15,000 Churches Could Close This Year

One irony is that even as MAGA Republicans are trying to inject religion into the nation's public school through forced daily prayer, forced display of the Ten Commandments and the replacement of trained school counselors with "chaplains", it is estimated that 15,000 churches across the country will likely close this year.  Some estimates go further and forecast that 100,000 churches will close over the next decade.  Many of these churches that face closure are churches within so-called mainline denominations and Catholic churches, but evangelical churches are not immune from loss of members since on a daily basis their pastors get caught up in sex abuse and child porn scandals. A case in point, Texas megachurch pastor Robert Preston Morris of Gateway Church in the Dallas-Fort Worth area entered a plea deal this week for sexual abuse of a minor.  Part of the reason for the decline of churches relates to the growing number of "Nones" who have no religious affiliation and the corresponding decline in the number of Americans who identify as "Christian."  The other is the alienation of younger Americans as right wing and evangelical churches become ever more entwined with the Republican Party and MAGA world that are pushing agendas that are anathema to the true Christian gospel message.  A piece at Axios looks at the soar number of church closures:

The U.S. could see an unprecedented 15,000 churches shut their doors this year, far more than the few thousand expected to open, according to denominational reports and church consultants.

The unprecedented contraction, expected to continue over the next decade, risks leaving gaps in communities nationwide — particularly rural ones, where churches often are crucial providers of food aid, child care and disaster relief.

The decline of traditional brick-and-mortar churches comes as a record number of Americans (29%) are identifying as religiously unaffiliated, and as 62% identify as Christians — down from 78% in 2007, according to the Pew Research Center. . . . . There are fewer and fewer communities built around local churches, but rising pressure from conservative citizens and government officials to inject more religion into public schools, settings and institutions.

The record number of church closings forecast this year stems from struggles many churches face — including retaining full-time pastors, said Thom Rainer, a former president of LifeWay Christian Resources, an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention that provides resources for churches.

The closures mark a shift away from once-powerful denominations in the U.S. that brought people of diverse political views together, said Burge, author of the upcoming "The Vanishing Church: How the Hollowing Out of Moderate Congregations Is Hurting Democracy, Faith, and Us."  Burge said that as a result, many communities are left with empty church buildings that can be difficult to sell because they often are next to historic cemeteries.

Evangelical megachurches, however, tend to have fluid memberships despite their growing influence in Republican Party politics, Burge said.  "The large churches have a lot of churn. A lot of new people come in every year, but a lot of people leave too, because they never build strong and deep ties."  Their success is based on one or two leaders, and a death or scandal can damage or bring an end to that church, he said.

Megachurches could take membership hits in the future if younger Americans feel they're being forced to accept religion in public spaces, Chesnut predicted. "I think evangelicals are going to pay the price for so closely hitching their wagon to MAGA," he said. "If you're making kids pray in school, as I've learned anytime I make my kids do something, they'll do the opposite."