Posted on 08/28/2016 2:41:41 PM PDT by Salvation
The Surprising Reason Why More Americans Are Not Going To Church
The standard narrative of American religious decline goes something like this: A few hundred years ago, European and American intellectuals began doubting the validity of God as an explanatory mechanism for natural life. As science became a more widely accepted method for investigating and understanding the physical world, religion became a less viable way of thinking—not just about medicine and mechanics, but also culture and politics and economics and every other sphere of public life. As the United States became more secular, people slowly began drifting away from faith.
Of course, this tale is not just reductive—it’s arguably inaccurate, in that it seems to capture neither the reasons nor the reality behind contemporary American belief. For one thing, the U.S. is still overwhelmingly religious, despite years of predictions about religion’s demise. A significant number of people who don’t identify with any particular faith group still say they believe in God, and roughly 40 percent pray daily or weekly. While there have been changes in this kind of private belief and practice, the most significant shift has been in the way people publicly practice their faith: Americans, and particularly young Americans, are less likely to attend services or identify with a religious group than they have at any time in recent memory.
If most people haven’t just logicked their way out of believing in God, what’s behind this shift in public religious practice, and what does the shift look like in detail? That’s a big question, one less in search of a straightforward answer than a series of data points and arguments constellated over time. Here’s one: Pew has a new survey out about the way people choose their congregations and attend services. While Americans on the whole are still going to church and other worship services less than they used to, many people are actually going more—and those who are skipping out aren’t necessarily doing it for reasons of belief.
There were at least three fascinating tidbits tucked into the results of the survey. First, people who report going to worship services less frequently now than they used to overwhelmingly say the logistics of getting there are the biggest obstacle.Second, a significant number of people who said they’re not part of any particular religion expressed mistrust of religious institutions, suggesting these organizations’ reputations have something to do with why people are dropping out of public religious participation.
Finally, and perhaps most interestingly, the country seems to be split in half in terms of how often people get to services. Roughly 51 percent of Americans say they go to church or another worship service somewhere between once a month and multiple times per week, while 49 percent said they go rarely or never. But within that 51 percent, more than half of people said they go more often than they used to—in other words, about quarter of Americans have gotten more active in their religious communities in recent years, not less.
On the other hand, fewer than half of the people who rarely or never go to church said this has been a new decline in the last few years; a greater portion of that group said they’ve always stayed home on Sundays. All of this is a way of saying that, comparatively speaking, there’s more activity happening on the devout side of the spectrum than the drop-out side; this study suggests that even in a time of religion’s public decline, some people are experiencing religious revival.
According to the survey, about one-fifth of Americans now go to religious services a few times a year, but say they used to go a lot more. Roughly half of this group stopped going as often because of what the researchers called “practical issues”: They are too busy, have a crazy work schedule, or describe themselves as “too lazy” to go. Others said they just don’t care about attending services as much as doing other things.
While it’s easy to empathize with the hassle of trying to wake up and rally kids to go sit still for several hours every Sunday morning, this explanation is interesting for a slightly different reason: It suggests that many people view religious services as optional in a way they might not have in the past. Fifty or 60 years ago, churches, in particular, were a center of social and cultural life in America. For many people, that’s still the case, but the survey suggests that many people may be creating their social lives outside of a religious context—or perhaps forgoing that kind of social connection altogether.
The experience of those who are losing their religion shouldn’t obscure those who are finding it.
The sidelining of services may connect to another factor indicated in the survey: Among people who were raised religiously and who fell away from religion in adult life, roughly one-fifth said their dislike of organized religion was the reason. Another 50 percent said they stopped believing in the particular tenets of the faith they were raised in. Insofar as the decline in U.S. religious affiliation is an intellectual or philosophical story, it seems to be this: Fewer people are willing to sign on with the rules and reputations of institutions that promote faith. That doesn’t mean people don’t care about religious ideas or questions—many of those who are unaffiliated with a particular group still consider themselves “religious” or “seeking”—but they might not be as sold on the religious institutions themselves.
The experience of those who are losing their religion shouldn’t obscure the experience of those who are finding it, though. Twenty-seven percent of people in the survey say they’re attending services more often than they did in the past, cutting against the country’s overall decline in religious practice. This was most common among evangelical Protestants, three-quarters of whom say they go to church at least once or twice a month. Half of the people who said they’re going to services more often explained the change in terms of their beliefs: They’ve become more religious; they found that they need God in their life; they’ve gotten more mature as they’ve aged. By contrast, relatively few said they started going to church more often for practical reasons. Belief brings people to worship, it seems, while logistics keep people way.
