Gallup: Drop in U.S. Religiosity Among Largest in World

[Fervent]

That certainly sounds like more fun. Some of us seem to have forgotten that the Gospel was supposed to be good news

Carnal Christians sounds menacing...like calling them meat. But I suppose such names are good for looking down the end of our noses at people.

 

[Aryeh Jay]

The thing is, I could present you with a dozen quotes from members, reworded so that you couldn't search for the people who posted them, and I guarantee that you couldn't tell from them whether someone was a Christian or not. In fact, you'd probably think most were not. And I'll bet the ones that you thought were not all go to church and read their bibles regularly. And quite possibly the ones you thought were are not regular church goers.

 

[mindlight]

The 17-point drop in the percentage of U.S. adults who say religion is an important part of their daily life — from 66% in 2015 to 49% today — ranks among the largest Gallup has recorded in any country over any 10-year period since 2007.

About half of Americans now say religion is not an important part of their daily life. They remain as divided on the question today as they were last year.

As religiosity has declined in the U.S., the gap between the U.S. and the global median has widened. The global median for religiosity has remained stable for nearly two decades, averaging 81% since 2007 and reaching 83% last year, the most current full-year data available.

At the same time, attitudes in the U.S. are drawing closer to those in other advanced economies.

U.S. Now Occupies Unique Spot in Global Religiosity​

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It is a crisis of credibility for the West that Cultural Christians are being so heavily pruned in recent years. It does not bode well for Western culture and explains a lot of the relative loss of power, wealth and influence also in recent years. The true church is still there. Young people are being challenged by the moral relativism, egoism and materialistic reductionism of liberal atheism but my hope is that they will see through this hopeless culture of despair in time. Meanwhile around the world people continue to be overwhelmingly religious and the global church keeps growing as it has done for 2000 years already.

 

[BCP1928]

It is a crisis of credibility for the West that Cultural Christians are being so heavily pruned in recent years. It does not bode well for Western culture and explains a lot of the relative loss of power, wealth and influence also in recent years. The true church is still there. Young people are being challenged by the moral relativism, egoism and materialistic reductionism of liberal atheism but my hope is that they will see through this hopeless culture of despair in time. Meanwhile around the world people continue to be overwhelmingly religious and the global church keeps growing as it has done for 2000 years already.

Yes, it makes one wonder why so many Christians in the US are devoting their energy to supporting Christian Nationalism rather than evangelizing.

 

[2PhiloVoid]

The 17-point drop in the percentage of U.S. adults who say religion is an important part of their daily life — from 66% in 2015 to 49% today — ranks among the largest Gallup has recorded in any country over any 10-year period since 2007.

About half of Americans now say religion is not an important part of their daily life. They remain as divided on the question today as they were last year.

As religiosity has declined in the U.S., the gap between the U.S. and the global median has widened. The global median for religiosity has remained stable for nearly two decades, averaging 81% since 2007 and reaching 83% last year, the most current full-year data available.

At the same time, attitudes in the U.S. are drawing closer to those in other advanced economies.

U.S. Now Occupies Unique Spot in Global Religiosity​

View attachment 373154

I'm sure this ongoing trend is solely due to the sheer hypocrisies [emphasis on the plural !!!] of those in the U.S. who claim to be Christian rather than from any sort of ongoing, atheistic social media blitz intended to tear a person's faith apart. (**cough!**)

Yes, I jest.

 

[essentialsaltes]

rather than from any sort of ongoing, atheistic social media blitz intended to tear a person's faith apart. (**cough!**)

Yes, I jest.

What sort of things exemplify this blitz? NFL games on Sunday?

 

[2PhiloVoid]

What sort of things exemplify this blitz? NFL games on Sunday?

I had more in mind examples along the lines of a book, or even a youtube channel for instance, committed to explicating the "benefits" of Nietzsche's or Marx's thinking, or some such, proliferating as they have over the last quarter century.

But I know, those areas of study aren't your specialty, are they?

 

[durangodawood]

Perhaps Americans are getting tired of politics intruding into every moment of their lives.

 

[essentialsaltes]

I had more in mind examples along the lines of a book, or even a youtube channel for instance, committed to explicating the "benefits" of Nietzsche's or Marx's thinking, or some such, proliferating as they have over the last quarter century.

But I know, those areas of study aren't your specialty, are they?

This, you seriously think, is responsible for Americans being less likely to rate religion as important in their lives? The siren song of Nietzsche on TikTok?

It's true I've spent zero time watching Karl Marx explicated on YouTube, so I have no idea how prolific or popular such channels are.

 

[2PhiloVoid]

Perhaps Americans are getting tired of politics intruding into every moment of their lives.

Yes, there's that. But the complication is that unless your personal ideology extends to nothing more than a "Wilson" soccer ball, they almost always carry some kind of social outcome with them, some large and some small. And we all have ideologies.

 

[durangodawood]

Yes, there's that. But the complication is that unless your personal ideology extends to nothing more than a "Wilson" soccer ball, they almost always carry some kind of social outcome with them, some large and some small. And we all have ideologies.

Not sure I understand. Can you give me an example of what youre talking about?

 

[hedrick]

It seems pretty obvious that church participation dropped with Covid. There are lots of Christians with lots of motivations. My interpretation is that many people decided they didn't miss church that much and didn't find it worth coming back.

I'm not surprised that this leaves us closer to other 1st world countries. Our societies aren't that different, though we may have a larger fraction of religious conservatives.

It's interesting to see what has happened to CF. I've noticed that serious theological discussion has nearly disappeared. It's mostly politics. The Christian community discussions, except Catholics, are nearly (and in many cases completely) dead. Theology groups are at the level of Reddit in sophistication.

 

[Hans Blaster]

Yes, it makes one wonder why so many Christians in the US are devoting their energy to supporting Christian Nationalism rather than evangelizing.

They are, to use the right term, woke to their reality. Religion is dying and seizing power is their only hope to arrest that decline.

 

[Hans Blaster]

What sort of things exemplify this blitz? NFL games on Sunday?

The NFL has primarily played games on Sunday from their creation a hundred years ago, as it was a day when people were not working and there was no college football. In 1961, a federal law about sports broadcasting essential prohibits pro-football broadcast from compete with HS and college football keeping the NFL/AFL on Sundays.

Friday night: HS football
Saturday: College football
Sunday: Pro football

The 3-day football weekend.

Not sure why it would interfere with religion. In my youth it Sunday was:

Morning: Mass
Afternoon: [NFL team redacted] on TV
Evening: Sunday supper.

Given that it is Saturday, it is neither time for the NFL or church, but college football.

 

[GoldenBoy89]

I bet these numbers would change if we counted politics as a religion.

 

[2PhiloVoid]

They are, to use the right term, woke to their reality. Religion is dying and seizing power is their only hope to arrest that decline.

I have no interest in "seizing" power or in helping anyone else do so. I would prefer to see truly intelligent, educated and well intentioned (meaning: non-extremist) people in government seats.