by Fr. Gordon J. MacRae on November 10, 2010 · 9 comments
. . . It’s time for a revolution, and it should be a revolution of real faith in a modern world that values it not. It isn’t going to be easy. But before we all sign up for remedial CCD classes, the bad news was offset just a bit by the reality that the United States as a whole flunked the test, and Catholics came out just three percentage points behind the national score of 50% – a solid “F.” Other Christian denominations fared just slightly better than Catholics – but still flunked. Jews and Mormons both passed, though just barely, with scores slightly under the atheists. Weighing everything, my own conclusion is that the problem with religion in America isn’t religion – it’s America. Catholics should remember the value of being counter-cultural. . . .
by Fr. Gordon J. MacRae on August 4, 2010 · 10 comments
. . . Since his 1977 conviction for child sexual assault, Roman Polanski has won three Academy Award nominations and a 2002 Oscar for Best Director. Meanwhile in our own backyard, Catholics are now pitted against Catholics. Bishops are bullied into shunning their priests. Cardinals are sniping at each other in public, and the mere taint of association may cost one of the highest ranking Catholic Church officials his reputation and career. There is something wrong with this picture. And there is one ominous figure who is taking it all in from his place in the shadows, having the laugh of his long, dark life. . .
by Fr. Gordon J. MacRae on March 9, 2010 · 5 comments
. . . As a result of availability bias, humans tend to replace their beliefs with the crowd’s beliefs simply because a proposition has been repeated in the media and presented as widely believed. We are subjected to subtle cues of social pressure every day in marketing that convince many people to purchase things they don’t really need. We also face subtle cues and social pressure in the daily bombardment of news stories that cause many people to believe something based solely on its prevalence in the media. It is indeed possible that Michael Jackson and many Catholic priests became the subjects of classic, media-fueled availability bias. . . .
At the Twilight’s Last Gleaming: The Fate of Religion in America
by Fr. Gordon J. MacRae on November 10, 2010 · 9 comments
. . . It’s time for a revolution, and it should be a revolution of real faith in a modern world that values it not. It isn’t going to be easy. But before we all sign up for remedial CCD classes, the bad news was offset just a bit by the reality that the United States as a whole flunked the test, and Catholics came out just three percentage points behind the national score of 50% – a solid “F.” Other Christian denominations fared just slightly better than Catholics – but still flunked. Jews and Mormons both passed, though just barely, with scores slightly under the atheists. Weighing everything, my own conclusion is that the problem with religion in America isn’t religion – it’s America. Catholics should remember the value of being counter-cultural. . . .
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