Religious Disaffiliation in the US

[DinkinFlicka]

First and foremost, if you want to debate the existence of deities, there's already a thread for that. If you want to debate homosexuality and religious freedom, there's a thread for that. If you want to debate whether or not there is a rise in American Islam, there are PLENTY of threads for that. This is NOT a platform for inflammatory discussion. I simply want to break down the data with fellow posters who are interested in sociological trends.

I want to use THIS thread to discuss Christianity's cultural decline in the US and whether this means "open season on Christianity" or that religion itself is in a worldwide cultural decline.

I think a good starting point here is the age demographic. Here is a graph depicting a breakdown in recent years:

The chart does a good job of highlighting how the gap grows with each generation. With each passing generation, you see both an increase in non-affiliation (6, 6, 11 [oldest to youngest]) and an incremental decrease in religious affiliation (6, 7, 10). given that roughly 70% of the nation in Christian, I think we can determine who is suffering the biggest dropoff...

... which brings me to this breakdown:

Notice the stark changes in the past 5 years alone, you see two trends in opposing directions. It's very eye-opening when compared to a long terms graph spanning 30 years:

I realize this is all from the same site, but I did my research on the site itself and the data checks out.

 

[n_huffhines]

Interesting. I disaffiliated in 2007 after having gone to church every Sunday for 25 years (I had probably missed church less than 10 Sundays in my life).

 

[hog88]

I didn't leave the church, the church left me.

 

[BearCat204]

I'm still there.............but sometimes I'm hungover

 

[DinkinFlicka]

Interesting. I disaffiliated in 2007 after having gone to church every Sunday for 25 years (I had probably missed church less than 10 Sundays in my life).

I had done so in '05, and was subsequently removed from religious education and placed in public school.

 

[hog88]

I quit going in 91 for several years, pretty bitter towards religion. Went back in 95 and the first two sermons were about money and tithing. Found another church with a great pastor then the elders screwed that one up. Tried a few more over the years but found none I felt comfortable in.

 

[gcbvol]

Interesting. I disaffiliated in 2007 after having gone to church every Sunday for 25 years (I had probably missed church less than 10 Sundays in my life).

That was a quite a life change. 1992 for me.

 

[golfballs]

:angdev:

 

[n_huffhines]

That was a quite a life change. 1992 for me.

What affiliation?

 

[n_huffhines]

I quit going in 91 for several years, pretty bitter towards religion. Went back in 95 and the first two sermons were about money and tithing. Found another church with a great pastor then the elders screwed that one up. Tried a few more over the years but found none I felt comfortable in.

One of my biggest problems with my church is that they teach a 10% tithe and that if you pay it before you take care of you and yours, the Lord will bless you. I believed this. I was below the poverty line paying tithing. I can't believe they tell this nonsense to the truly impoverished, with kids...it's flat out immoral.

 

[SamRebel35]

I took about 7 years off. Switched from catholicism to Episcopalian and have been going for about a year. I have a very questioning attitude towards church, but I still feel like it is pretty important for me.

 

[gcbvol]

What affiliation?

JW. Five meetings each week plus field service. I had gone to Baptist and Methodist churches previously, but JW was the last.

 

[DinkinFlicka]

I took about 7 years off. Switched from catholicism to Episcopalian and have been going for about a year. I have a very questioning attitude towards church, but I still feel like it is pretty important for me.

I came from a family that had switched from Presbyterian to Episcopalian. They're all still religious, but only attend church once a month or so, depending on what the sermon will be discussing (they post the subject matter on a blog every Friday).

I just don't think they knew what kind of environment they were putting my sister and myself in when we were enrolled in that school. It was non-denominational/fundamentalist. Considering a lot of Episcopalian churches are more "laid back" or tolerant than the average denomination, the contrast was quite stark.

 

[SamRebel35]

One of my biggest problems with my church is that they teach a 10% tithe and that if you pay it before you take care of you and yours, the Lord will bless you. I believed this. I was below the poverty line paying tithing. I can't believe they tell this nonsense to the truly impoverished, with kids...it's flat out immoral.

Most Christian denominations were formed under the idea that God's love was a gift that didn't need to be paid for or earned by good deeds. Baptists often times defend that ideal while simultaneously espousing the importance of doing good deeds to gain salvation. That's an issue I have with a lot of churches. They seem very willing to waive their theological beliefs as long as it is convenient and economical.

 

[hog88]

One of my biggest problems with my church is that they teach a 10% tithe and that if you pay it before you take care of you and yours, the Lord will bless you. I believed this. I was below the poverty line paying tithing. I can't believe they tell this nonsense to the truly impoverished, with kids...it's flat out immoral.

