Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.

For those who are not familiar, the cover of this week's Newsweek magazine has been very controversial. I had heard about it on CNN, MSNBC, msn.com, and others. Its cover, by editor/writer Jon Meachem, was called The Decline and Fall of Christian America. As I devoured the articled, it really wasn't that controversial but still an interesting read. Since 1990, about 1% of the population is still Jewish and 0.6% is Muslim. However, in 1990, 86% of the population were self-described Christians, today only 76% of the population are self-described Christians. Atheism has jumped from about one million to three million. That is still not a major concern considering three million people is only like 0.8% of the American population. To me honest, these types of statistics don't shock me for two reasons: One, the societal pressures that used to be placed on going to church by the community and family members has waned. Two, there are many more distractions taking us away from a relationship with God. Being a Christian takes some effort. In the way we as a country have gotten lazier regarding exercise, our diet, our commitment to marriage, friendship, we have also gotten lazier in our relationship with our Lord. In my opinion, one other reason for the decline in the past 19 years has been embarrassment by our Christian leaders. The Catholic church has been full of scandal for the past decade. Plus, in my opinion, the opinions of the Pope are so out of date they are harming Catholicism - the rhythm method, birth control, only males can be priests, priests not getting allowed to marry? If the Catholic church wants to continue to grow, they must adapt. The numbers of Catholics in America is still holding steady but that is mainly toward the increase in Hispanic Catholic immigrants. There are enormous problems with Caucasian Catholic populations regarding attendance. Perhaps a bigger problem in the Catholic church is they cannot find enough young men to become priests. The priests are getting older and older and there are not enough young Catholic leaders. This is not to say that Protestants are without error in leadership. Powerful Christian leaders like Ted Haggard, Jerry Fallwell, and Pat Robertson have hijacked Christianity to be a party of a select moral issues. I didn't realize that Jesus only cared about abortion, gay marriage, stem cell research, prayer in school, and the ten commandments in court houses. In fact, Jesus never talked about any of those issues at all! Unfortunately, when I speak to friends of mine who are agnostic, or non-religious, the view they have of Christianity is that of radical right wing, fire and brimstone, George W. Bush's. This hurts me a great deal. Christianity is a religion of peace, of friendship, of faith. I think those reasons alone add up to a 10% drop in Christianity. My hope is that this is a mirage and not a pattern.

1. I still have not shaved the beard but when I do I will take a variety of pictures and put them up on Facebook. Interestingly enough, of anything I have ever written about, my beard has elicited the greatest response. I received about ten emails, text messages, and phone calls about the beard.

2. One of the first signs that spring is coming is the start of Twins season. I haven't missed a game yet and Tuesday's victory (down by two runs in the ninth inning, nobody on base, two outs, and they score three runs to win) is what makes baseball America's past-time.

3. Currently listening to "Don't Pull Your Love" by Hamilton, Frank, and Reynolds.