The survey offers evidence that at least some Americans find worship services less relevant than other things they could be doing with their time, or perhaps they’re too hard to make time for. But the biggest takeaway is the variety of religious experience in America. Just as some people are drifting away from religion, others are moving toward it—and no matter what they might do on Sunday mornings, many people seem to find religious thinking still relevant to their lives.
Husband: "Rosalee, I'm not going to your church. It's full of hypocrites!" Wife: "You know, Fred, there's always room for one more."
Total agreement.
I go to Mass secondarily to hear the Word. Primarily, because it presents the intersection of Heaven with earth, in the form of the Eucharist and the liturgy that executes it.
After years of being Catholic, it’s only recently becoming apparent to me.
There is no way to participate in that, alone. Must be Mass, in a church, with others and a priest. No other way.
We’re with you all the way, Binger. We go to the cathedral for midnight mass on occasion, but haven’t been back to our parish since my wife died, ten years now.
I spend more time on FR than I did on satellite tv, which I dropped years back, and at two bucks a day, FR is not only cheaper, it’s much more fulfilling.
I prefer your cathedral any day. Thanks for welcoming my family to your beautiful area. (BTW, are those govt robot horses still roaming the pasture across the way?)
Money & politics.
It is all churches want to have and talk about.
If you don't want to do it in the Religion Forum for fear of flaming, you could ask by Private Message if you like.
All churches??
I think you are wrong in categorizing ALL churches that way.
Those very words --- those very words saved me from suicide once, and that's the God's-honest-truth.
“I think you are wrong in categorizing ALL churches that way.”
Well, gosh, I guess we need to ban the “all” from the English language because there is always some kind of exception.
It means pertaining to the whole Church, where there is "no longer "Gentile or Jew," no longer "slave or freeman," no longer "male or female", but all are one in Christ.
My church does have a rather conservative message considering the liberal area we live in. The people that come to our church come from varied backgrounds. Most are broken people, lonely and seeking help.
If I could change my church, I would have them look at preparing all members for mission work, even if that mission work is just spreading the gospel to their neighbors at home. Then I would try to mix up the music.
This was because the Lord rose from the dead on the First Day, and that changed everything.
In other words, Jesus rested on the Sabbath day. Jesus kept the Sabbath day throughout His life and death. There is no justification for us to do otherwise.
Different perspective...
Our church started it's life 30 years ago as a conservative faith, where men wore suits to church.
A few years into things, one of the elders read that only 65% of American men owned a suit. The pastoral staff and elder board took time to discuss whether they wanted to start by giving up on the souls of 35% of men who didn't own a suit.
They decided to get rid of suits. It was a transition. They went to leisure suits, then sweaters, then left that behind.
Today, we are informal. We do not want barriers to leading people to Christ. Every time we hold our quarterly baptism, there are typically 200 or so people who were formerly unchurched, who have come to Christ for eternal life and are publicly following Him in obedience. We just passed 14,000 members, divided out in 8 congregations in our area.
I've never seen anything like it. I've come to believe people need Christ as much as always and they know it. When you teach truth in a culturally relevant way, you grow. If you are culturally irrelevant, you alienate those in the culture. If you give up truth, you are a social club. You need both.
I wasn't suggesting that a building is necessary. Consistent regular fellowship is necessary for true spiritual growth. I believe that is the point of the author of the Book to the Hebrews. As long as fellowship is regularly occurring and some accountability (even informal) is present, I wouldn't have too much of an issue with the idea of small groups or home churches fulfilling Hebrews 10:25.
I missed the part where any of this is “surprising.”
Not in the Atlanta area. All of them participated in the destruction of my Board of Elders.
Was great having you here. The ponies are still posing for all the tourists. Miss that great bacon that Pete-R-Bilt brought. We’re building new restrooms on the property and several RV hook-ups so Jim can stay for a bit longer. Course the shooting range will have to be farther back.
Matthew 16:19
"I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven."
Talk about authority!
Ask, I teach Catechism and I’m a convert. I’ve taught every grade from 1st to Confirmation class. There are no dumb questions. You could just message me.
“This Commandment was written in stone and proclaimed the Law for believers. Nowhere in Acts does Paul claim to nullify the law.”
“3 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. 2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” - Galatians 3
“7 And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 8 And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, 9 and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. 10 Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11 But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.” - Acts 15
“28 For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: 29 that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.” - Acts 15
“2 One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. 3 Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. 4 Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
5 One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. 8 For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.” - Romans 14
“16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.
20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.” - Colossians 2
That is wonderful and all the great contributions and love that you have given back to HIM.
Just so you know, this came from Catholic answers. They say it so well.
http://www.catholic.com/documents/pillar-of-fire-pillar-of-truth
God Bless you.
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