Protestant pastors reported that typical church attendance is only 85% of pre-pandemic levels, McConnell said, while research by the Survey Center on American Life and the University of Chicago found that in spring 2022 67% of Americans reported attending church at least once a year, compared with 75% before the pandemic.
At a time of a global "pandemic", people turned to their church only to be told; "We're an extension of government. Stay home. Put on a mask. Take an experimental jab."
Who would return?
It’s because of the leftists and communists and LGBTQ sodomites taking over so many churches!
Most churches have gone ‘woke’ from what I can tell. They are hardly recognizable as Christian institutions anymore... especially the old establishment mainline churches.
The Guardian, that leftist wipe, has not noticed the parking lots of nondenominational churches, which are jammed for four and five services on Sunday. The mainline denominations are losing membership while the nondenominational churches have to hire off duty cops to direct traffic, or bus parishioners in from remote parking. People are not losing their faith.
Until and unless this nation repents and returns to God and God's laws, we are doomed.
There are no secular fixes that will resolve our loss of freedom and civility.
I don’t know about all religions in the USA, but as someone that was raised an Episcopalian, using the traditional prayer book, when the Church went charismatic, embracing speaking in tongues and many other liberal tenants, it drove many traditional Episcopalians away.
In the Catholic faith, I think a lot of people have been turned off by the seemingly never-ending Priest sexual scandals and the garbage coming out of the current Pope.
People adopt a faith for many reasons, but when their adopted faith turns far away from what they believe, the people will abandon that faith.
Same thing happening in all other major religions. Except Islam. In another 100 years the whole world will live under sharia if the trend continues.
“...a figure that experts believe may have accelerated since the Covid-19 pandemic.”
I believe that was one of the goals of the COVID hysteria. Destroy the economy, destroy churches, isolate everyone, and increase domestic violence, and child abuse. Then start nationwide rioting followed by destroying the police forces. The perfect outcome as far as the Media-Dem Party is concerned.
A great many churches today, particularly the larger ones, are more about tithing than anything else. I don’t know if they get big and the money consumes them, or if they are in it for the money from the start. Our little church never shut down.
This was a well written article, but they failed to mention a big factor in young people showing less interest in church or Christianity in general:
The public school system has been working since the 1990s to scrub away as much Christian influence as they can.
Now on top of that, you have CRT influenced new teachers who may consider anything Christian to be evidence of White Privilege or the toxic male patriarchy.
Its because 4-walled, TV, organized $$$ religion is a scam.
Comming from a life-long Christian born and raised in the church.
I’ll tell you what.
I’m sure there are fewer “religious” people.
BUT, the churches are less “religious”, too.
Since the Scamdemic, it has come out big time who our enemies are. That includes churches, especially all the “mainstream” churches.
They have shuttered their doors, and immediately bowed to BLM for their rioting, then quickly followed with rainbow f(l)ags and welcomed and enabled all this sinful behavior from all corners.
Many of us don’t have the stomach for this garbage anymore. We feel abandoned and betrayed.
Never mind lots of this was happening before Scamdemic rioting, and lots of bowing to foolish modernistic garbage.
Yes, I mean those “non-denominational” all-happy all-music-concert (often hippie-like when not loud rock concert) all the time churches - which has spilled over to the mainstream.
I have “traditional” churches playing this stupid 7-11 (7 words, repeat 11 times) stuff, and “youth” people with nose rings and tattoos doing Sunday School. In regular, mainstream churches, and those not quite mainstream but supposedly more “conservative”.
I’m sick of it.
Too many Churches tell you the same thing that you can hear on television . Why would anyone go?
And let’s be honest : half the country is morbidly obese , addicted to anti depression medication , pain killers , gambling and online pornography. They made their choice to turn away from religion a long time ago.
A man has many masters as he has vices and the goverment realized it’s easier to control the population if they promote immorality
Anyone looking for a church with sound, solid, rich, verse-by-verse teaching of the Bible (video, audio, written transcripts, live-streaming, etc.), all freely accessible online, try:
West Houston Bible Church
Dr. Robert L. Dean
About the pastor: https://www.deanbible.org/dr-robert-dean
Live-stream: https://www.deanbible.org/live
Free Bible classes (archives) : https://www.deanbible.org/bible-studies
Doctrinal statement: https://www.deanbible.org/doctrinal-statement
Home page: https://www.deanbible.org/
Sugar Land Bible Church
Dr. Andy Woods
About the pastor: https://slbc.org/about/pastoral-staff/
Live-stream: https://slbc.org/media/watch-live/
Free Bible classes (archives) : https://slbc.org/media/sermon-archives/
Doctrinal statement: https://slbc.org/about/statement-of-beliefs/
Home page: https://slbc.org/
I always post John 3:8 but arrogant pastors would rather lose their congregants than listen to the word of God:
The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
When the spirit of God moves the church must follow just like the fire by night in the days of Moses.
Franco Harris the NFL great used to be known for a particular catch he made.
It was called the Immaculate Reception.
I would bet money that the majority of football fans under the age of 40 would need to ask their fathers where that phrase came from? “What does “immaculate reception” mean? It was a clean catch?”
Wiser fans already know it was borrowed from the Bible story of how Mary became ‘with child’ even though she was still a virgin. Most young people would never have the opportunity to learn these stories and proverbs unless the parents made sure they were exposed to such literature early in life.
Decline is a choice - this is true for nations, and it’s also true for religions.
A thought.
The NEW COVENANT is a PERSONAL relationship with God, not an INSTITUTIONAL relationship like the old.
Get your Bibles out and God says very, clearly what God says about the NEW Covenant.
Hint for those with Bibles:
Jer 31:33
and it is also in Hebrews.
I have been spending a lot of time with people in their 20’s and 30’s lately, socially. My son got married and my other son and his wife are expecting, so we have been to more gatherings of their friends than usual.
Both of my boys are on the conservative side of things. My youngest is in the police academy and is a very conservative Christian. My eldest is a little less conservative.
At the wedding of my younger son I was pleasantly surprised to find most of his friends to be conservative, church going, level-headed young adults. Even among this group almost everyone was tattooed and pierced. Heavy sigh. It was interesting, however, when it came to COVID, there was a definite split in opinion. Some otherwise conservatives suddenly became fearful sheep and almost bragged about the number of shots they had received while others boasted about how they stood up to their employers and refused to take the clot shot. They attend church fairly regularly, but not every week. The biggest excuse for not going to church seems to be work. There were some who were in real estate who need to show houses on Sunday, others who are low on the totem pole in retail and get stuck working Sundays. They seemed to blame their employers for being open on Sunday as to why they couldn’t attend church. There was a lot of discussion as to how great their small groups were as opposed to the actual worship services on Sunday and how much more they get out of those.
It was worse among my older son’s friends. He married a Mormon girl and they “compromised” by not really attending either one’s church regularly. He still reads the Bible and we discuss such matters, but he does not attend any church. His friends are mostly from work and he works in elevator service and installation. These are blue collar, union member guys. On one hand, they seem sort of conservative, but then it goes off into la la land. They believe in the 2nd Amendment. They believe in closing the border. They also believe we should raise taxes on the rich, give free education through college to everyone and provide free healthcare to everyone. Student loan debt should be forgiven and that should be paid for by “the billionaires”. They aren’t too keen on gay or trans rights, but they also think women should have the right to an abortion. As for church going, about 80% of them were Catholic, but few of those attend regularly. They seem to feel that the church is a bunch of old people with old ideas that don’t address the issues facing the world today.