 DR.
SEAN McCLOUD
Assistant Professor of Religion and Modern Culture
By Marilynn Bowler
From the Puritans to the
Present
Dr. Sean McCloud, Assistant Professor of Religion
and Modern Culture at UNC - Charlotte, lobbed some fascinating facts
in our direction when he addressed the "uptown crowd" at the Rotary
meeting on Tuesday. His topic - Looking For Trends In 21st
Century American Religion - grabbed the attention of young and
old in the audience. The changing of traditional religions in our
country is a barely discussed subject about which most of us have
intimate feelings but little actual knowledge. Our speaker came
filled to the brim with enthusiasm for his subject and a real talent
for helping us understand the why's and wherefore's of what's going
on in our religiously diverse world.
Religion continues to be important in everyday lives even though
"formal religion" is often neglected. The current trend is to pick,
mix and combine religions or aspects of religions to fit individual
needs. There's even a category referred to as "unaffiliated but not
unbelieving." Discussing the decline of the "mainline" sects and the
rise of the religious right and left, he cited the reasons for the
increase in religious switching, the growth of non-affiliated church
attendance - especially among young people - the upturn in
neo-paganism, and even the unchanging characteristics of
contemporary American religions as they apply to regional
differences, social class interaction, and sex and gender ratios.
One of the best-known religious groups experiencing membership loss
is the Presbyterian Church with Episcopalians, United Church of
Christ members, Methodists and Evangelical Lutherans close behind.
Largely because mainline Protestants are aging and their offspring
are marrying and having children later - in addition to marrying
into other religions - their numbers are decreasing. In fact,
switching religions is more prevalent; over 60% of baby boomers have
left their family religion - the one they grew up in - at least for
awhile, Dr. McCloud said. A caveat here: the Presbyterian Church is
in no imminent danger since their numbers have been so huge over the
years; they remain dominant even with member loss.
The "Top Ten List" of the Largest Religious Movements in the U.S.
(1987-2003) is headed up by the Roman Catholics, the Southern
Baptists and the United Methodist Church, in that order.
Interestingly enough, the fourth largest increase was seen in The
Church of the Latter Day Saints (Mormons) with a huge leap in
membership. Even the Wiccans appeared on the roster of total
membership increase (1990-2001.)
It was a unique and quite special presentation in which Dr. McCloud
incorporated this one spitball of information: Lemmon, South Dakota
is the most isolated town in America, a piece of trivia he gleaned
from Kathleen Norris' memoir titled, "Dakota."
For more on the subject, Dr. McCloud has written two books:
Making the American Religious Fringe: Exotics, Subversives, and
Journalists, 1955-1993 (2004) and Resurrecting Class in
Religious Studies and American Religion (Forthcoming in Fall
(2007.) Both are with the University of North Carolina Press.
Head Table:
Buddy Chatfield, Jim Kiser, Luther Moore, David Dunn, Kazami
Yamazaki, Jim Kelley; Invocation: Charlie Williams
Visitors &
Guests:
Bill Meanor; Health & Happiness: Phil Volponi; Song: Gregg Walker;
Piano: Thomas Moore
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NEW MEMBER APPROVAL |
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The Classification and Membership
Committee recommend and the Directors approve for consideration
for all members, the following NEW MEMBER. Should you question
the eligibility of any nominee, please call the Rotary Office by
February 6. You will be contacted by a member of the
Board. Otherwise, no reply is necessary and election will
proceed according to our bylaws. |
Ben Devoid,
Dilworth United Methodist Church
Classification: Religion, Methodist Pastorate
Sponsor: Powell Majors
Endorsed: George Thomson, Harriman Jett
Nancy Roberson,
Mecklenburg County Bar
Classification: Association Management, Legal
Sponsor: Mac McCarley
Endorsed: Tony Lathrop, Luther Moore |
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Rotary Club of Charlotte
841 Baxter Street, Suite 118, Charlotte 28202
chltrot@bellsouth.net 704-375-6816 |
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Don't forget to
make your reservations to attend the
Club's Gala that will be
held February 20th at Charlotte Country Club. If you have
not received your invitation, call the Rotary office.
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Alan Adler
has confirmed a $10,000 sponsorship from the Greater
Charlotte Auto Dealers for the Rotary Scholarship Golf
Classic. Please make note that the tournament date
has been changed to October 2nd.
