Is anyone surprised?

[piasharn]

Fundamentalists Losing Favor with Public

"WASHINGTON -- The American Family Association, a far right lobbying group in Washington, released results from a recent survey that shows mainstream Americans see evangelical Christians as one of the least likeable groups in the country."

"Researchers from the Barna survey asked respondents how they felt about evangelicals, born-again Christians, ministers, and other groups of people in society. According to the survey, evangelicals came in tenth out of eleven, narrowly beating out prostitutes...."

"Speaking to distressed members of the AFA, [George Barna, president of the Barna Research Group] said, 'We may not be 'evil' people, we may not be 'bad' people -- we may be completely loving and wonderful. But somehow we are being perceived by non-Christians in America as a group of people who are not particularly loving [and] not particularly generous, kind, or understanding.'"

Gee, I wonder where people got the idea that Fundamentalists are hateful? Go watch the 700 Club (or something similar) sometime without the sound on. Take a good look at the preachers' faces. What emotions do you see being expressed? I'll give you a hint, it's not love, compassion or understanding.

"Affirming results from other studies, the Barna survey also found the more highly educated non-evangelicals are, the less likely they are to have a positive view of fundamentalist Christians."

That's not very surprising, either. I think that other surveys have found that the more educated and/or intelligent a person is, the more open-minded they are. (Hell, Albert Einstein was a liberal and a pacifist.)

I also think that a reader made a very good reply when he said, "What I wanna know is, why did the evangelicals beat out prostitutes? How have people come by such a negative attitude against hookers that they don't even rise to the level of the Robertson/Falwell brigade in the public eye? At least you get an orgasm when you hand the former your hard-earned cash; the benefits of donating to the Christian Coalition are far less tangible. Sheesh, they're merely workin' gals, and they for one don't pound on your front door unbidden, demanding that you attend to some tirade."

"Admittedly, I've never personally dealt with either group, but intellectually I can picture transacting business with a whore. What service the AFA can perform for me is beyond my ken."

Can't we give the workin' girls a break? I've never been harassed by a hooker.

On a very comforting note, gays and lesbians ranked pretty well. (I'd like to see all of the results. While the article stated that homosexuals ranked noticably higher than the Fundamentalists, it didn't say how high, nor what the group got the most positive results.)

Perhaps there is hope after all...

Comments

Re: Veddy Interesting

[piasharn.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! I happened across the link at BartCop (http://www.bartcop.com/) and decided that it was too intruiging to not pass along.

Now if the fundies only realized how hateful and negative their messages are, perhaps they could actually start practicing what they preach. (Although I doubt they will for some reason...)