From the AP, Oct 8th, 2009
Christianity is plummeting in America, while the number of non-believers is skyrocketing. A shocking new study of Americans’ religious beliefs shows the beginnings of a major realignment in Americans’ relationship with God. The American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) reveals that Protestants now represent half of all Americans, down almost 20 percent in the last twenty years. In the coming months, America will become a minority Protestant nation for the first time since the pilgrims.
The number of people who claim no religious affiliation, meanwhile, has doubled since 1990 to fifteen percent, its highest point in history. Non-believers now represent the third-highest group of Americans, after Catholics and Baptists.
Other headlines:
1) The number of Christians has declined 12% since 1990, and is now 76%, the lowest percentage in American history.
2) The growth of non-believers has come largely from men. Twenty percent of men express no religious affiliation; 12% of women.
3) Young people are fleeing faith. Nearly a quarter of Americans in their 20’s profess no organized religion.
4) But these non-believers are not particularly atheist. That number hasn’t budged and stands at less than 1 percent. (Agnostics are similarly less than 1 percent.) Instead, these individuals have a belief in God but no interest in organized religion, or they believe in a personal God but not in a formal faith tradition.
The implications for American society are profound. Americans’ relationship with God, which drove many of the country’s great transformations from the pilgrims to the founding fathers, the Civil War to the civil rights movement, is still intact. Eighty-two percent of Americans believe in God or a higher power.
But at the same time, the study offers yet another wake-up call for religious institutions. First, catering to older believers is a recipe for failure; younger Americans are tuning out. Second, Americans are interested in God, but they don’t think existing institutions are helping them draw closer to God. Finally, Americans’ interest in religion has not always been stable. It dipped following the Revolution and again following Civil War. In both cases it rebounded because religious institutions adapted and found new ways of relating to everyday Americans.
Today, the rise of disaffection is so powerful that different denominations needs to band together to find a shared language of God that can move beyond the fading divisions of the past and begin moving toward a partnership of different-but-equal traditions.Or risk becoming Europe, where religion is fast becoming an afterthought.
What does this mean for Woods Chapel UMC and the UMC in general? Today's youth are rejecting what they see in the church: self righteousness, judgement and a my way or the highway attitude. They are tired of Christians talking about love but not practicing it. Churches that refuse to change their approach and become more grace based are going to continue to struggle. Today's generation is not interested in our traditions or our moral judgements. They read about a Jesus that loved and welcomed everyone, and that is what they want.
We must be and remain a church that is filled with love and joy. We must be and remain a place that is relevant and authentic. That is process oriented, not autocratic. We must be a place where grace abounds. A grace place.
So if you are out there reading this, and you have a tattoo or a piercing, come join us this Sunday. We want you. If you have had struggle and pain and you want to find a place where you can find God but he isn't stuffed down your throat, we have a place for you. If you want to find the God that is real, and walk this journey with normal people, we have a place for you.
It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.
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4 comments:
Jeff, your column addresses a subject that is worthy of instense focus and additional consideration and discussion by members of Christian congregations like our own.
These survey results seem to leave us with considerably more questions than answers. To name a few: In other times of ebb in embracing Christianity and Protestantism, what was going on in homes in our country? Do implications for the church relate to the church on Sunday or other times we're meeting at the "building," or is there great responsibliity for the church that is supposed to be the church the other six days of the week? Is there a parallel decline going on in the number of people in our country who want to be a part of anything that takes an organized form? Longstanding service clubs in our country are also seeing a sharp decline in membership. Is there any parallel to be drawn between the decline in embracing Christianity and the "me generation" we live in, where everything is about me and I'm so important...what I want to do is what's most important? So I'll choose the terms of my faith living.
As you said, the church that meets in "the building" certainly does need to welcome all who come. But there's so much more to do if this thing is to be turned around. I personally think what's going on in the homes of young people, and the increasing indicidence of young people having no relevant home life, is a great contributor to all this.
God will show us what part individuals and the collective body in the church are supposed to do about this, if we ask Him.
We are all the same. Whether we are tattoo'd, pierced, nerdy, preppy, angry, content, sad, happy..... We are all unworthy of God's love yet receipients of His manifest grace. He loved us when we were unloveable.
We need to make sure that generations from now, long after Jeff and the rest of us are gone, that Woods Chapel is a welcoming church based in the love and grace of God through Jesus Christ.
Teach your children well....
As an "older" believer I fully believe the church must find ways to adapt to the needs of younger people - they are the future. But I'm concerned about one remark made in blog ...
What does "catering to older believers is a recipe for failure" mean?
Older believers. I think it means being less than inclusive, not welcoming those that are different than we are. Older believers has nothing to do with age. Older believers hold to the "belief" that one particular way of doing things in the right way. Older believer is an attitude rather than chronological age. I am 62, but don't want to consider myself an "older believer." Intolerance is not a property of "age". This is how I interpret what Jeff was saying.
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