Posted on 05/15/2021 6:36:34 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
When I visit my family physician, he starts by checking my vitals. It’s amazing how critical are simple things like blood pressure, temperature and pulse.
We social scientists know that vital signs matter in organized religion, too. There are a lot of details we can look at, but basics such as how many people identify with churches, whether they attend services regularly, or apply their faith to their daily lives, are awful important. Here is what we know: the vital signs of American Christianity are in serious decline.
Recently, I compared crucial vital signs for Americans aged 18 to 44, surveyed in the respected National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG). I compared the data released in 2013 to the same survey released just six years later, in 2019. Here’s what the data show:
For both males and females, membership in evangelical Protestant, mainline Protestant, and historically black Protestant churches declined a lot. Meanwhile, those professing no religious faith — called “nones” in sociological circles — rose sharply: from 26% to 38% among males, and from 22% to 28% among females. Within each of these three divisions of Protestantism, the percentages of both males and females who reported attending church every week or more declined quite a bit, while those who attended rarely or never increased. The percentages of both males and females who claimed that their faith is “very important” in their daily lives also sank in each of these Protestant groups.
Mainline Protestantism, especially, is on life support. In this survey and age group, the numbers went down one-fifth, and were only 12% in the latest NSFG. Among mainliners, only 20% of males and 28% of females went to church every week, 28% of males and 18% of females said that they never go to church, and only 28% of males and 40% of females considered their faith to be very important. Optimistically, this means that less than 5% of Americans from 18- to-44 are actively committed to a mainline Protestant church.
This is a double decline whammy. The numbers are dropping, and the commitment of those who remain is also falling among our young and early middle-aged adults. The future of American Protestantism is in steep decline.
What about Catholics? Their percentages have declined for males but not females, and they are holding at a little under one quarter of those 18 to 44. However, their church attendance levels edged downward for both males and females.
In the last NSFG, less than one in five Catholic males, and a little over one in three females, attended Mass weekly. Those never or rarely going to mass increased. And while the percentage of Catholic women in this age group who consider their faith “very important” has held steady at about half, males have declined somewhat in this category and are now down to less than one in three.
So every major wing of American Christianity declined just in this latest six-year period. To make matters worse, these were the alarming vital signs well before the COVID-19 tsunami. By all accounts, church involvement has plummeted enormously since Spring 2020, and will struggle to revive to even close to these dismal 2019 levels. The only question is how much steeper the ongoing decline will be because of the pandemic, not whether there will be one.
This is not a problem that will only impact the survival of churches representing most of American Christianity. Committed religious faith has long been associated with numerous goods in American life, such as higher marriage and fertility rates, lower divorce, more charitable giving, and the vitality of religious organizations serving their local communities.
This is a loss for all of us.
The patient is gravely ill, but she is not dead. Many of us know, and are even part of, flourishing churches. Most of us are not “nones” yet, and most of us who are not are professing Christians.
Churches should certainly be doing outreach, but more than that, we need to do a lot more “in-reach.” That is, we need to aggressively reach out to those who claim to be part of our church families but lack commitment, to gather with the church week by week, and to live consistently with the faith we profess. If our commitment is lackluster, how can our churches recapture the nones? Why would they even want to join us?
Now is a great time to start. Go to church this Sunday, connect with the people, approach God in prayer and worship, soak up the sermon, reach out to your brothers and sisters, encourage them by your presence and care. Do what faithful Christians have done for over 2,000 years.
See you in church.
My former denomination seemed more interested in gay marriage and leftist activism than evangelism. Walked after 19 years.
Don’t look back. You might turn into a pillar of salt.
Most of the churches in "mainline" Protestantism have been "progressive" theologically for some time.
Home churches are growing in my area.
RE: Most of the churches in “mainline” Protestantism have been “progressive” theologically for some time.
What about the Catholics? The church officially has not changed theologically, but still there’s decline in attendance.
When any of the older ones I respect these days passes away, I say ‘All the good ones are leaving.’
Churches should certainly be doing outreach, but more than that, we need to do a lot more “in-reach.”
I almost disagree with this one. My experience says that most that leave and do not go anywhere else, are happy the way they are. Others, as we all know, hop and hop and hop from church to church. It all is a problem for Christianity, and it seems in our area at least, any under 40 don’t want anything to do with it.
The Catholic Church has become less appealing as they make the liturgy and teaching more and more protestantized.
The american christianity may be in a decline but the Church is in good shape. God has just been cleansing it of the tares. The “vitals” mentioned in the article are not the real measures. And we don;t need to do either outreach nor inreach for the sake of growing numbers. God uses the remnant, the way of life is narrow and God has hidden many that have not bowed the knee to baal.
Christianity is always under attack. It has been since our Lord Christ Jesus walked the earth. He Himself stated to his disciples that they will hate you as they hated me. But, Christianity will never be Critically in doubt. For the Lord is with us always. And, His return, date unknown to us, is a certainty when the time is ripe.
Too many churches and pastors are proLGBTXYQ and pro- abortion.
The person sitting the Vatican seldom speaks of Jesus and Salvation preferring mother earth and islam
When a Pope kissed a Koran it was a sign of submission. I doubt Christ was pleased.
I know someone who goes to one of those churches and is very active in it. Church leader is a homosexual man in a "marriage" of sodomy to another man. I don't know how this person I know squares all of this with what the Bible teaches.
They’ll never count me
100% devoted to Jesus Christ !
Will NEVER SET FOOT IN A MODERN CHURCH ⛪️
Poll THAT !
Got Pachamama? ... And you ask about change?
RE: Got Pachamama?
What does this goddess have to do with Roman Catholicism?
I thought Catholics teach people to obey the 10 commandments.
Are you serious? The pope of Rome brings a pagan icon into the Vatican and includes it in thegang of idols there, and you can’t figure out the implications? LOL
RE: The pope of Rome brings a pagan icon into the Vatican and includes it in thegang of idols there, and you can’t figure out the implications?
Maybe just as a souvenir?
I mean he’s not teaching Catholics to worship them is he?
Christ saves.
One hundred years ago, people who had grown up very religious in the early years of the century turned away from religion for the excitements of the Roaring Twenties, and went left in the Thirties. American history is a long cycle of religious "Great Awakenings" and the secular and irreligious eras that followed them
Frankly, most churches these days preach a milquetoast, weak message. Always love love love. Never repent repent repent. Seemingly never calling out the current evils in our society. Just love love love, and something along the lines of “Gods got it”. We don’t have to do anything except “trust”.
It’s weak. People don’t want to hear that garbage.
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.