you’re speaking from a former Catholic perspective of whom some I know are lapsed or just going through the motions...they were raised Catholic but their faith has faded ...I’m not sure why...it happens in Southern Baptist some but to a much less degree...fear maybe or cultural pressure or just a different belief system I don’t know
in the South most folks still believe seriously (maybe not so much those under 30 but they will come around due to their raising)
a majority go to church too
you don’t have to go to church to believe in God-Christ...I don’t much....I do it for my kid’s sake....it’s never been an end all for me like some but I do believe
I am a perfect example of how God works in how my life unfolds and how I have suffered my own transgressions and my own redemption. Anyone really knows my story will attest to that.
I’m not being critical I like you but you’re resorting to the perspective skepticals often do which is that one must be very devout nor pious to be true. That is simply not how it works.
God listens to sinners just the same...maybe more.
poll after poll show 75-85% Christian...and of the other 15-25% only 1/3 of those claim another religion...meaning...5% of population claims to be another religion besides Christian so it sounds to me like the lapsed Christians are already counted in the “no-religion” 10-20%
meaning 75-85% believing Christians...which is easy to recognize down here or say in latino areas like Miami
You are very correct in that the level of religious observance and the influence of Christianity remain heaviest in the south (among both blacks and whites), weakest in New England and the west (outside of the Mormon enclaves and places like Colorado Springs), with the upper Midwest being somewhere in between (although too many old school Lutherans in Minnesota and Wisconsin vote DFL/Democrat, despite being regular attendees).
The secularization of the heavily Catholic regions of the US (Mid-Atlantic, lower and coastal New England, and, to a lesser extent, the rust belt) and the decline in influence of the Church in those areas (despite what the K of C/Kool Aid Catholics on this site will tell you) is a phenomenon that deserves further study. The "Quiet Revolution" did not just occur in Quebec.