What's Your Type?

Two years of change and upheaval, and where are we now?

At this time in 2020, I was planning to write a post expressing my views on the state of the modern world in general and of American society in particular.  But I procrastinated - and then Covid struck and turned the world upside down; next it was the George Floyd riots and the backlash; then the conventions, the campaigns, and the election with its long-drawn-out conclusion; and then the horrific failed coup on January 6th last year; then what seemed a new dawn of hope with the Biden inauguration, but which now seems merely a candle in a hurricane; and so on, and so forth.  Meanwhile, the frothing fanatics at both ends of the political spectrum are busily rewriting or erasing history, and scrambling to herd the future into a predetermined course that brooks no dissent whatsoever:  quite a melancholy prospect, any way you look at it.

Well, I still think and stew about setting down my thoughts, which have been sharpened by the events of the last two years - but for some reason I just can't bring myself to do so.  I will tell you that the theme, in a broad way, of my contemplated essay was the ancient one of man's inhumanity to man, which in most cases results from the folly, pride, and cruelty that lurk in the animal depths of our human nature and often threaten to extinguish the spark of divinity that raises us from the mire of unreason.  

It was so when Pharaoh enslaved the sons and daughters of Jacob; it was so when the liberated Hebrew children made the honeyed valleys of the Promised Land run red with blood; for it is but one small step from being oppressed to being an oppressor, and this ghastly paradox is one of the enduring threads woven into all human history.  I could give many more examples, from all times and climes, but verbum sat sapienti.

I will tell you that the conclusion of my essay, having presented examples from my own experience, was that neither liberals nor conservatives have a monopoly on truth or wisdom or even human kindness:  at various times and in various places, I have been very roughly handled and badly mistreated by hateful people from both sides, for no good reason.  And so I was going to end by saying, "a plague on both your houses."

I thought it, but did not write it.  Yet lo and behold, a plague did descend on both houses - but alas! instead of quenching the flames of conflict, it only fanned them higher.  Well, we must make do with the world as it is, and if we cannot change the flow of the turbulent tide, we may at least able to ride it out by prudence and prayer.  The modern world is not at all to my liking in many ways; but nobody wants to hear my criticisms, which cut across all the ideological divisions that torment the nation today.  And I'm not sure that our vaunted freedom of speech is free of risk in these contentious times.  As the Preacher wisely sayeth:

Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself ?

Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time?

As I have said before on this blog, I represent a party of one, whose platform may be neatly summed up by the Golden Rule, the Golden Mean, and the Oxford comma; but nevertheless, to get needed change, or protect the status quo, it is necessary to align one's self with the powers that are in being, imperfect though they be.  

Some of you may find it mildly amusing, as I did this morning, to take this little "political typology" quiz (thought-provoking, though not strictly scientific) from the Pew Research Center, to find out where you really fit in today's political spectrum.  It takes less than five minutes; my own results are below the jump.  I wonder if the results will surprise you.

Click here:  Political Typology Quiz

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According to Pew, I am a Democratic Mainstay (why can't they just say say "Mainstream Democrat"?), though I should admit that some of my answers were widely different from those of my fellow DM's.

Click to enlarge:

More Churches Okay with the Gay

Results from the 2014 Pew Research Center survey of religious life in America continue to be assessed.  This week, the Pew folks released these charts showing the change in acceptance of homosexuality among various Christian denominations between 2007 and 2014 (click to enlarge):

And here's a chart Pew created last July showing where American religious groups stand on same-sex marriage:

Also of interest from last summer is this chart showing religious affiliations in major U. S. cities:

In case you are wondering, Wikipedia lists the major American metro areas and their populations here.


And of course individuals vary widely in how much time they devote to church activities, as shown in this chart released last month:

92 Percent of LGBT Americans Support Marriage Equality

This week, sensationalistic headlines around the country have been proclaiming the shocking news that there are gays who don't support marriage equality. Ho-hum. Ya know, fellas, there has never, ever been a poll taken that produced results of 100 percent for or against anything: there's always a few oppositional personalities who will take the minority view of things. Sometimes they are right, too.

 But in point of fact, here is how the Pew poll - which actually seems to be a combination of two surveys taken in 2013 and 2014 (I can't find the raw data on their site) - breaks down:

Click to enlarge.

I suppose the 7 percent of LGBT's opposed are those well-hidden "best friends" of the anti-gay crowd who love to proclaim that their gay friends don't support marriage equality.

This 2013 Pew survey of LGBT's provides more data if you're interested - though bear in mind always that these figures do not come from the mouth of God, but are subject to interpretation and variation. One little point, though, intrigues your Head Trucker: the whole transgender thing has become quite a cause celebre in the last few years, but Pew says:

Although there is limited data on the size of the transgender population, it is estimated that 0.3% of all American adults are transgender.

Which is what your Head Trucker thought: the ratio of trans people to gays is about the same as the ratio of gays to the general population (i.e., somewhere around 3 percent).

Pew also found that the division between party boys and sensible people is about what your Head Trucker thought - fifty-fifty:

And since we're talking statistics, there's another Pew report you might like to look at, with some interesting details on the changing generations in the general population:

I can't keep all these new-fangled generations straight, can you?  But here's a handy cheat sheet:

Where the Churches Stand on Same-Sex Marriage

Click to enlarge.

The chart above summarizes a new report by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center on official attitudes towards same-sex marriage held by major U.S. denominations. Another recent report by Pew discusses the hard-line anti-gay attitudes of most Evangelical church members, as shown below:

At its General Assembly in Detroit this week, The Presbyterian Church U.S.A., which already allows gays and lesbians to be ordained ministers, will consider resolutions to allow same-sex weddings in states where they are legal.

Update, 6/19: The Presbyterian General Assembly voted today 76%-24% to allow same-sex weddings.

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life published the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey (PDF, 1.42 MB) in 2008, which offers a sweeping analysis of religious beliefs and denominational identification among American adults. A short summary of their findings is presented in this table:

And per the U.S. Census Bureau, it appears that adults make up 76.5% of the 2013 total population of 316,128,839. So you do the math.