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Fully 20% Of Americans Now Have No Religious Identity
Hotair ^ | 04/12/2018 | Andrew Malcolm

Posted on 04/12/2018 9:13:42 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

And church attendance by Roman Catholics is on the decline again. So, in fact, is the religious affiliation among Americans at large.

The drop continues a long trend of declining attendance at mass. In the last three years, an average of only 39 percent of Catholics reported attending church in the past week. That’s down from an average of 45 percent just 10 years ago. And severely off from the mid-1900’s. In 1955, for instance, 75 percent of Catholics reported attending mass during the previous week.

On the other side of the aisle, the new Gallup survey found that church attendance by Protestants is holding steady, although the population of Protestants overall has declined. The average weekly attendance was 45 percent these last three years, the same as 10 years ago.

And here’s a disturbing stunner: In 1955, Gallup found only two percent of the country claimed no religious identity. In 2016, the same survey found that proportion had grown 10 times, to 20 percent.

Back in 1955 about three-quarters of Catholics of all ages attended weekly mass. But in the 1960’s younger Catholics reported attending mass increasingly less often, a trend that accelerated through the 1970’s, then slowed but continued.

Older Catholics also began a trend of attending mass less often. In fact, in the last decade alone attendance has been dropping 10 percent among Catholics age 50 and older.

Church attendance by Protestants was never as high as Catholics. Protestant attendance did dip in the 1960’s and 1970’s but, unlike Catholics, has since rebounded. Indeed, among Protestants age 60 and over, attendance has actually increased eight points since the mid-fifties.

What’s changed among Protestants, however, is the percentage of Americans identifying with that faith has plummeted from 71 percent in 1955 to just 47 percent more recently. The percentage of Americans identifying as Catholic has held fairly steady at 24 percent now instead of 22 percent 60 years ago, in large part due to the explosion of the Hispanic population.

One troubling sign for the future spiritual and financial strength of both churches is Americans in their twenties attending services less frequently–Protestants 36 percent and Catholics 25 percent. And a growing proportion in that age cohort have stopped identifying with any religion, 33 percent.



TOPICS: Catholic; Mainline Protestant; Religion & Culture; Worship
KEYWORDS: christianity; church; churchattendance; faith; gallup; galluppoll; poll; religion; trends; unchurched
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1 posted on 04/12/2018 9:13:42 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Not surprised.


2 posted on 04/12/2018 9:16:26 AM PDT by Biggirl ("One Lord, one faith, one baptism" - Ephesians 4:5)
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To: SeekAndFind

Yoga?


3 posted on 04/12/2018 9:17:29 AM PDT by donna (Show yourself Senator McCain. We need proof of life!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Everybody has a religious identity. You can’t get away from it. The only question is which one, not whether or not.


4 posted on 04/12/2018 9:17:33 AM PDT by Genoa (Luke 12:2)
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To: SeekAndFind

And yet they think UFO’s are real the bridge is always for sale.


5 posted on 04/12/2018 9:17:55 AM PDT by Vaduz (women and children to be impacIQ of chimpsted the most.)
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To: SeekAndFind

This last paragraph basically tells the whole story.

**One troubling sign for the future spiritual and financial strength of both churches is Americans in their twenties attending services less frequently–Protestants 36 percent and Catholics 25 percent. And a growing proportion in that age cohort have stopped identifying with any religion, 33 percent.**


6 posted on 04/12/2018 9:21:58 AM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: SeekAndFind

I wouldn’t be surprised if that number surpasses 50% in 10-15 years.


7 posted on 04/12/2018 9:22:38 AM PDT by ScottinVA ( Liberals, go find another country.)
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To: ScottinVA

Something is going to fill that void.


8 posted on 04/12/2018 9:23:03 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: donna
Spirit Cooking


9 posted on 04/12/2018 9:23:08 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Andrew Malcolm is an interesting nom de plum.

Well Andrew, those 20% will have a change of heart so to speak, when they check out from the planet.

