_s_paradise.shtml
Yes, and masturbation makes hair grow on your palms.
http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/news/Uganda_leads_in_marijuana_growing.shtml
The War On Drugs: another fine American example for the world to follow.
http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/oped/Uganda_must_take_drug_trade_seriously.shtml
I found the following on the website of the Secular Coalition for America (http://www.secular.org/constituency.html):
ReplyDelete"A Harris Interactive survey from 2003 found that 9% of Americans do not believe in a god, while an additional 12% were uncertain about the existence of a supreme being. With the current population of the United States at about 300 million, this means that there are approximately 63 million American atheists and agnostics. "
The Harvard Pluralism Project has lower numbers:
http://www.pluralism.org/resources/statistics/tradition.php#Atheism%20and%20Non-Religious%20Philosophies
35,136,000 - The Barna Research Group, 2004
(Percentage converted using appropriate year total population)
12% of adults nationwide in 2004 are purported to be atheists and agnostics according to the The Barna Research Group. In an earlier study "15% of those surveyed indicated God was no longer involved in their life in 1997."
39,826,000 - American Religion Data Archive 2002
(Percentage converted using appropriate year total population)
13.8% of those surveyed in 2002 by ARDA identified themselves as having 'no religion,' a rise from 9% in 1993. The survey attributes some of this change to a 11% drop in Americans who had identified themselves as Protestants.
29,400,000 - American Religious Identification Survey 2001
"(Between the 1990 and 2001 studies, the) greatest increase in absolute as well as in percentage terms has been among those adults who do not subscribe to any religious identification. Their number has more than doubled from 14.3 million in 1990 to 29.4 million in 2001. (Furthermore), their proportion has grown from just eight percent of the total in 1990 to over fourteen percent in 2001."