What does it mean to be an unaffiliated member of a religious group? Can the same meaning apply to unaffiliated voters?
I read a Citizen Tom post titled: What a difference they would have made, about the issue of abortion which is concern supported mainly of religious groups.
I then read a Pew Report which contained statistics that seem to contradict that religious groups beliefs about support of abortion.
The Purpose of This Post
Is to relate an ancient proverb to discern the wisdom or folly of what it means to be classified as either an unaffiliate member of either a religious or voter group and what a difference it would make if instead of being considered an unaffiliate member of a group.
King Solomon
My son, fear thou the LORD and the king: and meddle not with them that are given to change: (Proverb 24:21)
Meanings
21, 22. A warning against impiety and resistance to lawful rule (Ro 13:1-7; 1Pe 2:17).
meddle … change— (Compare Margin), literally, “mingle not yourself,” avoid the society of restless persons. (Jamieson- Faussett – Brown Bible Commentary
What’s My Point?
The advice in this proverb can be interpreted as a warning to (Jamieson obey the wisdom of the Lord and do not believe and follow foolish changes) being supported by “restless” people.
My point is in our contemporary times if we choose not to stand for what we believe as folly on an issue of religion or politics, we are considered unaffiliated in statistics reports.
What that implies is we not closely associated with, belonging to, or subordinate to other members of a group. We are affiliated in name only but may totally agree what the group supports on issues
The question then become how can so many people come to be considered as unaffiliated with a religion or a political party? Or what is lacking in their lives to not want to follow the group they claim to be in name only?
In My Opinion
Whether the issue is religion or politics, the root cause is a person has never been taught in early childhood the values or beliefs of the groups or issues that the groups support.
For example, if a child attends a public school and is never taught the in-depth beliefs and values of a religion, and identifies him or herself as a Catholic, or any other religion, because their parents were in that group, he or she is more likely to be considered as an unaffiliated religious believer because they do not agree, follow, mainly because they never attended a private religious school in early childhood to understand in depth the precepts of their faith.
Same if a child attends any school and is never adequately taught civics or political history.
In other words, a person who is classified as being an unaffiliated member is for the most part because he or she never received an adequate in-depth lessons of the group’s core beliefs, in my opinion.
The result is he or she is more susceptible not to understand the meaning of Fear the Lord, or the King (in our contemporary times in the USA, the -Constitution), And is more susceptible to accept foolish proposals of change in either religion or politicians.
You Decide
Is the root problem why so many people are considered unaffiliated the result of the total failure of government run public schools which it the Supreme Court decision made it illegal to teach religion and does not adequately teach civics?
Is it time to change back to allowing a parent to decide their choice of school is best for them to does not teach their religious values instead of being mandated by government laws and political school boards what subjects they can or cannot be taught?
If school choice or school vouchers would be available and affordable, even though it is less costly than public schools, in the future, would the future Pew Study result in a smaller number of unaffiliated statistics, Churches have higher attendances, an attendances more lawful society result.?
Would the Pew Statistics report less statistics in the USA on issues go abortion, single parenthood, crime, political divisiveness, etc. in our Nation and societies if children were taught to understand the true meanings of religion and politics in early childhood?
Can you envision if school choice or school vouchers in every State in our Nation in the future, “what a difference they would have made,” in the sad news reports we read and hear every day especially in poor high crim, single family parents, violent urban areas in our Nation?
If Interested
Read the Source Links below
Regards and goodwill blogging
Citizen Tom – What a Difference They would have made
https://citizentom.com/2021/04/14/what-a-difference-they-would-have-made-2/
Pew Research findings about Catholic and abortion
Previous Posts
School Vouchers
School Vouchers – Rudy u Martinka (rudymartinka.com)
Chicago Violence
Chicago Violence – Rudy u Martinka (rudymartinka.com)
Fear of the Lord
King Solomon, Why Fear of the Lord? (u/d) – Rudy u Martinka (rudymartinka.com)
Biblehub – Proverb 24:21 Commentaries
Rudy u Martinka 
Reblogged this on Citizen Tom and commented:
Here we have post based upon a poll. However, the post doesn’t have much to say about the polling results. Since the accuracy of polls is not very high, that is just as well. Often polling organizations have an agenda, and they use their polls to just further that agenda. Meaningless!
That said, the post is spot on. Lots of people these days have never even been taught why they should believe anything, and that observation is far more important than that poll.
When I look back on my own life, I believed certain things were right and certain things were wrong. Yet when I was someone who did not know what to believe about God, I couldn’t explain what made something right or wrong. Oddly, however, that seemed quite acceptable. Why? I saw everything and everyone, even what I saw of God, only from my point of view. What was right, and what was wrong, mattered only in my own eyes, that is, from my own point of view.
That began to change when I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior.
It is a curious thing. We have all these Atheists, Agnostics, and casual believers in they know not what. We have all these lost souls who claim belief in Jesus Christ is an illogical fantasy. Yet plenty of thoughtful people can find logical reasons for believing in Jesus Christ. Moreover, based upon their belief in Jesus Christ, Christians can rationally explain what is right and what is wrong. Whereas, the Atheists, Agnostics, and casual believers just make it up. What they think right and what they think wrong is based mostly upon their feelings. Thus, they have rested the foundation for their lives, every decision they make, upon shifting sands.
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Tom,
Thanks for your reblog and commentary which brings up another aspect of the issue.
I am assuming your parents introduced you to religion. Perhaps by either attending a religious school or church of your parent’s choice.
In another post I linked a religious study that gave percentages of how few people will ever gain a religious faith which stated if past the ages of 4-14, and as time progresses the likelihood is less.
My point is, as religion wanes over time, the likelihood of religious influence, values, beliefs and practices, will decrease in our Nation.
The only hope for the future of religion in this Nation to reverse the trend is school choice of school vouchers, in my opinion.
If Interested in the religious study, what age to teach children religious values most effective?
https://home.snu.edu/~HCULBERT/ages.htm
Regards and goodwill blogging.
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@Scatterwisdom
What is happening today is similar to what happened in the 1st Century. Where Christians are persecuted, the Christian church is growing. Are the new converts children. I doubt it. Our problem is different. Because successive generations have done a poor job of passing on their Christian beliefs to their children, we are in desperate need of a revival or an awakening. Unfortunately, the “woke” among us, for the time being, seem to be those most in need of a wakeup call.
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Tom
Good timing, I read your ‘spot on’ comment and included your last above sentence in the post I just published.
.https://rudymartinka.com/2021/04/18/lack-of-moxie-magic-in-usa-congress-king-solomon-blog/
Regards and goodwill blogging.
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