Faith in Flux: Changes in Religious Affiliation in the U.S.

Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life

Americans change religious affiliation early and often. In total, about half of American adults have changed religious affiliation at least once during their lives. Most people who change their religion leave their childhood faith before age 24, and many of those who change religion do so more than once. These are among the key findings of a new survey conducted by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life. The survey documents the fluidity of religious affiliation in the U.S. and describes in detail the patterns and reasons for change.

Adopt a Monk in Burmese Prison

a project of Buddhist Peace Fellowship

Clear View Project, headed by Rev. Hozan Alan Senauke, invites sanghas, Buddhist centers, and people of compassion to bring attention to the illegal imprisonment of the monks and nuns in Burma. We are deeply concerned that Buddhism itself is being eroded in Burma. There are also hundreds of other monks in exile or hiding who cannot return until their safety and ability to practice the dhamma is restored.

Currently there are approximately 220 monks and 8 nuns imprisoned in Burma, almost all arrested after the 2007 Saffron Revolution. As monastics, their only possessions were their robe, begging bowl and their vows. In jail, they are stripped of robes and bowls, and are not allowed openly to follow their vows or the monastic code.

Many of the monks have received lengthy prison sentences — up to 68 years. In prison, all monks and nuns are forcibly disrobed and most are tortured. Their sentences mean deprivation, humiliation, meager meals, and almost no medical care. To survive in prison, monks and nuns depend on their families to bring them food, medicine, money, and love. However, many are sent to remote prisons or labor camps far from families and friends.

Adopt a Monk - How it Works

Contact Clear View Project to choose a monk or nun.

Send regular letters on his/her behalf to the United Nations, Burmese Generals, & US government.

Send funds to buy more food & medicine for that monk. (details follow)

Hold monthly meditations at your center or public vigils in honor of the monk or all imprisoned monastics.

Send loving kindness to the monks & nuns, their families, and the Burmese generals.

How to begin?
click on the post title above, thank you!

Israeli Settlement Seeks Protection

By Eric Westervelt
NPR
April 8, 2009

...Much of Ariel's state-of-the-art facility was paid for by donations from American evangelical Christians. It's a move that some find ironic, given that many evangelicals want the Jews to populate the West Bank to fulfill their interpretation of prophecy that sees Jews converting to Christianity on Judgment Day.

The main building of the sports complex was named for John Hagee, in honor of the U.S. evangelical leader.

But rotund Russian Jewish immigrants ignore the apocalypse in favor of the rec center's scenic wooden deck and a light breeze blowing in from the rocky West Bank landscape. More than 9,000 Russian Jews, most of them secular, have moved to Ariel since 1990...