Americans' trust in the church rebounding after seeing record lows: Poll

Michie said:

Public trust in the church as an institution has risen after three years of stagnation, with 36% of Americans now saying they have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in it. The shift, recorded in Gallup’s latest survey on the topic, marks the first significant increase since 2020.

Confidence in the church had fallen to 31% in 2022 and remained around 32% over the following two years, near its lowest recorded levels. Gallup has tracked this trend annually since 1973, when trust stood at 66%, reaching a high of 68% in 1975.

The only other major rebound in recent decades came in 2001, when post-9/11 sentiment briefly raised confidence to 60%, the last time the institution earned such broad support, as reported by Lifeway Research.

Continued below.

Americans' trust in the church rebounding after seeing record lows: Poll

Public trust in the church as an institution has risen after three years of stagnation, with 36 of Americans now saying they have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in it The shift, recorded

www.christianpost.com

Click to expand...

I'm presuming this is about the Catholic Church as the 'Church'. I could see levels tanking from 2020 to 2024. Makes perfect sense to me. Pachamama and shutting down the Church for Covid and Rupnick and McElroy and all. It's a wonder the level was not lower than 31%.

I think we are seeing a Leo bump. Not much of a bump yet, but the hint that people can see he isn't Francis 2.0. Well, maybe not Francis 2.0 just yet.

chevyontheriver said:

I'm presuming this is about the Catholic Church as the 'Church'. I could see levels tanking from 2020 to 2024. Makes perfect sense to me. Pachamama and shutting down the Church for Covid and Rupnick and McElroy and all. It's a wonder the level was not lower than 31%.

I think we are seeing a Leo bump. Not much of a bump yet, but the hint that people can see he isn't Francis 2.0. Well, maybe not Francis 2.0 just yet.

Click to expand...

Since it's the Christian Post, I assume they don't define what "the Church" means, leaving it up to people to decide that for themselves. For many Evangelicals, "the Church" doesn't have sectarian connotations.

9/11 and priestly scandals heavily colored a generation's attitude towards institutional religion, but those stories are getting old now, and under increasing critique as simplistic caricatures. We're past peak cynicism as a culture, but that doesn't necessarily immediately translate into significant growth. The metamodern mood is more like exhaustion and vibes, not serious commitment.

Sorry, but I find I don't have much confidence in human organizations. People are people; some good, some bad, all fallible. Have seen too much done by people in churches to think that's any different. That ranges from disreputable Protestant ministers to a Roman Catholic priest who insisted a load bearing support in the church could be removed, only to have the roof fall on him. I have also met good ministers in various denominations, so it's not a case that all is bad.

The same for congregations. It hurt when I saw my parents hurt in a church because of a disreputable minister and the congregation went right along with him. After he left, my mother wanted to go back, but my father correctly observed that while the minister was gone, the people who went along with him were still there. It didn't hurt me personally, but when I saw the same behavior in the church where I was a member in regards to some others, that didn't help any. But my parents did find a church to attend, in another denomination which perhaps says a lot, and when we attended church there with them, it felt like "home." My point is that congregations can vary as much as ministers, and it goes back to that we're all fallible.

The important thing is that this is the dealings of humanity and not Christ. Distrust of fallible humans isn't the same as distrust of God, though the two can overlap.