Religious Disaffiliation in the US

#51
#51
LouderVol said:
as a "young" person I have found the reasons rank closer to the following reasons among my peers. ranking starts as the most numerous and descends.

1. They have a problem with people associated with said religion. "A priest once touched a kid now i can't be Catholic"
2. They are lazy, too difficult to go to church where they can't sit on their phone.
3. This might fall under beliefs but many don't like how the church preaches against their self indulgent life styles
4. Theological disagreements, which i have found more often than not again extends to one of the reasons above then it being a "bad" thing the religion believes in.
5. other completely illogical factors as far as faith goes, easily explainable if they sat down to think about (see #2)
6. logical/good reasons
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Do you think these reasons extend to those who grew up in a church also? If so, that's sad.

I feel becoming affiliated with a church (I did not grow up within one) has been a positive in my life. But it didn't happen for me until after 40 - had to have some life-altering experiences make me search for more meaning in life.
 
#53
#53
OldandStillaVol said:
Do you think these reasons extend to those who grew up in a church also? If so, that's sad.

I feel becoming affiliated with a church (I did not grow up within one) has been a positive in my life. But it didn't happen for me until after 40 - had to have some life-altering experiences make me search for more meaning in life.
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to an extent, especially #1. for most of them that grew up in a church that aren't part of it now it starts with the parents not going to church and the kids followed suit, and i don't know the reasons for the parents.

as others have mentioned a "personal God" most people don't spend the effort to figure out a religions tenants enough to personalize the message. they depend on someone telling them what to believe, pastor, parents, the media etc.

I have also seen it as a weeding out process, to an extent. those that remain or more solid of faith and not just going through the motions. The youth group that i went to would have faith nights where the priest/youth group leader would challenge us to defend our faith, usually from him or someone else playing devil's advocate for the evening. or would have people ask him the difficult questions. at the start people couldn't really defend themselves so we would get 20-30 questions with little talking, by the end we would only get 1-4 questions with tons of debate and counterpoints.

making the religion personal is the biggest key for me for how to survive.
 
#57
#57
I'm not affiliated with any congregation. I know that may come as a surprise since I'm none of the more outspoken Christians on the forum. I was an active church goer and bible teacher for many years. My recent experiences have left me with an utter disdain for organized religion. That doesn't mean I won't join a congregation again, but it would require one that operates much differently than most I'm familiar with. No paid staff would be a good start.

I'm happy to see the decline in organized religion. There are some bitter, old, finger waggers that need to simply die. I know that sounds harsh, but there are people from my previous congregation who I would never want an unbeliever to meet. I don't want to fellowship with them, so I can't imagine why I'd expect anyone else to want to. If the corporate church doesn't change fundamentally, what happened in Europe will soon happen here.

If someone wants to hang out, have a beer and discuss matters of faith, I'm all in. But this Sunday morning stuff just aint cuttin it.
 
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#62
#62
n_huffhines said:
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.
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I wish more churches would embrace this type of big picture rather than being hung up on highly debatable details which are often trivial. You can get a long way with a simple faith in God and the Golden Rule. The saddest part is how many mistake worshipping the church for worshipping God.
 
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#63
#63
Dinkin, if you want to do a true history of America and church attendance, you need to go back further than the 70s. As I understand, it's a history of ups and downs (ergo, the need for two Great Awakenings).

Now, there are a lot of sociological factors that influence those statistics, beyond mere religious sentiments.

Honestly, I think we stand at a very interesting point regarding this question of whether or not attendance will rise or fall (which should never be confused with actual belief).

Part of me thinks it will rise in reaction to the recent trend towards more egalitarian gender and sexual rights (how else do you explain nutjob laws like Indiana's and Arkansas' which purport to restore rights that were never lost in the first place?). But the other part of me thinks that we'll just keep trending towards greater egalitarianism with media and communication the way it is now.

But, see, here I am falling into my own trap. A greater trend towards egalitarianism does not necessarily mean less church attendance.

This is all to say I have no flipping idea.
 
#65
#65
Very Interesting thread nice to see more of a discussion then a debate

I was raised Catholic, but did not see eye to eye with the teachings. I switched to a protestant church at the recommendation of friends, but once again did not feel my self drawn to the teachings. I now define as Non-denominational Christian.

Basically I believe that you yourself should know right from wrong and although we all sin, we should when we die be able to say we lived a good life giving more to society than we took away.
Morals I believe are self evident ( I guess this is why I take issue with a lot of church teachings as I believe in taking more of Jesus life teachings rather than the bible itself which I believe has major flaws due to discrepancies in its passing down and multiple interpretations)

Other Beliefs of Myself: Atheists do not go to hell simply for being atheists (same thing as agnostics,etc)
False churches that have become perverted include nearly every branch of Christianity and thus should revert back to simple "treat others as you would like to be treated" morals (although some are worse than others)
Every Human is innately neutral (although i recognize preemptive notions toward sin such as though drawn to commit crimes through biological/psychological means)

I also sympathize with those leaving organized Christianity because I sincerely think God would rather us lead Good lives than simply Christian (That is not always a good thing in Today's age) lives.
 
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#66
#66
I think this is a record. We've gone 5 pages in a religious thread without a single "no u" in sight.
 
#67
#67
volprof said:
Dinkin, if you want to do a true history of America and church attendance, you need to go back further than the 70s. As I understand, it's a history of ups and downs (ergo, the need for two Great Awakenings).

Now, there are a lot of sociological factors that influence those statistics, beyond mere religious sentiments.

Honestly, I think we stand at a very interesting point regarding this question of whether or not attendance will rise or fall (which should never be confused with actual belief).

Part of me thinks it will rise in reaction to the recent trend towards more egalitarian gender and sexual rights (how else do you explain nutjob laws like Indiana's and Arkansas' which purport to restore rights that were never lost in the first place?). But the other part of me thinks that we'll just keep trending towards greater egalitarianism with media and communication the way it is now.

But, see, here I am falling into my own trap. A greater trend towards egalitarianism does not necessarily mean less church attendance.

This is all to say I have no flipping idea.
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Given the direction the thread is going, I don't mind discussing the shift in affiliation since the introduction of mass media/cable/internet/social media.
 
#68
#68
hog88 said:
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.
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Keep asking God to lead you to a church where He is the head of
 
#70
#70
DinkinFlicka said:
But is a congregation necessary to have a personal relationship with god?
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No. But may be necessary to have a personal relationship with others who have a personal relationship with God.
 
#71
#71
The problem with church and organized religion is the people. I'm a Christian but I'm disenchanted with the institution. I've seem too many pastors beg for money on Sunday and go home to their extravagant houses. I've seen too many Christians be anything but Christ-like toward their fellow man. So I'm not anti-Christianity, I'm anti-church.
 
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#74
#74
DinkinFlicka said:
Jesus Christ, prof... it's Hunter S. Thompson.
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Seriously?

I guess I'm just used to Johnny Depp's middle-age portrayal.

Damn, that's depressing. I seem to be heading in the same direction. Although I do still have my full head of hair.
 
#75
#75
There was a pastor in Nashville who really rubbed me the wrong way. He was a big congregation guy, but his whole marketing schtick was he wore it loud and proud that he had been forgiven for being a convicted murderer. He had served like 19 years in prison and turned his life around. His point was that Christ can forgive you if he can forgive a murderer, but it came across like he was flaunting his misdeed. After attending the church where he mentioned his past a few times, I literally got a post card in the mail from the church and it had a picture of him when he was a hippy druggy, and it talked about his murdering past. So weird
 
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