Posted on Mon, Jan 3, 2011 : 9:21 a.m.
11 faith-based predictions for 2011
By Pam Stout
Many websites have been looking back on the top stories of 2010, but CNN's Belief Blog is looking forward to the year to come.
CNN asked 10 well-known religious leaders and experts, as well as one secular humanist, to share their faith-based predictions for the year ahead.
Their answers predict more respectful debate concerning gay marriage, increased anti-Christian violence in some countries, more dialogue between Muslim and Jewish houses of worship in the United States and other developments.
Go to CNN Belief to see all 11 faith-based predictions.
Do you have any faith predictions for 2011? Pray tell.
Comments
David Briegel
Mon, Jan 3, 2011 : 3:19 p.m.
dotdash, Why, that would be downright Christ like!
dotdash
Mon, Jan 3, 2011 : 12:19 p.m.
Christianity is an immensely hard religion to practice, so I sympathize with those who are led astray. Wouldn't it be nice, though, to be able to predict that Christians would take what they had and give it to the poor rather than getting sidetracked by gay marriage?
seldon
Mon, Jan 3, 2011 : 11:55 a.m.
There is no such thing as "civil" or "principled" resistance to gay marriage, any more than there was to interracial marriage.
Macabre Sunset
Mon, Jan 3, 2011 : 11:45 a.m.
Monroe, I presume Ms. Stout is being honest about the religious debate on gay marriage, which should be limited solely to whether a specific church performs specific ceremonies. IMO, church marriage is similar to baptism or confirmation or any other religious ceremony. So it's appropriate to have those limited discussions. However, if the debate is whether gay people should have the same right the rest of us have to form a civil union, which brings with it legal advantages and penalties, then it's just another example of the religious hatred that has cost so many lives and so much pain throughout history.
Monroe
Mon, Jan 3, 2011 : 11:33 a.m.
Good morning, Pam, I strongly disagree with your comment. "Their answers predict more respectful debate concerning gay marriage,[...] It may seem respectful for some, in the Christian community, to prevent gay marriage, and repeal gay marriage, but to the gays who are directly effected by it, it is a violent slap in the face. Anyone person, or group, that seeks to prevent, or repeal, legal equality for the gays deserves to be exposed and humiliated as the bigots they are. I also support prosecution for the professional, anti-gay religious groups who finance these operations. If you genuinely believe that you're strengthening marriage for opposite sex couples, by banning gay marriage, you're a bold faced idiot, and deserve to be treated with wicked ridicule. The Christian community has done major damage to the gays, and will pay for it. If they continue their professional masquerade, in the name of saving marriage, they deserve to suffer the legal consequences. Reap what you sow!
Macabre Sunset
Mon, Jan 3, 2011 : 11:29 a.m.
Top Cat, the conflicts that led to World War I were heavily tied to the religious differences between the Balkans and the Ottoman Empire, which led to two major wars in the region in the 1910s. World War II was very much tied to Adolf Hitler, who in his own perverted view of Catholicism, decided he was doing his god's work in eliminating non-Aryan races from the world.
David Briegel
Mon, Jan 3, 2011 : 11:27 a.m.
WWII was not based on religion or the holocaust. Don't forget, it was Christians that perpetrated the holocaust! Religion does give one a feeling of superiority to those lesser non-believers. I have hoped that the American Psychiatric Assoc might weigh in on that thin line between belief and delusion! Macabre, there is a huge difference between murderers and pedophiles and hustlers and con men!
Ignatz
Mon, Jan 3, 2011 : 11:22 a.m.
WW II didn't start because of the Holocaust. It may have, but only once word leaked out. Even then, it would take people getting over their hatred/mistrust of the Jews. Wars start because of money and the intense desire to accumulate it. Religions also desire money and that's how they get invoved.
pvitaly
Mon, Jan 3, 2011 : 11:03 a.m.
Top Cat - the holocaust didn't happen right?
Top Cat
Mon, Jan 3, 2011 : 10:58 a.m.
@Macabre Sunset. Kindly explain how World War 1 and World War 2 "had a lot to do with religion"?
Greggy_D
Mon, Jan 3, 2011 : 10:51 a.m.
Organized religion is overrated and in many ways, a scam. I believe in God but do not feel the need to align myself with a particular "brand" of religion, especially since all of these "brands" each think they are God's chosen religion.
Macabre Sunset
Mon, Jan 3, 2011 : 10:44 a.m.
I predict that every war for the next 1,000 years will be based on religious hatred. This isn't exactly a daring prediction - every war in recorded history had a lot to do with religion. I predict that, eventually, people will see how much terror and hatred religion adds to society and will eventually regard religious leaders the same way they regard murderers and pedophiles.