Posted on 03/29/2021 12:03:45 PM PDT by lightman
Even with Easter less than a week away, America just isn’t into churches anymore.
For the first time in eight decades, and likely ever, church membership for those in a country built on the freedom to worship has fallen below 50%.
The latest Gallup survey on church membership — a data point the polling firm first asked about in 1937 — said just 47% of Americans belong to a church, synagogue, or mosque.
The historic decline comes as fewer and fewer Americans are attending church, and more, especially younger adults, are claiming to have no affiliation with any religion.
Every group Gallup broke out suffered declines in church membership.
The group with the highest church membership was Republicans, at 65%. Just 46% of Democrats are church members. The group with the lowest percentage of membership was liberals at 35%.
Gallup said that America remains a religious nation but that people are getting further and further away from actively participating. And, Gallup added, the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions on church attendance didn’t help.
“The U.S. remains a religious nation, with more than seven-in-10 affiliating with some type of organized religion. However, far fewer, now less than half, have a formal membership with a specific house of worship. While it is possible that part of the decline seen in 2020 was temporary and related to the coronavirus pandemic, continued decline in future decades seems inevitable, given the much lower levels of religiosity and church membership among younger versus older generations of adults,” said the polling outfit.
It also said that in America, possibly at least three churches close a day.
"While precise numbers of church closures are elusive, a conservative estimate is that thousands of U.S. churches are closing each year," said Gallup.
The group with the highest church membership was Republicans, at 65%.
Just 46% of Democrats are church members.
The group with the lowest percentage of membership was liberals at 35%.
Republicans must back Trump or they die.
Churches must preach the Bible, and not some ‘woke’ versions or they’ll die.
Happening now.
75% of the chuches in our Catholic Diocese have shut down over the last 20 years.
The Catholic Bishops locked down the Churches before they were ordered by the government. Most Catholic Churches still have crazy restrictions - masks - tickets - every other pew is blocked off.
Families who left will not be back.
Mostly from self-inflicted wounds, everything from pedophile priests to a Commie Pope. Normal people don’t make big waves whining about how unhappy they are. They just quietly leave.
maybe this will be the catalyst for strong, Bible based teachers to rise up. Church leadership is currently VERY weak.
Our church has tripled in the last year. Goes through the bible with no skipping.
And how many Catholics left, based on the how the Catholic Church handled priest molestation cases?
Since the sex scandals came to light, Catholics have let lawyers determine policy for their churches.
Liberalism is poisonous to religion, and every religion that embraces it signs its own death warrant. As in all denominations, liberalism in the Catholic Church has been chiefly responsible for its decline over the past 50 years. Do the cardinals and bishops recognize that? A few do, but most don’t. Most of ‘em aim to double or triple down on the very liberalism that caused the problems in the first place.
Yep. Walked away from my church when it said gay marriage was OK and ordained homosexual clergy.
Most of the priest-molesters (>90%) were/are simply homosexual males engaging in their standard behavior thing with post-pubescent males. The prevalence and power of these homosexual predators is both a symptom and a cause of the liberalism in the Catholic Church.
The left has systematically infiltrated and split through schism, every major religion in the US. Since conservatives rejected this, they were the ones who had to leave, the leftists greedily clutching the church assets.
But though smaller, the conservative churches are returning to their core values, and as such will become stronger and more resilient over time; as the leftist side loses both congregants and the assets they squander.
The so called corporate guilt like BLM induced guilt will destroy a lot of churches.
No one in our family ever owned a slave, no grandparent nor great grand parent.
We are not guilty of any sins that might have been done centuries before us!
I do not get the self-proclaimed difference between Democrat
and Liberal.
Look at who their political leaders are, and tell me any of
us could look ourselves in the mirror knowing our votes helped
usher that in.
Democrats are filth. Period.
The sooner they grasp that, the sooner they can move on to
a wholesome nation loving group.
>>And how many Catholics left, based on the how the Catholic Church handled priest molestation cases?
Bingo - I can’t even see a priest/cardinal/bishop anymore without wondering how many children he has molested.
My membership isn’t with a church.
How many were Christian anyway? How many were just social worshipers?
I fear what is coming. I don’t fear for myself, but my children.
Meanwhile, attendance at parishes that offer the pre-1970s Latin Mass went through the roof. They're not as persnickity about sheep masks.
From the pollsters:
continued decline seems inevitable, given the much lower levels of religiosity and church membership among younger versus older generations
At the same time, enthusiasm for the Latin Mass has been booming among college-age Catholics for years. Creating converts and reverts. All around the country, and in Western Europe. They've been marrying young, and having lots and lots of kids.
I would guess something parallel is happening among young Evangelicals.
Guess who will be the growing demographic bulge over the next generations--since wokester jokesters don't believe in normal reproduction.
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