Deja Vu

Pure Wheat

Tags:

Christianity,

Protestantism,

Queen Elizabeth,

religion

“15 Percent of Americans Have No Religion,” The Washington Post, Mar. 9, 2009.

The percentage of Americans who call themselves Christians has dropped dramatically over the past two decades, and those who do are increasingly identifying themselves without traditional denomination labels, according to a major study of U.S. religion being released today.

The survey of more than 54,000 people conducted between February and November of last year showed that the percentage of Americans identifying as Christians has dropped to 76 percent of the population, down from 86 percent in 1990. Those who do call themselves Christian are more frequently describing themselves as "nondenominational" "evangelical" or "born again," according to the American Religious Identification Survey….

The increase in people labeling themselves in more generic Christian terms corresponds strongly with the decline in people identifying themselves as Protestant, the survey found. People calling themselves mainline Protestants, including Methodists and Lutherans, have dropped to 13 percent of the population, down from 19 percent in 1990. The number of people who describe themselves as generically "Protestant" went from approximately 17 million in 1990 to 5 million.

Meanwhile, the number of people who use nondenominational terms has gone from 194,000 in 1990 to more than 8 million.

The Catechism of Thomas Becon, by Thomas Becon, c. 1550.
Thomas Becon was an Anglican clergyman and teacher. His Catechism, written during the reign of King Edward VI, was not published until Queen Elizabeth ascended to the throne and removed the royal ban on Protestant literature.

Since the time that those virtuous bishops and learned fathers of Christ’s church died, into how many sects have the people that profess God be divided! The number of sects and counterfeit religions, which yet live under the bishop of Rome, are almost innumerable. Neither ceaseth Satan, even in this most clear light of the gospel, to play the right devil, and to cast mists before the eyes of the unfaithful. Into how many sects is Christendom yet divided! Are not some called papists, some protestants, some Anabaptists, some sacramentaries? Whence come all these abominations but only from Satan, the author of all evil? Moreover, in what field, where good seed hath been sowed, hath not the enemy sowed his tares also? how pestilently hath he corrupted the pure wheat of God’s word with mingling his chaff, dross, darnel, cockle, and tares, I mean the false…and unsavoury expositions of the papists, Anabaptists, and such other sectaries! How wickedly hath he perverted the right use of the sacraments, specially the sacrament of Christ’s body and blood! fasting, prayer, and alms-deed, how hath he made to be abused! There is no point of Christian religion, which Satan hath not attempted to overthrow by his ministers.

And albeit, as I said before, the enemy laboureth at all times to sow his tares in the Lord’s field; yet, when the shepherds of Christ’s flock be negligent in doing their duty, fall asleep, and look not to the Lord’s field, then doth he most of all play his part, and bestir him like a right devil, as Solomon saith: “When the preaching of God’s word faileth, the people perish.”

It therefore becometh all men that tender the glory of God, but specially the Lord’s ministers, to look diligently unto their Lord’s field, and earnestly to take heed that the enemy sow not his tares among the Lord’s wheat. If any be sowed, it is their duty to labour even to the uttermost of their power, not with violence and corporal armours, (for the use of the secular sword is not committed to the preachers of God’s word, but to the temporal rulers only, to punish malefactors;) but with “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,” with prayers, supplications and tears, to weed them out. “The weapons of our warfare,” saith St. Paul, “are not carnal things, but things mighty in God to cast down strong-holds, wherewith we overthrow counsels, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bring into captivity all imagination to the obedience of Christ.”

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