5.56mm


10 posted on 04/12/2018 9:24:25 AM PDT by M Kehoe (THIS SPACE FOR RENT)
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To: SeekAndFind

I went to a funeral Mass last week, in the church I used to attend. The priest was black, spoke with an African (?) accent, and I never understood a single word of what he said.


11 posted on 04/12/2018 9:29:36 AM PDT by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: dfwgator
Something is going to fill that void.

Yep.. just as it is in Europe.

12 posted on 04/12/2018 9:29:48 AM PDT by ScottinVA ( Liberals, go find another country.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Makes the job SO much easier to convert these “unchurched” to Islam, and once THAT conversion is made, there is no going back, the “newly religious” find they cannot be nearly so lackadaisical about not being observant Muslims.

That is where the non-Islamic religious denominations are at something of a disadvantage, they have no enforcement policy to FORCE people to adhere to the religion they were brought into, and there are sizable numbers who are lapsed or dormant.

Judgment Day still comes for everybody whether you are “churched” or not. Even for Muslims.


13 posted on 04/12/2018 9:32:52 AM PDT by alloysteel (Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first.)
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To: SeekAndFind

I was in an employee diversity meeting at work that was sponsored by HR. One comical thing I just had to call them out on was when they said boomers are more “religious”, while gen x is more “spiritual”.

I asked what the difference was and in a nutshell, my interpretation was as follows: Boomers tend to belong to established religious organizations and Gen X folks are just sorta believing various and sundry “stuff” about what we can’t see and don’t know, but they tend to think there is “something else” there.

i.e. each generation just chose a different poison*.

*To be clear, I’m a professing Christian, but I separate Christianity from the man made religions that tend to be built up around Him. Christianity is pure. Man made Christian churches are all flawed. But I still attend one because it’s better than being an introverted Christian.


14 posted on 04/12/2018 9:38:45 AM PDT by robroys woman (So you're not confused, I'm using my wife's account.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Those 20 % that don’t identify have a god.

They look at him every morning in the mirror


15 posted on 04/12/2018 9:38:57 AM PDT by Popman (Wisdom is not what you know about the world but how well you know God. 8)
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To: SeekAndFind

They confuse ‘church attendance’ with ‘loving God’.


16 posted on 04/12/2018 9:45:13 AM PDT by RedStateRocker (Nuke Mecca, deport all illegals, abolish the DEA, IRS and ATF.)
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To: RedStateRocker

RE: They confuse ‘church attendance’ with ‘loving God’.

If one loves God, one will of course want to Obey His Commandments.

Scripture tells us to “not neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:245 )


17 posted on 04/12/2018 9:50:00 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: BenLurkin

Oh, man.

There is Good News however:

Muslims turning to Christianity — everywhere!
Exclusive: Joseph Farah looks at recent jaw-dropping stats on conversions
http://www.wnd.com/2018/04/muslims-turning-to-christianity-everywhere/


18 posted on 04/12/2018 9:54:36 AM PDT by donna (Show yourself Senator McCain. We need proof of life!)
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To: SeekAndFind

One of the problems younger Protestant and Catholic professionals alike face in some Blue-dominated parts of the country is that if they become identified at work or among colleagues as Christian, they believe they would likely lose their job outright and see their career ended. So I would expect that polls might miss these people, and I would also expect that over time, most would eventually simply adapt to a non-Christian culture and not really worry about it all most of the time, mellowness being the state most living Americans try to achieve. But there are exceptions, as always.


19 posted on 04/12/2018 9:55:10 AM PDT by Coyote Choir
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To: SeekAndFind

“Religious Identity” is not the same as religious belief.

Religious identity infers the adherence to a denomination or organized religious belief system.

That is crap. One can believe in God, and Christ without following the tenants of a denomination.

One can also believe in Buddha without following the practices of any of the various sects of that religion.

You do not need a denomination/system dictated by man to believer. Belief in God is in one’s heart and soul and not in the edicts laid out by mortals who claim to know God’s words and intents. That is man’s arrogance.


20 posted on 04/12/2018 9:56:21 AM PDT by RJS1950 (The democrats are the "enemies foreign and domestic" cited in the federal oath)
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