There are those who attack me for saying that the Christianists are killing Christianity, but a new survey done by the Barna Group confirms that Americans are leaving Christianity at a rate four times greater than the rate of those converting to Christianity. Not surprisingly, among the driving factors are the perception that religious leaders are hypocrites and disagreement with church positions on specific issues such as homosexuality, abortion or birth control. In other bad news for the Christianists, another Barna study documents the decline in teenagers' involvement in Christian related activities. *
Sooner or later a belief system that rejects knowledge, encourages hatred towards others, and is lead by pompous, money and power mad leaders is going to run into trouble. To be clear, I do not condemn all Christians or all Christian denominations. However, the far right elements of Christianity in the USA leading the so-called culture wars are the ones getting the media coverage and in the process sending out a truly ugly image to the world. This ugly form of Christianity deserves to die and, frankly, the sooner the better. The Barna study results also show that religion/faith are anything but immutable - something that may yet bite the Christianists in the ass when they argue against civil equality for LGBT Americans. Here are highlights from the Barna survey analysis:
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Anne Rice is not alone. She shares a spiritual profile with nearly 60 million other adults nationwide. In the Barna study, the matter of faith switching was explored in several ways. . . . nearly one-quarter of adults (23%) had moved from one faith or faith tradition to another.
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The most common type of spiritual shift was from those who were Christian, Protestant or Catholic in childhood to those who currently report being atheist, agnostic or some other faith. In total, this group represents about one out of every eight adults (12%), a category that might be described as ex-Christians. Converts to Christianity (those converting from another faith or from non-belief as a child to the Christian faith as an adult) represent 3% of the population.
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The most common reasons for moving away from Christianity included life experiences, such as gaining new knowledge or education; feeling disillusioned with church and religion; feeling the church is hypocritical; having negative experiences in churches; being in disagreement with Christianity about specific issues such as homosexuality, abortion or birth control; feeling the church is too authoritarian; wanting to express their faith outside of church; and searching for a new faith or wanting to experience other religions.
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With respect to declining teenager involvement, the Barna Group found among other things as follows:
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Sunday school participation has declined from 35% of all teenagers in 1997 to 30% of teens in the current study; small group attendance was down from 30% to 21%; the proportion of teens who reported donating any of their own money to church has softened from 35% to 26% over the last dozen years; and even the typically ubiquitous practice of prayer has dropped from 81% to 71% among teens since 1997.
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[E]ven when compared to past behavior among self-identified Catholic teens, today’s young Catholics exhibit diminished religious engagement. The current data show that Catholic teens are less likely to attend Sunday school, small groups, and to donate than were Catholic teenagers 12 years ago.
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I hope Benedict XVI, James Dobson, Tony Perkins and others who traffic in intolerance and the denigration of others are pleased with their handiwork. People are watching and the nasty, un-Christian, Pharisee like behavior is not going unnoticed.
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Anne Rice is not alone. She shares a spiritual profile with nearly 60 million other adults nationwide. In the Barna study, the matter of faith switching was explored in several ways. . . . nearly one-quarter of adults (23%) had moved from one faith or faith tradition to another.
*
The most common type of spiritual shift was from those who were Christian, Protestant or Catholic in childhood to those who currently report being atheist, agnostic or some other faith. In total, this group represents about one out of every eight adults (12%), a category that might be described as ex-Christians. Converts to Christianity (those converting from another faith or from non-belief as a child to the Christian faith as an adult) represent 3% of the population.
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The most common reasons for moving away from Christianity included life experiences, such as gaining new knowledge or education; feeling disillusioned with church and religion; feeling the church is hypocritical; having negative experiences in churches; being in disagreement with Christianity about specific issues such as homosexuality, abortion or birth control; feeling the church is too authoritarian; wanting to express their faith outside of church; and searching for a new faith or wanting to experience other religions.
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With respect to declining teenager involvement, the Barna Group found among other things as follows:
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Sunday school participation has declined from 35% of all teenagers in 1997 to 30% of teens in the current study; small group attendance was down from 30% to 21%; the proportion of teens who reported donating any of their own money to church has softened from 35% to 26% over the last dozen years; and even the typically ubiquitous practice of prayer has dropped from 81% to 71% among teens since 1997.
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[E]ven when compared to past behavior among self-identified Catholic teens, today’s young Catholics exhibit diminished religious engagement. The current data show that Catholic teens are less likely to attend Sunday school, small groups, and to donate than were Catholic teenagers 12 years ago.
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I hope Benedict XVI, James Dobson, Tony Perkins and others who traffic in intolerance and the denigration of others are pleased with their handiwork. People are watching and the nasty, un-Christian, Pharisee like behavior is not going unnoticed.
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