Posted on 05/14/2015 7:33:07 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Contrary to recent reports based on studies that emphasize the growth of non-religious people in the United States and the decline of church attendance, Christianity in America is not dying, according to a new survey that examines the nuances and complexities of how people self-identify with faith by Waco,Texas-based Baylor University.
Scholars from Baylor University's Institute of Religion said during a recent conference that reports highlighting the departure of millenials from the organized religion of their parents are being greatly exaggerated.
"There's a story some people want to report — that religion is on life support — but it's just not true," said Byron Johnson, professor of the social sciences at Baylor and founding director of the Institute for Studies of Religion.
Johnson explains in The Baylor Religion Survey that surveys reporting a massive exodus of millenials from religion are misinterpreting the data. Many of these young adults have only stopped attending church for a few years or identify with a non-denominational church rather than a mainline denomination and have not abandoned Christianity.
While mainline Protestant denominations have declined 49 percent from 1960 to 2000, evangelicals and other religious groups have grown at a faster rate, according to Johnson. Religious "switching," or people moving from one tradition to another is not being considered by many researchers and reporters.
The Baylor Religion Survey explores the nuances and complexities of how people self-identify with faith and asks follow-up questions of people who indicated "no religion." Many of these same people identified with specific congregations.
"When they do list a church, it's often high-octane religion such as non-denominational evangelical congregations," said Johnson.
A recent Pew Survey, pointed to the decline of the Christian population in the U.S. The drop in the number of Christians was most evident among young adults.
The data, which examined religious affiliation from 2007 to 2014 showed that the shrinking population of Christians in the U.S. was due to the decline of Catholics and mainline Protestants. The number of people identifying as Evangelicals saw a very small decrease during those years dropping from 26.3 percent to 25.4 percent.
The unaffiliated category saw an increase from 12.1 to 15.8 percent and atheism grew from 1.6 percent in 2007 to 3.1 percent in 2014.
Russell Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, recently addressed the Pew study and said the perceived increase of "nones" and decrease of Christians is "good news" for the church.
"Christianity isn't normal anymore. It never should have been. The increasing strangeness of Christianity might be bad news for America, but it's good news for the church," said Moore. "The major newspapers are telling us today that Christianity is dying, according to this new study, but what is clear from this study is exactly the opposite: while mainline traditions plummet, evangelical churches are remaining remarkably steady."
Moore also stated that the rise of honest atheists in America that can be seen in the Pew Study shows that people are rejecting "almost-Christianity," or traditions that "jettison the historic teachings of the church as soon as they become unfashionable."
"The churches that are thriving are vibrant, countercultural congregations that aren't afraid to not be seen as normal to the surrounding culture," he said. "This report actually leaves me hopeful."
The “Hockey Stick” curve from Global Warming redux.
As the Christian faith grows in the southern nations, they will be the ones to send the missionaries to the USA and the west.
I could get any polled put in favor for my own agenda based on where I poll.
For instance if I want to make it look like we are not a Christian nation then I would poll in certain Dem areas in the north east.
If I wanted to make it appear that most want homosexual sham marriage then I would poll in that same area in Boston, Chicago, NY City etc. I f I wanted to make it appear that the country is opposed then I will poll in more rural areas, in the south and Midwest.
Plus some folks who have Christian faith, concerned that they do not want to be attacked, will sadly do some “little white lies” to poll takers.
I am reminded of the Soviet era story about two Communist apparatchiks visiting a church.
The one says to the other, “See, Comrade, the only people here are old women! The triumph of state atheism is at hand! Soon there will be no believers in Russia!”
The other shakes his head and says, “No, Comrade, there will always be old women.”
Translation:
Those same “old women” are the ones who PRAY for their children and grandchildren and pass along the faith.
exactly
I don’t know how Christianity is being defined here. Are they talking about organized religion, that is official religious denominations? If so, membership here in the US I think is on the decline. Especially in the mainline Protestant churches and the Catholic Church both of which have been moving far to the Left in recent years. The Catholic Church is still recovering from the devastating impact of the pedophile-homosexual priest scandal which shattered the credibility of the clergy among millions of the laity. Further, here in the L.A. Archdiocese, the Church was saddled with an enormous $660 million settlement for the victims of abusive priests. I suspect this will take us many decades to recover from.
Maybe fewer people are going to traditional churches. There doesn’t seem to be any shortage of churches where I live - new ones springing up all the time.
I would examine the results of the polls that occur in November of even-numbered years ...
What’s missing is that a huge number of very committed Christians have completely had it with institutional/denominational Christianity and have left same so they could continue their walk with God.
They haven’t “left the church” because the church is the living body of Christ comprised of all true believers in Christ, and they are very much in fellowship with other believers, but in the context of house churches, personal relationships, etc. very much like the book of Acts. Some say they are experiencing more “church” than ever before.
A sociologist has a new book on them and he calls them the “Dones” and says research indicates that as many as 30% of all Americans fall in this category.
http://www.lifestream.org/blog
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1470725924/lifestream
Our scripture-based church has a steady rate of growth and a great representation across all ages.
I see a decline in people pretending to be Christian because it is no longer useful for social climbing.
Is not all this: abortion, gay rights, homosexual marriage, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, sex and genetic marker death of fetuses through abortion, frozen embryos(souls) that someone will eventually pull the freezer cord on, the human secularist(the world) war against Chrisitianity on the rise, are not all these things evidence of the ascendency of evil and the descendency of Christianity.
Freedom, Equality and Rights are being pushed to their illogical ends.
Christianity is declining, but like the Phoenix.....
Any thoughts on this?
Politically I see little indication that even 50% of this country is Christian; they are only getting the number as high as they have because they are including pro-abortion, pro-”gay marriage” people in it (who just call themselves “Christian”).
Surveys like this will never mean anything really. There are too many who attend some church for reasons that have nothing to do with being a follower of Christ. Family connections, tradition, social gathering, etc. Most simply identify with the “church” they attend whether part of a recognized denomination or not.
Maybe it means nothing more than that people are more willing to stop being hypocrites and playing church.
Church attendance, membership, affiliation, whatever, is no measure of the genuineness of someone’s profession of faith.
I know some denominations do cling to that paradigm, but I don’t see it that way.
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