The Pew Forum has released a new, extremely comprehensive survey of religion in American life. You gotta follow that link -- there's lots of great info, very well presented. Some of the highlights, with my commentary:
1. More than a quarter of American adults have left the faith of their childhood in favor of another religion – or no religion at all. If change in affiliation from one type of Protestantism to another is included, roughly 44% of American adults have either switched religious affiliation, moved from being unaffiliated with any religion to being affiliated with a particular faith, or dropped any connection to a specific religious tradition altogether.
That's really remarkable. Most of you know my history on this point, but I must say that a startling number of the people I know who are serious about their faith do not worship in the church in which they were raised. Even if they remained Protestant, they are affiliated with a different Protestant denomination than the one in which they grew up. You could say that this is the consumerist mentality evidencing itself, but many of these converts known to me did so not for lifestyle reasons, but for serious theological reasons.
2. The U.S. is on the verge of becoming a minority Protestant country. The number of Americans who are affiliated with Protestant denominations now stands at barely over 51%; as recently as the mid-1980s, in contrast, surveys found that approximately two-thirds of the population was Protestant.
3. The Catholic share of the U.S. adult population has held fairly steady in recent decades. What this apparent stability obscures, however, is the large number of people who have left the Catholic Church. Approximately one-third of the survey respondents who were raised Catholic no longer describe themselves as Catholic; this means roughly 10% of all Americans are former Catholics. These losses, however, have been offset partly by the number of people joining the Catholic Church but mostly by the disproportionately high number of Catholics among immigrants to the U.S. The result is that the total percentage of the population that identifies as Catholic (roughly one-in-four) has remained fairly stable.
I couldn't find data in the survey accounting for the precise role immigrants from Latin America are playing in keeping the Catholic population's numbers stable. Latinos are 29 percent of the total Catholic population, but that's as detailed as I could find. Anyway, I wonder where those people who left the Catholic Church are going? Are they leaving religion altogether, or migrating to another Christian church, or another faith?
I find it interesting that the Northeast remains the anchor for Catholicism in terms of population distribution, but it's also a place where the Catholic faith seems so much less vibrant than the South and Southwest, at least in my own limited experience. The churches are full down here, as far as I've been able to tell. It's one thing to say you're Catholic, but what does that mean in terms of participation in the faith? As Phil Lawler points out in "The Faithful Departed," about the collapse of Catholicism in Boston, the numbers of Catholics who regularly attend mass and who support the mission of the church through donations really has fallen through the floor.
4. There are very few Orthodox Christians in America. There are as many Orthodox Christians in the US as there are Muslims. There are nearly three times as many Jews as Orthodox Christians. There are nearly three times as many Mormons as Orthodox Christians. There are slightly more Buddhists than Orthodox Christians.
Which means that we Orthodox have a lot of evangelizing to do.
5. Mormons and Muslims are the two religious traditions having bigger families. The number of Muslims having three or more children in the home (9 percent) is 50 percent higher than the US average (6 percent), while the number of Mormons in that category is 12 percent, or double the national average.
Muslims and Mormons, may God continue to bless you for your fruitfulness and openness to life. Orthodox, Protestants and Catholics, by the way, are right at the national average.
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Sort of like those people who say they are spiritual, but not religious. Where do people like that get their ideas about spirituality?
I know, I'm confused when some people say Christianiy isn't a religion, it's a lifestyle, the nerve of some people.
recovering ex-p, if I slept extra-maritally, you would be assuredly correct in lumping that with gluttony and gossiping. I might or might not take offense. But what's at issue is our differing conclusions re whether the Church sees any intimate (sexual) behavior as acceptable for anyone except a male-female coupling within the confines of marriage. I thought it might shed light to share that this is not a knee-jerk opinion or reaction for me; guess not. Differences of opinion don't bother me, whether strongly stated or not but it seems best if I not post further on this. Honestly, no animosity was intended; I apologize for causing you offense.
Rod - point taken. I agree that it would be good to let people know that there is, if you will, a third path in Christianity, and that I can agree with. If that is what you meant by evangelizing, then by all means go ahead. As for evangelism in general, I still think it is altogether different from merely presenting the possibility of a different option. I think Captain Noble was channeling my thoughts, and I could not add anything to what he posted as regards that subject. Noble's post was well written, as was your response to me.
And why do Mormons have some many kids - why because it provides massive relevant support for large families, not just lip service.
On the other hand, the tide of costs of education and average level of education and the pool of educated people, and money needed after college to maintain social status (e.g. for mortgages, paying off debt) is rising rapidly. There's a choke point where, if you are middle class and have a lot of children, the majority will simply not be able to get or hold on to middle class jobs and status. And status fall of the family as a whole results, which people both inside and outside it draw their lessons from.
That number where class identity can be sustained is falling. Where I lived in the Eighties- a relatively highly educated region-, the maximum was held to be around four or five children. It was higher in the Seventies. It's lower now. There's no reason for it to increase in sight, the twin pillars on which it was built- a low skilled labor based economy to net subsidize the middle class, and relatively low middle class education levels and competition- are breaking down.
No religious group whose members are net downwardly "mobile" in peacetime society attracts new members or long keeps the ones it has. The dysfunction and angers and bizarre theologies that result will do their work. It's not just a story of individual churches, btw, it's the story of religions on whole continents.
I guess I'll pop-in today.
Judging by relatives and others I know I'd say many who leave Catholicism do so because
They married a non-Catholic and felt the requirement to raise the kids Catholic caused tension.
They remarried after a divorce,
They disliked the priest or the parish.
Simple laziness - Several other faiths have nothing like "holy days of obligation" or Lenten fasts.
Heterosexuality issues - A desire to have sex before marriage, coupled with agreeing that the Church rejects that. Interestingly many Catholics I know have premarital sex, but assume the Church doesn't really care or expect anything different. Perhaps more interesting I don't know of any married Catholics who left over contraceptives. It's not that they refrain from using them, they just decide the Church doesn't know what it's talking about on the issue.
Homosexuality issues - I know of maybe one heterosexual who left over the position on homosexuality, usually the ones who leave on this matter are homosexual or bisexual themselves. It's a smallish group, but somewhat more visible than a few larger ones mentioned. Interestingly all former Catholic homosexuals I know remained, at least in their own opinion, some kind of Christian. In a few cases they are even highly devout in whatever they created or joined.
Converts who joined the church before Vatican II - Also a smallish group and by definition made up mostly of old people. However they tend to be much more erudite and able to defend their leaving than others. They feel the Church got watered down or morally lax.
To be honest there's only a few of the cases I know of where the person would have been drawn to Orthodoxy. The main one being pre-Vatican II converts and maybe "not liking the priest." Although I know of some who dislike what they see as "corruption" in the Church and they would maybe be open to Orthodoxy.
Otherwise high Anglicanism is of some appeal as they can have ritual, remarriage, and less rules. Sadly us Catholics still have too high of a retention rate if anything. The people whose beliefs are basically Anglican, or like those of the Old Catholic Church, just won't leave. The current Pope I think is trying to make them feel less welcome, whether this is his intent or not, but I'm not sure they'll take the hint. (Am I being satirical or not? You be the judge)
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