Posted on 02/25/2008 11:40:22 AM PST by Sub-Driver
Fewer People Claim Religious Affiliation Survey Of 35,000 Finds Religious Landscape Changing
POSTED: 1:10 pm EST February 25, 2008 UPDATED: 2:29 pm EST February 25, 2008 The U.S. religious marketplace is extremely volatile, with nearly half of American adults leaving the faith tradition of their upbringing to either switch allegiances or abandon religious affiliation altogether, a new survey finds.
The study released Monday by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life is unusual for it sheer scope, relying on interviews with more than 35,000 adults to document a diverse and dynamic U.S. religious population.
While much of the study confirms earlier findings -- mainline Protestant churches are in decline, non-denominational churches are gaining and the ranks of the unaffiliated are growing -- it also provides a deeper look behind those trends, and of smaller religious groups.
"The American religious economy is like a marketplace - very dynamic, very competitive," said Luis Lugo, director of the Pew Forum. "Everyone is losing, everyone is gaining. There are net winners and losers, but no one can stand still. Those groups that are losing significant numbers have to recoup them to stay vibrant."
The U.S. Religious Landscape Survey estimates the United States is 78 percent Christian and about to lose its status as a majority Protestant nation, at 51 percent and slipping.
More than one-quarter of American adults have left the faith of their childhood for another religion or no religion at all, the survey found.
(Excerpt) Read more at wnbc.com ...
Hell is going to be crowded.
Because people have been sold a bill of goods that Christianity is too harsh and politically incorrect and that you can be a Christian and that Jesus can be re-defined to be a New Age kind of guy so you can say you are saved but continue in your worldly living. You just can’t call a sinner a sinner anymore lest they cry and demand an apology.
A result of the immediate gratification generation. They want to think of salvation as a back-up and last-minute prize. Old denominations like Baptist, the few remaining conservative Methodists, CoC, and Catholics don’t buy into it so these feel-gooders go elsewhere.
I think it is because the new philosophy is that the Church is an entity that is here to serve ‘me’, instead of ‘I and my full quiver, that I have honed and discipled in the admonition of the Lord, are here to serve the Church. Use us where you may.’
Church shopping is so popular nowadays with people looking for the best deal for their buck.
Mormons don’t buy into it either.
You know what, saying we’re going to hell because we don’t subscribe to your flavor of religion is pretty bad.
You know what, I believe in God and that Jesus was his son, and I pray to God and Jesus on my own.
I don’t really buy into any of the organized religions because I look at the hundreds of religions, and everyone saying they’re right and everyone else is going to hell and I have such a hard time there.
Don’t even get me started on the preachers on TV telling us we need to give more money to God whilst they’re rocking a diamond encrusted watch that cost more then some peoples houses.
I also have a hard time believing God is going to judge me by how often I sat in a building full of people kissing his hind quarters once a week and putting a few bucks in the plate.
So you want to know why more and more people are moving away from organized religion, there are just a few.
If I offend anyone I do apologize, but on the flip side I don’t want to hear I’m going to hell either.
I'm trying to understand this convoluted sentence. Does this mean that the ratio of Catholics to Protestants is going up, or are they counting the non-denominational churches as neither?
Seems the article's author is either spinning or just dumb.
The people will be easier to hoodwink once all that Jesus stuff has been put aside.
Well, many New Catholics (Post Vatican II) do come perilously close to "buying into it" but Traditional Catholics like myself definitely don't. New Catholics are notorious for un-sinning sin also, including priests in the confessional. Most of these New Age Christians will end up in the One World Religion of which we have been warned.
Who knows? I feel like we are all beta-testers for the MSM.
Seems the article's author is either spinning or just dumb.
Given the source you are probably correct on both points.
I think a lot of people are turned off by how PC some of the formerly bedrock churches have become.
I don’t know where they polled, we have over 100 coming into the church this Easter...
Not too harsh. But it is as harsh as God made it. I'm a practicing Christian. But I can't say that it's easy or that I like a lot of the changes I have had to make. But I have to make them because eternity is at stake. I know that in some sense His yoke is easy; but that hasn't been my experience.
I think a lot of our problem is that many Christian churches focus only on grace. You never hear mention of Hell in most churches. But that's the alternative to not being a Christian. If there isn't an understanding of the dreadful consequences of failing to accept Jesus, why should anyone accept him; when it requires change? Why should anyone bother to be faithful to their wife or to not steal money when they can get away with it? Unless they understand that they cannot, in the long run.
The fear of God is the first step in salvation. And eternity in Hell is scary. But our churches don't teach the fear of God. So in that sense, they are not nearly harsh enough. In one sense, teaching the Gospel is the kindest thing you can do. It's the way out. But it's the way out of what seems like a harsh regime.
I know God is just. And I accept that. But I don't like it one little bit that my brothers and sister are going to Hell if they die today. That's pretty harsh IMHO. Of course, my opinion, humble or otherwise, doesn't mean squat. God created things the way they are and it's not my job to tell Him how to do his. It's my job to get with the program.
More like uncatechized Catholics. Sure there are many more since Vatican II (mostly because of sheer numbers, poor Catholic education and poor parenting) but I believe all that the Church teaches even though I may not understand it all...who can?
I am still trying to find an essential truth that is being taught now that is different from what the Church taught prior to Vatican II but have been unable to find one...
What about this Sunday?
I completely agree. I was raised in the Methodist and Baptist churches. When I left home, I made it a point to visit as many different churches as possible (I stayed within Christianity), hoping to find one that suited me.
Guess I was a child of the 70’s because I came to the same conclusion as you............they’re all the same. Personally, I feel closer to God in the peaceful harmony of the outdoors.
Maybe not, but he might judge you in part on quasi-blasphemous comments you put on FreeRepublic.
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