If there are truly 70,000,000 Evangelicals in the US...

...then why did only 200,000 of them complain to the FCC about the 2-second display of the Boob Seen 'round The World?

Even if they had not watched the Stupor-Bowl, Pastor would have told them all to call/write.

Interesting. This tells me that:
A. There are not 70 mega-Fundies in this country

or

B. they aren't the mindless thralls their "leadership" threatens the rest of us with, and don't think it's all that.

OR....

C.

They're just as lazy as the rest of us.

And I ask them to have Dolly on a pogo stick next year!

Edit} They haven't written me back!

I have a book called "One Nation After All" by Alan Wolfe, written in 1998. He went out and did an unheard of, revolutionary thing and interviewed actual middle class Americans. I was surprised to learn that a lot of fundamentalists approach their religion similar to Catholics. They go to church, but don't necessarily follow every order given to them. For example, a lot said that their religion says that all heathens go to hell, but they didn't privately agree.

The book concluded overall that middle-class Americans are more similar than is presented in the media and that the culture war has been used to divide and conquer.

They aren't all nut cases.

called to be "Evangelicals" -

so any survey that asks a question like "are you in favor of more evangelical activities" would get a very high yes response.

but as you say - not all are nuts and most would not equate "evangelical activities" with protesting a pastie covered Breast!

the Fundamentalist sects, many of the members are actually pretty sensible. They are there because of family history or whatever but don't buy the whole doctrine.

Like Catholics who listen to the priest talk about the evils of birth control and completely ignore him.

one that doesn't make itself seem like it's expecting people to answer in a particular way. I don't believe half the people in the country, according to some surveys, are anything more than "born again" in name only.

I don't believe that.

Judging from my co-workers, neighbors and friends, the percentage is about 1 out of 10. And I live in a fairly bible-belty place.

...then why did only 200,000 of them complain to the FCC about the 2-second display of the Boob Seen 'round The World?

If they actually managed to make a difference, there might be nothing left for them to complain about. Imagine how dull their lives would be!

Better still, imagine the ads they would have broadcast during the Super Bowl!

How many of those are illegal immigrants that attend the Catholic Church?

this thin minority. They just have a loud bark.

Churches cling to their numbers like a life line. Once they get you on their books they never let you go. There was recently a case of a former Catholic turned Atheist who tried everything under the sun to get himself removed from the church records. He tried to get himself excommunicated even. He publically renounced god in the church. He blasphemed before the congregation. They simply would not remove him. He eventually had to sue to get them to remove his name.

Church numbers have been in decline for some time now. Check out church parking lots and you will see the truth. But the churches do not gladdly relenquish the power the perception of power brings. Both for recruitment and politics. Thus the churches numbers swell despite the declining attendance.

"Evangelical" is not synonymous with "fundamentalist," since an "evangelical" is simply one who has had a conversion experience and believes in proselytizing.

There are leftist evangelicals, most notably the Sojourners Community in Washington, D.C. If you read their monthly magazine, you'll find articles about all the things we talk about on DU, and mostly from the same perspectives. Although not really leftist, Jimmy Carter is an evangelical, as was Senator Paul Simon.

To complicate matters further, one of the most liberal denominations, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, has "evangelical" in its name. So your average rank&file ELCA member, asked "Are you an evangelical?" will say "yes."

The "70 million" are not a homogenous bunch.

As far as declining attendance is concerned, yes and no. This isn't the 1950s, when you had to go to church to be socially acceptable so that every parish could count on a captive audience. What has happened is that the parishes that offer nothing in the way of spiritual richness or interesting programs have collapsed while the ones that do offer something of substance have grown.

I'm in the choir at a large Episcopal church, and most Sundays, the 11 o'clock service is full. They have a little welcoming ceremony for new members every quarter, and this fall, 27 people joined a congregation that already stands at about 1500. The clergy are warm-hearted and friendly (as are most of the members), the music program is superb (if I do say so myself), and there are a variety of opportunities for study groups on theological and secular issues, community service (meals for the homeless, winter shelter, mentoring of working poor families, Habitat for Humanity, school supplies and winter clothing for children from poor families, etc.) , and socialization. I showed up for choir warm-ups yesterday morning and found that the parking lot was jammed--it was the first Sunday that the new assistant music director was putting on a contemporary service in the 9:00 slot, so I had to hike a couple of blocks from the first available parking spot to the church, as did about half the rest of the choir.

By the way, my parish is VERY liberal. If asked, most Episcopalians would not consider themselves evangelicals. However, a lot of liberal Methodists, Baptists (yes, there are liberal Baptists, the American Baptist Church), Presbyterians, and Lutherans would.

Those numbers are based on church memberships. Guess what? I'm counted in this numbers because I go to an evangelical church. I'm not voting for whistle-ass, and neither are a number of people I know from church.

Privately, I disagree with some of my church's stances on various issues. Luckily, I go to church for SPIRITUAL fellowship, not political insight. So do most people.

My pastors, despite being very conservative politically themselves, live their lives in a liberal way. One of my pastors is a woman. My senior pastor treats his wife as an equal in every way, and will not make a major decision without discussing it with her. Also, they are not whistle-ass type conservatives. They're compassionate and loving and very, very forgiving.

Numbers mean very little about stuff like this. Don't worry about 70million automatic * votes. It's not even accurate to go by things like Robertson or Falwell's mailing lists -- I'm on both just to keep up with the enemy, and I know several others who are on both for the same reason.

...over their pious little heads.

FCC chair powell jr never gave a thought about the million plus letters surrounding the Rules changes in 03. I have a hard time believing that 200,000 number. The only boob that needs investigating is running the FCC.

Wanna bet fundie fax machines and emails were going out fast and furious to the FCC...I think Donald Wildmon and Falwell are hot-wired directly into Powell's brain.

Hmmm...didn't seem like the 20,000,000 comments (notice they weren't complaints) about the turning over of more of the public airwaves to large corporations didn't seem to make much of a dent on this commissioner. I wonder if he, Clarence and Big Tony frequent the same video rental places.