American Religion: Becoming Less Exceptional

As noted in today's earlier post, Christianity is on a sharp decline in America - something I view as a positive phenomenon give religion's - and Christianity in particular - role in fueling hatred, division and all too often violence and death over the centuries. In 1972, 90% of Americans called themselves Christians; now just 64% of Americans do so.  As first blush, it is ironic that declines in churchgoers and religious affiliation has been the most severe among the so-called "mainline" denominations while the declines among evangelicals and the Southern Baptist Convention have been less severe.  The anomaly may derive from the fact that the mainline churches historically have included the most highly educated congregants while evangelical denominations continue to include the least educated - and by extension the least willing to think outside of brainwashing received as children and youth.  This correlation between education levels and church attendance underscores, in my view, why Christofascists/Republican politicians are attacking education - think Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott - since a highly educated population increasing correlates with less religious belief and a stronger likelihood of voting for Democrat candidates.  Meanwhile, younger generations view Christianity as toxic as it becomes increasingly synonymous with hypocrisy, hatred of others, homophobia and the white Christian nationalism that now defines the GOP.  A piece in The Economist looks at the trend. Here are excerpts (NOTE: the trend for Catholics is likely less accurate since dioceses keep you on the rolls even if you never darken a church door but have not affirmatively had yourself removed from the list of church members):

WHAT IS a shepherd without a flock? Many of America’s pastors may soon have to answer. In 2014, 3,700 Protestant churches closed, by 2019 that figure was 4,500, according to Lifeway Research, a non-profit organisation that provides resources for ministry. Many parishes simply do not have enough congregants to pay the bills. In 1972, 90% of Americans called themselves Christians; now just 64% do. The waning of religiosity in America is not new, of course. But newly released data shed light on where religious adherence has dropped most, and among which Christian denominations.

Every ten years the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB) attempts a tally of membership for every church in the country. It is a monumental feat of data-gathering, covering hundreds of religions and thousands of congregations. Figures for the 2020 census are now finally available. They issue a stark warning to the country’s “mainline” Christian denominations: membership of these old churches, such as the Methodists, Lutherans and Episcopalians, is shrinking at an alarming rate. . . . the number of Episcopalians and Methodists dropped by 19% each, and the Lutherans plunged by 25%. Presbyterians, a Protestant group characterised by disdain for flashy ceremony, lost nearly 1m (40%) of their members over the same period—the largest drop of the major denominations.

Catholics claim they gained nearly 3m members (a 5% increase) despite closing over 1,100 churches.  Geographically, the states with the highest shares of Catholics and mainline Protestants have seen the biggest drop in religious adherence  . . . . .

What has gone so wrong for America’s oldest churches? One answer is age. According to data from the Pew Research Centre, a think-tank, a majority of mainline Christians are over 50 and one-third are older than 65. Only about one in ten are under the age of 30. For many churches, older congregants are simply dying too quickly to be replaced by new members.

Another explanation is conversion. Pew finds that just over one-third of Americans between the ages of 30 and 39 who were brought up in Christian households no longer identify with that faith. But only 20% of young adults brought up outside the church have travelled in the opposite direction, making far more leavers than joiners. The problem has become even worse in recent years. According to Pew, in 1990 only one in ten Christian-raised adults between the ages of 30 and 34 became “switchers”. Rates have more than tripled since then.

Pew reckons that if these trends continue, the non-religious could become the dominant group in American society as soon as 2055. One concern is what the shepherds will do next. A deeper one is what happens to a wandering flock.