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From the Papers: Bill Anderson,
Communities in Schools, spoke at a congressional briefing
last week; Claude Lilly,
UNC Charlotte, is the annual fund drive chairman for the
Arts & Science Council; Jim
Woodward commented on the shortfall of first-year
sales goals of the NC Education Lottery, saying though the
initial goals were probably unrealistic, he sees no
underlying problems in the process;
Tony Zeiss continues to keep CPCC in the
spotlight with his energy, optimism and goal-setting; A few
Rotary families were mentioned among the guardians of
Hermitage Court: Col. J. Norman
Pease, H. Y. Dunaway, Bob Culbertson, D. G. Martin;
Entrepreneurs Debbie Daniel,
Daniel, Ratliff & Co. and Katie Tyler, Tyler 2 Construction,
offered practical advice on building a business;
Jim Woodward says the
Mecklenburg Citizens for Public Education committee will
work to support the goals of CMS while remaining independent
enough to offer a fresh perspective; Someone commenting on
changing the atmosphere at Waddell High referenced
Thomas Moore saying he
brings hope alive in every kid with which he connects;
Jesse Jones commented on
poverty and wealth.
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The Peru Crew arrived safely and reports being busy
exploring projects underway, as well as gathering
information on future projects.
Herb said they dined on Alpaca, Ostrich, and beef
at the ZigZag - he liked the Alpaca best. Look for a full
report when they return to Rotary next week.
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Bill Constangy has
arranged to have a tour of the new Courthouse following the
Rotary meeting on February 6th. The tour will take about an
hour and if you are interested, contact Sandy at the Rotary
office no later than February 5th.
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Sheila Cottringer was
introduced to the club by sponsor
Cecily Durrett. Sheila is the Advertising Manager
for The Charlotte Business Journal and can be contacted at
scottringer@bizjournals.com. |
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The Rotary Foundation's oldest and best-known
program is AMBASSADORIAL
SCHOLARSHIPS. Since 1947 nearly
37,000 men and women from 100 nations have studied abroad
under its auspices. Today it is the world's largest
privately funded international scholarship program, with
nearly 800 scholarships awarded for study in 2005-06.
Through grants totaling approximately $500 million,
recipients from some 70 countries studied in more than 70
nations.
David Dunn is serving as
a host counselor for Kazami
Yamazaki, an Ambassadorial Scholar sponsored by
the Rotary Club of Sagayamato, Japan. Kazami, who attends
UNC, is doing an internship at UNCC where she works with the
TEACCH program (Treatment and Education of
Autistic and related Communications-handicapped
children). David introduced Kazami, saying this Rotary
involvement has been a wonderful experience for his entire
family. As Kazami addressed the club, she said she has met
many Rotarians, has exchanged information, and appreciates
the opportunity afforded her by Rotary International. She
also said the club of 25 members in Japan was quite
different than entering a room of 200+ at the Charlotte
club.
Bob Webb introduced
Kathryn White, a family
friend and Ambassadorial Scholar sponsored by a club in High
Point, who recently returned from studying in Chile.
Katherine had a chance to chat with Charlotte Rotarian
Colleen Blanchard, who
studied at the same university in Chile when she was a
Scholar in 2002-2003. Tom Norwood,
who chairs Charlotte Rotary's Ambassadorial Scholarship
committee, briefed the club on this opportunity and reports
March 31is the deadline for applicants. |
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Attendance
Record |
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1/30/06 |
1/31/05 |
| visitors &
guests |
10 |
8 |
| club
members |
154 |
194 |
| total
attendance |
164 |
202 |
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New Members | Resignations |
Roberta Smith
Carroll Gray
Sheila Cottringer |
Jeff Triplette
Chuck Panoff
Ed Nowokunski |
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Wedding
Anniversaries |
09 Nancy and Jim Kiser
09 Katie and Scott Tyler
10 Marcia and Pete Sloan |
| Birthdays and
Birthplaces |
06 Neil Burkhead, Charlotte, NC
08 Jim Barnhardt, Charlotte, NC
09 Hunter Widener,
Tachikawa, Japan
10 George Robinette,
Beckley, W VA
10 Shannon Vaughn,
Jonesboro, AR |
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