[I hope that you find enlightening the following excerpts from a recent article entitled, "Religion Leads to a Merrier Christmas," by Jennifer Harper of the "Washington Times" (a refreshing alternative to the pro-death, anti-Catholic, "Washington (com)Post." JFG]

Who has the merriest Christmas?
It's just as the old country pastor says: Those who keep the Christ in Christmas have the most satisfying holiday. "Religious people are happier than those without spirituality in their life," notes a new study from Britain's University of Warwick. And those who keep their religious practices intact at yuletide, the study found, are happier than those who rely on the pleasures of shopping for their holiday meaning. ...

"Religious people seem to have a greater purpose in life, which is why they are happier," noted project director and psychologist Stephen Joseph on Monday. "Looking at the research evidence," he continued, "it seems those who celebrate the Christian meaning of Christmas are, on the whole, likely to be happier. The research shows that too much materialism in our lives can be terrible for happiness." Mr. Joseph also said people who foster a sense of community through charitable donations and helping others also proved happier than those just looking to fatten up their own pocketbooks.

A Gallup poll released Friday found that 61 percent of Americans surveyed said religion is "very important in their own lives," and almost two-thirds said they are a member of a church or synagogue. Overall, about a third attend services every week. ...

Republicans are among the most spiritually inclined: 67 percent consider religion as "very important" ...
They also attend church more frequently. Among Republicans, 51 percent said they had attended church in the past week ...
The poll of 1,004 adults was taken Nov. 10 to 12.
Women are more spiritually inclined than men, the survey found, with 69 percent citing the importance of religion, compared with 53 percent of men.

Among the respondents, 53 percent said they were Protestant, 23 percent Catholic, 7 percent "other Christian," and 2 percent were Jewish and 2 percent Mormon. The most common Protestant denomination was Baptist at 12 percent, followed by Methodist, Southern Baptist, Presbyterian, "nondenominational," Lutheran, Church of Christ and Episcopalian.

Separate polls taken in Canada and Britain by Gallup earlier this year found that only 28 percent of Canadians and 17 percent of the British rated religion as "important."

[That last paragraph helps me to understand some problems I've observed from time to time. It's as though some "national souls" are on their "deathbeds." JFG].

-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@hotmail.com), December 12, 2003

Answers

-- (top@top.top), December 12, 2003.

John,

Thanks for the interesting reading.

I am NOT suprised to read that. Did you know that there are only two holy days of obligation(not counting Sundays)in Canada? This is very sad. :-(

God bless you

-- - (David@excite.com), December 12, 2003.

Because, after all, what's more reliable than an article from a paper owned by the Reverend Sun Yung Moon?

-- Anti-bush (Comrade_bleh@hotmail.com), December 13, 2003.

The tenets of the "moonie religion" play no role whatsoever in the Washington Times. There is no mention of them at all. The staff of the newspaper is very obviously majority-Christian, respectful of Catholicism, pro-life, etc. -- i.e., real Christians who share the anti-Communist political philosophy of its South Korean owner.

Commie Comrade, try not to make a fool of yourself by speaking without the facts to back you up -- especially when your only purpose is to ridicule people. Your attacks consistently blow up in your face.

Actually, I will call upon the Moderator to do his duty and ban you from this forum right now. You have been hanging around here for a few months without EVEN ONCE posting a good message. You are an e-Catholic, anti-Catholic, hater of the pope, promoter of sodomite behaviors. You have been exposed as one who posts the vilest four-letter words. You do nothing here except to try to ridicule people with sarcasm and tempt Catholics to abandon their faith. Begone, little satan, until you decide to come back to the Church.

JFG
PS: Thank you, David.

-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@Hotmail.com), December 13, 2003.

not "e-Catholic," but EX-Catholic

-- (jfgecik@hotmail.com), December 13, 2003.

It'd be a whole lot easier to win arguments if you simply had be banned. But is that the way you want to win? Like a coward?

By the way, is one of the criteria to being a "real Christian" to "support the anticommunist philosophy? I'll have to read my Bible again, I don't beleive I caught that.

I think the "little satan" quip was a bit harsh now, don't you?

-- Anti-bush (Comrade_bleh@hotmail.com), December 13, 2003.

I'm sorry, I can't resist.

The Washington Times Reports that Sun Myoung Moon is God!

www.usasurvival.org/ck7502.shtml

What a wonderful, wholesome Christian paper.

-- Anti-bush (Comrade_bleh@hotmail.com), January 02, 2004.

Sorry, I can't resist: What does this have to do with Catholicism?

-bill

-- Bill Nelson (bnelson45@hotmail.com), January 02, 2004.

Would antibush call being banned ''winning'' the argument? Very starnge. He seems to think they'll ban him to keep him from winning; and that's frankly ridiculous.

-- eugene c. chavez (loschavez@pacbell.net), January 02, 2004.