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End times
Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2023 1:45 pm
by Gob
As the US adjusts to an increasingly non-religious population, thousands of churches are closing each year in the country – a figure that experts believe may have accelerated since the Covid-19 pandemic.
The situation means some hard decisions for pastors, who have to decide when a dwindling congregation is no longer sustainable. But it has also created a boom market for those wanting to buy churches, with former houses of worship now finding new life.
About 4,500 Protestant churches closed in 2019, the last year data is available, with about 3,000 new churches opening, according to Lifeway Research. It was the first time the number of churches in the US hadn’t grown since the evangelical firm started studying the topic. With the pandemic speeding up a broader trend of Americans turning away from Christianity, researchers say the closures will only have accelerated.
“The closures, even for a temporary period of time, impacted a lot of churches. People breaking that habit of attending church means a lot of churches had to work hard to get people back to attending again,” said Scott McConnell, executive director at Lifeway Research.
“In the last three years, all signs are pointing to a continued pace of closures probably similar to 2019 or possibly higher, as there’s been a really rapid rise in American individuals who say they’re not religious.”
Protestant pastors reported that typical church attendance is only 85% of pre-pandemic levels, McConnell said, while research by the Survey Center on American Life and the University of Chicago found that in spring 2022 67% of Americans reported attending church at least once a year, compared with 75% before the pandemic.
But while Covid-19 may have accelerated the decline, there is a broader, long-running trend of people moving away from religion. In 2017 Lifeway surveyed young adults aged between 18 and 22 who had attended church regularly, for at least a year during high school. The firm found that seven out of 10 had stopped attending church regularly.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... dApp_Other
Re: End times
Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2023 2:32 pm
by Burning Petard
Yep. More and more people are self-reporting as members of the none religion. They answer polls on religion with 'none of the above' My particular denomination has sold three local churches (one beach property, one with great possibilities for development as apartments.) We now have the interesting problem of too much money--how to use the money, respecting the devotion of years of believers which it represents.
snailgate
Re: End times
Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2023 6:25 pm
by Econoline
Burning Petard wrote: ↑Sun Jan 22, 2023 2:32 pm
More and more people are self-reporting as members of the none religion.
When I was young I was raised as a member of the nun religion.
Re: End times
Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2023 5:46 pm
by Gob
More people under 40 in England and Wales now declare “no religion” than profess to be Christian – the first time the UK’s dominant religion has been pushed into second place in any age group.
The striking census findings – which also show more than 50% of twentysomethings are not religious, compared with under 37% a decade earlier – are expected to fuel debate over whether state schools should still be required to provide “broadly Christian” daily worship, and the role of the Church of England in parliament.
In the two previous decades when the Office for National Statistics (ONS) asked the voluntary question on religion, Christianity came out on top as a proportion of every single age group. But in an almost complete reversal of the picture seen a decade ago, there are now 9.8 million Christians aged under 40, but 13.6 million people with no religion.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... dApp_Other
Re: End times
Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2023 6:14 pm
by MajGenl.Meade
Yeah, and what's more, they can't answer simple questions about 60s music. Whodathunk?
Re: End times
Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2023 9:45 pm
by Burning Petard
Oh I so strongly disagree! The Nones are not people of no religion, just they do not self-define themselves as part of the categories offed in these polls. Was there a box to check if one is Agnostic, or Humanist, or Atheist? My dictionary gives as the second definition: • a pursuit or interest to which someone ascribes supreme importance. That is my basis for declaring that Sport is the majority religion in America and professional football is the leading denomination. Most mainline 'churches' in America will schedule activities in February so they do not compete with the Super Bowl.
I cannot address what the people of Wales think, do, or believe.
snailgate
Re: End times
Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2023 1:04 am
by Scooter
Percent with no religion in the last four Canadian censuses:
2021 - 36.4%
2011 - 23.9%
2001 - 16.5%
1991 - 12.5%
At this rate of change, those with no religion will be a majority by the next census in 2031.
Re: End times
Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2023 1:18 am
by BoSoxGal
A huge part of me thinks this is a good thing, but on the other hand this decline in religious belief IS coinciding with a rise in violent crime and deaths of despair. Many other factors at play of course but anyway the churches have done this to themselves by their actions towards the people they have sowed distrust and shattered faith. You wonder why they couldn’t foresee the consequences of their actions in protecting predators for decades not just pedophiles but all the killer abusers at the boarding schools and homes for unwed mothers and orphanages the atrocities coming to light are truly reprehensible. Meanwhile today there is so much hate preached towards so many people who might be different including the MAGA movement making it cool for evangelicals to cast their liberal neighbors as evil etc. which is another reason younger people who are more tolerant in greater numbers find little to appeal to them in the church messages that predominate.
When the UK becomes majority nonbeliever, how will the monarchy justify itself then? No god, no divine rights. I mean it’s laughable now but then it will be ludicrous.
Re: End times
Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2023 1:26 am
by Burning Petard
On the other hand (as POTUS Truman said of Economists) it may be a good thing. My hero, D. Bonhoeffer, speculated while in a Nazi prison, that he could see coming a time when organized churches would fade away; he saw this as a good thing, that would be a natural result of people actually living out the suggestions of Jesus.
snailgate