The separation between church and Oregon

A new national study updates a chapter in the Oregon biography that is as constant as rain: We are the most unchurched state in the nation.

Less than one-third of Oregonians -- compared with about half of all Americans -- belong to religious denominations and groups surveyed by the Glenmary Research Center, a Tennessee-based center affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church. The study, which surveyed 149 religious groups, is widely viewed as the most comprehensive look at religious affiliation in the United States.

Oregon has always ranked low in religious affiliation. In 1890, before the U.S. Census stopped asking such questions, 22 percent of Oregonians told the government they attended church.

A century later in 1990, Nevada held the bottom spot, but Oregon was next with 32 percent of the population considered "churched." In the new study, which cites 2000 church membership figures, Oregon's affiliation rate dropped to 31 percent.

Nationally, the percentage of church-goers also is declining, from 55 percent in 1990 to about 50 percent in 2000. The national trend could signal that the Northwest -- long considered a laggard region behind a more religious nation -- is actually at the forefront of change, said David McCloskey, a Seattle University sociologist who studies religious affiliation.

"Rather than Oregon and Washington being historical anomalies -- 'We're weird, and someday we'll grow up and become more religious' -- the whole country is becoming less churched," McCloskey said. "Instead of us representing the past, we may be representing the future."

Researchers for Glenmary didn't ask why the other 69 percent of Oregonians don't belong to any of the religious groups surveyed. Sociologists and historians interviewed by The Oregonian point to various reasons:

People in Oregon and throughout the Northwest are more mobile than elsewhere, and people who move a lot have weaker connections to social institutions, including religious ones.

Oregon and the Northwest in general have never had a dominant religious culture, unlike the Baptist South or the Catholic and Lutheran Midwest.

And although people in the Northwest are less churched, many still are spiritual or seek spiritual connections. "It's not that they don't take things to be sacred in their lives, or cultivate spirituality in their own lives," said Mark Shibley, a sociologist of religion at Southern Oregon University. "It's just that they do it outside of mainstream institutions."

Of those who do belong to such groups, the study reports that evangelical and charismatic churches are growing in Oregon as well as nationally, while moderate Protestant denominations such as the United Methodist Church continue to lose members.

Roman Catholics, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Assemblies of God, an oldline Pentecostal denomination, hold the top three spots in Oregon and also are growing. But their growth rates in Oregon have been outpaced by the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, a Pentecostal group whose state membership has grown by 50 percent in the past decade.

The Glenmary study, conducted every 10 years, relies on religious groups to provide the membership figures. Some large denominations chose not to participate or are not reflected in the data, including several African American denominations, Jehovah's Witnesses and certain independent evangelical Christian churches that are prevalent in Oregon and the Northwest.

In addition, the study estimates that 1.6 million Muslims live in the United States, a figure rejected by a coalition of Islamic groups, which puts the figure at 7 million.

Yet the report is valuable to those who study national religious trends because it provides county-by-county breakdowns and allows for decade-to-decade comparisons. Among the findings: Roman Catholics are still the largest religious body in Oregon, growing by 68,600 adherents from 1990 to 2000. Assemblies of God, ranked fourth in 1990 behind the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, became the third-largest group in Oregon in 2000. Lutherans, who lost 2,100 members, slipped to fourth. Multnomah County posted a religious affiliation rate of 46 percent, far higher than suburban counties. That's in part because of the high number of churches in Multnomah County that draw members from across the metro area. The survey counts where people attend church, not where they live. The four metro areas in the nation with the lowest percentage of religious affiliation all are along the Interstate 5 corridor from central Oregon to Northern California: Eugene, Corvallis, Medford and Redding, Calif. Less than one in four people in each area are affiliated with religious groups surveyed. Foursquare Gospel churches -- such as the 5,000-plus congregations of Beaverton Foursquare and East Hill Foursquare in Gresham -- added 15,000 members in Oregon from 1990 to 2000, a 50.6 percent jump.

The study, which was released this week, doesn't break down the 69 percent of unaffiliated Oregonians into atheists, agnostics or unaffiliated believers. As a result, academics who study religion in the Northwest say that the figure tells only part of the story.

The American Religious Identification Survey, in which researchers at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York surveyed individuals instead of religious bodies, found that only 25 percent of people surveyed in the Northwest identify themselves as nonreligious.

The other 75 percent said they are connected to a religious tradition -- even though they don't show up on church or synagogue membership rolls.

According to his research, Shibley says, a significant number of those people fall into at least three categories: New Age believers; people whose spirituality is connected to environmental activism; and a small number of members of radical groups such as Aryan Nation and the Christian Patriots, who claim theological justification for their cause.

In addition, Oregon and the Northwest have greater religious diversity and higher rates of alternative spiritual practices, because no one religious body has a "lock on the marketplace," said Patricia Killen, a religion professor at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma.

"There's a lot of spiritual experimentation and trying of things on," Killen said, "but people historically out here have not been inclined to 'do religion' in more conventional ways."

Many UM churches are "moderate", even liberal. My husband grew up in one, hardly heard the gospel his whole life. His pastor used to play golf and drink bourbon with his dad. When we moved to NJ, we first attended a UM church because that's what my husband was accustomed to (at the time he thought my Baptist upbringing was extreme), but we only lasted a few weeks because the pastor was completely liberal and it was all feel-good, do something nice for someone this week sermons. One particular that I remember was based entirely on Saving Private Ryan - he recounted the script rather than reference scripture. Another general example - there are a number of UM churches with openly gay pastors these days.

And I know there are some very good UM churches, but the denominational hierarchy has certainly drifted to the left.

Your point is well taken agrace. I guess my point was that what many people in Oregon (especially the Oregonian) and the nation today call "moderate", to most of us here on FreeRepublic is hard-left liberal.

Many UM churches are "moderate", even liberal.,/i>

Add gay and non-christian. I accompanied a member of one UM church to his church. They had a pamplet advising visitors that the church was there to welcome them into their community, not convert them.

Religion in Oregon

Here is another study from 1990 which includes everything from Christianity to Wiccans, Pagans, Ramakrishna, and Islam. It put Catholic as first in numbers in Oregon at that time, Mormon as second and Evangelical Lutherans as third.

Well, this shouldn't be a shock to me, but it was. Explains alot why 75% of the people I know are selfish, narrow minded bigots. Next to being critisized for being politically active, I get nailed for going to church by these heathens and I don't go nearly as much as I should. I'm tired of fighting the madness in this state. The only relative I have who even acknowledges the importance of "church" sends their kids to a catholic school, but can't even be bothered to attend themselves. They simply push their own responsibility off on the church. It's a sad commentary on this state. I'm really ready to leave.

>...kids to a catholic school, but can't even be bothered to attend themselves.

Look what that teaches the kids. They will think, "When you're a kid you have to do boring things like go to catholic school, but when you are grown-up you can do anything you like." Cultural hypocrisy.

Nice to see you back. We thought you might be a cellmate with Ruth Chr!istine or worse. Nowhere is safe. Consider Chile.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.