Why 24x7 coverage for a Month? Roll the numbers...

[Junkdrawer]

American Adults Religious Identification (Age 18+)

Christian Religious Groups
Catholic
24.5%
Baptist
16.3%
Christian (no denomination specified)
6.8%
Methodist/Wesleyan
6.8%
Lutheran
4.6%

Other <>1%>: Presbyterian; Pentecostal/Charismatic, Protestant, Nondenominational, Episcopalian/Anglican; Morman/Latter-Day Saints; Churches of Christ

Other <= or >.3%>: Jehovah's Witness; Seventh-Day Adventist; Assemblies of God; Church of God; Holiness/Holy; Congregational/United Church of Christ; Church of the Nazarene
Others : Disciples of Christ; Church of the Brethren; Mennonite; Orthodox (Eastern); Quaker; Reformed/Dutch Reform, and many more

Total Christian
76.5%


Other Religious Groups
Jewish
1.3%
Muslim/Islam
0.5%
Buddhist
0.5%
Other <.5 and >.3%: Hindu; Unitarian Universalist; Other : Pagan; Wiccan; Spiritualist; Native American; Baha'I; New Age; Sikh; Scientologist; Taoist; Deity; Druid; Eckankar; Santaria; Rastafarian
Total Other Religions
3.7%


No Religion Groups
Agnostic
0.5%
Atheist
0.4%
Not a worldview group, but rather individuals who stated: "No religion"
13.2%
Other : Humanist; Secular
Total No Religion Specified
14.1%


http://www.teachingaboutreligion.org/Demographics/map_demographics.htm#The%20Big%20Picture

As you can see, Catholics are the largest identifiable Christian sect (24.5%) in the US. Non-traditional Fundies are a tiny blip (< 1%) compared to Catholics and this admin needs to count Catholics as part of it's "pro-life majority".

Now, is it any wonder why the Repubs and cable news are kissing up to Catholics at this time?

[rocktivity]

1. Isn't a Christian who is not a Catholic a Protestant?

that would make THEM the largest identifiable sect.

And the reason why the Bush Empire have been kissing up to Catholics lately is because the deaths of Terri Schiavo and the Pope give them pipelines through which to mass-market their cult culture of life via the MSM. President Mightymouse even went as far as slip "culture of life" into his official statement about the Pope's death--who says he doesn't work hard?

:shrug:
rocknation

[Junkdrawer]

3. Well, if you define all "non-Catholics" as a "sect", yes...

If, however, you define a sect as a group of worshipers with an identifiable theology, no.

In other words, would a Baptist and a Lutheran consider themselves as kindred as, say, two Catholics? :shrug:

My main point, however, is that all this talk of a 45% "Values Voter, Culture of Life" Bush power base relies HEAVILY on counting a large number of Catholics (and Baptists) in the mix.

[rocktivity]

4. I'm talking about non-Catholic Christians, not non-Catholics

They STILL outnumber Catholics. And though they may not worship Christ in the same way, I think a Baptist or a Lutheran would be willing to at least acknowledge a Catholic as a fellow Christian.

P.S. I define them ALL as sects!

P.P.S. 14% classify themselves as non-religious? It used to be 10%. At the risk of sounding like Nathan Detroit, that amount of voters is not lacking in insignificance.

:headbang:
rocknation

[Junkdrawer]

5. Well, sure....

Look at it this way: in the 16th and 17th centuries, wars were fought between Catholics and Non-Catholics (and to this day in N. Ireland). So, at that time, Catholic vs. Protestant was the main distinction.

By now, however, Protestants have splintered into so many "sects" with different core beliefs that Baptists, Lutherans and Catholics may well be considered as Christian "sects" on more or less the same footing - with Catholics comprising the largest piece of a very sliced up pie.

Returning to my point: politicians like to target groups. Catholics comprise a large, identifiable group - and one, whose leaders at least, espouse the same conservative social agenda as Bush. Thus the 24x7x30 coverage of a Pope's death.

[Coventina]

6. No, there are the Orthodox christians

The from the original(?) Christian schism.

[Warren Stupidity]

2. The pope dying is a big deal.

So far the media converage of the pope has been ok, except for the fawning over *, who had little or nothing to do with the pope, and who the pope explicitly opposed regarding the death penalty and the war in Iraq.

The RC church is the oldest continuous institution in western civilization. Good, bad, or indifferent, the death of the pope is Real Big News. Except for the period before the late JP-II, where the church went through a few popes in a short time, the death of every pope in my lifetime has been a pretty big deal.

Perhaps it is just the sequay from the craven horrid lying bullshit coverage of TS blending seamlessly into the coverage of the the demise of John Paul that makes it just seem so bad.