Apropos of Alex's post, from The Barna Group, A New Generation of Adults Bends Moral and Sexual Rules to Their Liking:
To what extent does faith make a difference among Busters? The research shows that born again Busters - a group defined not based upon self-identification with the "born again" label but based upon their beliefs about Jesus Christ and regarding life after death - were different from non-born again young adults on some issues. Born again Busters were somewhat less likely to illegally download music, to smoke, to view pornography, to purchase a lottery ticket, or to use profanity. However, young believers were actually more likely than non-believers to try to get back at someone and to have stolen something. Moreover, on eight of the 16 behaviors, the profile of born again Busters was virtually identical to that of non-born again Busters.
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The director of the research, David Kinnaman, pointed out, "The research shows that people's moral profile is more likely to resemble that of their peer group than it is to take shape around the tenets of a person's faith. This research paints a compelling picture that moral values are shifting very quickly and significantly within the Christian community as well as outside of it."
Judith Rich Harris has suggested that most of the environmentally shaped attitudes which vary across the population are due to peer groups. Cognitive anthropologists have contended that ideas, reflective cognition and conscious choice, are far less salient than we like to think. It seems likely that morality and ethics existed before and apart from religion, and it is the latter which co-opted universal ethics, as opposed to the former emerging from the mind of God.
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It is said that there is a technical term for people who believe that little boys and little girls are born indistinguishable and are molded into their natures by parental socialization. The term is "childless."
http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/debate05/debate05_index.html
You say you're out of touch w/ pop culture -- did you know that girls started wearing leggings again, as in underneath skirts or shorts, a la '80s fashion? All the rage among the high schoolers I work with. Guess they're imitating what they've observed their parents doing. Ditto for when they say the letters "JK" instead of "just kidding" in speech (as opposed to email). Assuming they do it at all, the only adults whom kids imitate are cool 20-somethings like Justin Timberlake, Beyonce, the retards on The Real World, etc.
only muhammad, PBUH, should be an object of emulation. all fashion is rendered moot by the revelation of the uncreated koran.
I run into a fair number of very sleazy Christians. Their concept is that Jesus is their friend in the judge's office who will get them off easy at crunch time. This kind of personal devotion is common in organized crime and is modeled exactly on "personal connections" networking. During his lifetime Razib, PBUH, expressed doubts about the Christian concept of forgiveness, and many more serious Christians are aware of, and embarassed by, the "revival Christians" who sin and several times a week.
I think that there's a dirty little deal the prosperity and revival churches make with these types: "We'll let you sin and repent forever, though of course we'd prefer that you repent once and for all, as long as you give yourself to Jesus, renounce the abominations of homosexuality and abortion, and vote right.
I've heard lowlife criminals say, "I'm no angel, but there are some things I'd never do. And I know that Jesus will be there for me when I need him."
I've always wondered what all that "belief" was all about anyway.
Muslims seem to be more into micromanagement, like worrying about how the Qur'an says they should tie their shoes (I wonder what the Bible says about how to remove port wine stains...), but that could be a product of the sociological position of Islam right now. Ie: expatriot neoMuslims in the UK or US know very little about culture in the Old Country, so they recreate a new virtual authenticity. And then listen to hip hop music and eat McDonalds. Also that Islam is the only radical anti-establishment movement on the global scene right now.
Christianity has become so watered down as to mean very little for most people in the developed world. However, Christianity somewhere in the developing world like Africa is a whole different story, where it can help with a more stable family structure, etc.