I don't have a problem with tithing or even them asking. My problem was that this particular church is a Mega church, the first sermon I attended was about a mission trip to Hawaii and how few contributed. The second was *****ing about how few have contributed to the new work out facility and that tithes are down. I walked out before the end of that one.

 

[DinkinFlicka]

I don't have a problem with tithing or even them asking. My problem was that this particular church is a Mega church, the first sermon I attended was about a mission trip to Hawaii and how few contributed. The second was *****ing about how few have contributed to the new work out facility and that tithes are down. I walked out before the end of that one.

I kind of wish VolInTheNATI was still around. He'd defend the mega church concept til the cows came home.

Shhhhhhameless!

 

[hog88]

I kind of wish VolInTheNATI was still around. He'd defend the mega church concept til the cows came home.

Shhhhhhameless!

I remember.

The last church I attended regularly has a great pastor, his sermons were uplifting and he tied them to relevant issues of today. The elders shut that down and the whole service became 45 minutes of singing and BS and 10 min of preaching.

 

[SamRebel35]

I came from a family that had switched from Presbyterian to Episcopalian. They're all still religious, but only attend church once a month or so, depending on what the sermon will be discussing (they post the subject matter on a blog every Friday).

I just don't think they knew what kind of environment they were putting my sister and myself in when we were enrolled in that school. It was non-denominational/fundamentalist. Considering a lot of Episcopalian churches are more "laid back" or tolerant than the average denomination, the contrast was quite stark.

So you were enrolled in a religious school that departed enormously from the theological teachings of the church you attended? Which one was the catalyst for your disafiliation?

 

[n_huffhines]

JW. Five meetings each week plus field service. I had gone to Baptist and Methodist churches previously, but JW was the last.

That's a hard one to leave. They're all hard, but that one is like "shun you" hard to leave. It seems so clearly the right decision in hindsight from the outside looking in, but at the time I was so conflicted.

 

[DinkinFlicka]

So you were enrolled in a religious school that departed enormously from the theological teachings of the church you attended? Which one was the catalyst for your disafiliation?

Neither, actually. I started reading a lot of Bertrand Russell and Arthur C. Clark along with a great deal of secular authors. As my students began ratting me out for possessing the books and my teachers began confiscating them, I realized that I was in a heavily censored environment that was going to cause my own personal development to be stagnant.

So, I guess the school was ultimately the cause, but I'd say exposure to those authors was the catalyst. It made me realize that I never took the whole thing seriously and just went with the flow of my upbringing.

 

[volinbham]

I would think affiliation and church attendance are not the same thing.

One can be affiliated (e.g. consider themselves a Christian, Jew, etc) without being religious in actions (e.g. church attendance).

There's no doubt affiliation in general is declining but the strong majority of this country is still affiliated with a religion. About 80%. Atheist and Agnostic (the 2 categories of non-belief in a higher power) are still a very small minority (about 6%). The rest are floating somewhere in unaffiliated but not specific non-belief categories.

 

[DinkinFlicka]

I would think affiliation and church attendance are not the same thing.

One can be affiliated (e.g. consider themselves a Christian, Jew, etc) without being religious in actions (e.g. church attendance).

There's no doubt affiliation in general is declining but the strong majority of this country is still affiliated with a religion.

Truth. I was hoping some posters who only mentioned attendance would give a little more insight as to their level of personal affiliation.

 

[VolsNSkinsFan]

The affiliation is declining with Protestants.

 

[SamRebel35]

Neither, actually. I started reading a lot of Bertrand Russell and Arthur C. Clark along with a great deal of secular authors. As my students began ratting me out for possessing the books and my teachers began confiscating them, I realized that I was in a heavily censored environment that was going to cause my own personal development to be stagnant.

So, I guess the school was ultimately the cause, but I'd say exposure to those authors was the catalyst. It made me realize that I never took the whole thing seriously and just went with the flow of my upbringing.

Yeah I have a problem with the way in which a questioning attitude is dealt with in most churches. A kid with a questioning attitude should be treated as a great opportunity to teach and compare/contrast different perspectives. Instead, it is treated as if the one with questions has been possessed by a demon and needs to be beaten into submission to conform to the beliefs.

 

[n_huffhines]

Truth. I was hoping some posters who only mentioned attendance would give a little more insight as to their level of personal affiliation.

I do not endorse any church. I do not consider myself religious. Agnostic deist, meaning maybe God exists, and part of me hopes He/She does. "Do unto others" is my religion I live by, I guess.