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OMG: Where has God gone?
With the shorthand “OMG” (oh, my God) becoming a huge cliche, it might be worth taking a look at how Americans are seeing the Almighty these days – that is if they are looking at all.
A recent Gallup poll indicates that just 31 percent of Americans worship publicly on a weekly basis, while 43 percent rarely go to a church, synagogue or mosque.
Growing up under the heavy hand of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, it was drummed into me that attending weekly Mass was not an option. It was a must to avoid eternal damnation, which was not a prospect filled with many positives. Hellfire was perpetual, and no parole would be offered.
And so I went to Mass and was even an altar boy, memorizing a variety of Latin prayers that basically said Jesus was a good guy and everybody should avoid offending him. Not a bad message, so I really had no beef – unless I was assigned to the 6:30 a.m. service. Was Jesus even up at that hour?
Today, only 24 percent of American Catholics attend weekly Mass, and so Lucifer must be very busy expanding accommodations. There are many reasons for this, but two stand out.
First, Mass is often deadly dull. Sometimes the priest is from Botswana, and you can’t understand him. Other times, you can understand the padre, but 20 minutes on the Corinthians can be challenging, if you know what I mean. It would be great if priests, ministers, rabbis and imams would spice it up a little.
The second reason that churchgoing is in decline is that we are living in a narcissistic time when self-gratification has largely replaced the golden rule of treating others as you want to be treated.
Far be it for the public schools to teach this, but the United States of America was founded on basic Judeo-Christian principles. Don’t take my word for it. Take a trip to Washington, D.C., and tour the Supreme Court building. There you will see a sculpted copy of the Ten Commandments on the wall.
But why? Moses wasn’t an American. He didn’t cross the Red Sea into Delaware. The reason the commandments are on display is that the Founding Fathers based the American legal system on honesty and on the avoidance of doing harm to others – the basic tenets of the commandments.
But many secular Americans, including the American Civil Liberties Union, would dismantle the Supreme Court display if they could. We are now in the age of anti-religion, where pious folks are looked upon as odd. Religion is a bad thing to the secular-progressive. It’s too judgmental and stands in the way of unfettered abortion, gay marriage and other sacred causes of the S-P movement.
Faith-based organizations such as the Catholic Church should be fighting against secularism, but they rarely do. Instead, they are on the defensive, as scandals and apathy have devastated organized religion. The Gallup poll reflects that.
But for me, a sinner, it is worth an hour a week to think about things of a spiritual nature in order to try to improve my life. I even turn off my cellphone. In pursuit of a higher calling, it is just not needed.
Bill O’Reilly is host of the Fox News Show, “The O’Reilly Factor” and author of the book “Pinheads and Patriots: Where You Stand in the Age of Obama.”
Discussion | 9 comments
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amos57March 11, 2013 - 4:09 am
Maybe more people would be interested if it wasn't all a crock of crap. All of the churches seem more interested in your wallet, and the priests seem to be more interested in getting into little johnny's pants,
Reply |PatriotMarch 11, 2013 - 7:17 am
Agree with all comments Bill..The church, mostly many of its older priests have turned away a lot of folks due to their "canon law" mightier than thou attitude toward people..I have found some of the newer priests outstanding in the way they conduct their homilies and speak to us. I believe in time we will get rid of the old "canon law" priests and it will get better..
Reply |rlw895March 11, 2013 - 11:12 am
Ah, so much with which to work, where to begin? OMG might just as well stand for “Oh my gosh.” It depends on the sender. But Bill jumps to lots of conclusions, expecting his loyal readers not to ask questions. Another example, one of his two “stand-out” reasons American Catholics in large part skip weekly mass is “we are living in a narcissistic time when self-gratification has largely replaced the golden rule of treating others as you want to be treated.” No examples cited. You’re supposed to take it on faith. And his proof that “the United States of America was founded on basic Judeo-Christian principles” is not a trip down history lane, but is, rather the fact that the Supreme Court building has the Ten Commandments engraved on its walls. He might have thrown in that we have “In God We Trust” on our currency, but then, I guess that’s not really exclusively Judeo-Christian. But neither is “the Founding Fathers based the American legal system on honesty and on the avoidance of doing harm to others—the basic tenets of the commandments.” The Judeo Christians do not have a lock on morality. We are supposed to presume other non-Judeo-Christian religions don’t or can’t have “honesty and avoidance of doing harm to others” as basic tenets. Nonsense. There is no denying the Founders were religious men, by and large. But the Framers (of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights) explicitly gave us a secular nation. The ACLU, which Bill denigrates, is doing nothing more that enforcing that. The fact that people like Bill interpret the display of the Ten Commandments by government institutions as an endorsement of religion is cause enough to have them removed. Far from being “anti-religion,” such a move is pro-religion, ALL religion, not just Bill’s version(s). It’s not that religion “stands in the way” of policies to which Bill objects that the “secularists-progressives” take the positions they do, it’s the efforts of “religionists” to enlist the power of government to force their will on others. You can call that “anti-religion” all you want, but you would be wrong.
Reply |pornacMarch 11, 2013 - 12:07 pm
Excellent rebuke of Billo. I wish it could be printed.
Reply |rlw895March 11, 2013 - 2:41 pm
It's enough if I have an audience of one. Thanks.
Reply |Jason KnowlesMarch 11, 2013 - 4:53 pm
Make that two. Well said!
Reply |rlw895March 12, 2013 - 2:29 am
Thanks Jason. What would be intolerable would be for Bill to go unrefuted. It angers and frustrates me that guys like Bill get paid lots of money to spew nonsense that does nothing more than divide the nation. It’s cathartic to vent in writing.
Reply |Another Lawyer's ViewMarch 15, 2013 - 1:13 pm
Make that THREE!
Reply |rlw895March 15, 2013 - 5:42 pm
Thanks, ALV.
Reply |