U.S. Church M'ship Below 50%

Occams Barber

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GALLUP NEWS 29 MARCH 2021
U.S. Church Membership Falls Below Majority for First Time (edited)


Americans' membership in houses of worship continued to decline last year, dropping below 50% for the first time in Gallup's eight-decade trend. In 2020, 47% of Americans said they belonged to a church, synagogue or mosque, down from 50% in 2018 and 70% in 1999.

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The decline in church membership is primarily a function of the increasing number of Americans who express no religious preference. Over the past two decades, the percentage of Americans who do not identify with any religion has grown from 8% in 1998-2000 to 13% in 2008-2010 and 21% over the past three years.

As would be expected, Americans without a religious preference are highly unlikely to belong to a church, synagogue or mosque, although a small proportion -- 4% in the 2018-2020 data -- say they do. That figure is down from 10% between 1998 and 2000.

Given the nearly perfect alignment between not having a religious preference and not belonging to a church, the 13-percentage-point increase in no religious affiliation since 1998-2000 appears to account for more than half of the 20-point decline in church membership over the same time.

Most of the rest of the drop can be attributed to a decline in formal church membership among Americans who do have a religious preference. Between 1998 and 2000, an average of 73% of religious Americans belonged to a church, synagogue or mosque. Over the past three years, the average has fallen to 60%.


The U.S. remains a religious nation, with more than seven in 10 affiliating with some type of organized religion. However, far fewer, now less than half, have a formal membership with a specific house of worship. While it is possible that part of the decline seen in 2020 was temporary and related to the coronavirus pandemic, continued decline in future decades seems inevitable, given the much lower levels of religiosity and church membership among younger versus older generations of adults.


MORE: U.S. Church Membership Falls Below Majority for First Time (gallup.com)
includes demographics (region, age, politics, education info and Catholic/Protestant data)
 

Occams Barber

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...and interestingly, the number of people identifying as Republicans dropped as well.

I'm sure there's no correlation... no, none at all.

That article deserves a thread of its own. :)

Looking at church membership it also appears that Republicans are deserting in droves. In 1998-2000 church membership among Republicans was 77%. The current 2018-2020 data shows it has plummeted to 65% - a difference of 12%. Democrat church membership has dropped from 71% to 46% - a whopping 25% drop.

(Numbers are from the OP article)
U.S. Church Membership Falls Below Majority for First Time (gallup.com)

OB
 
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quietpraiyze

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This just shows how many false believers there have been. Not shocking.

Ugghhhh...this is so not true. People who go to "church" really need to stop attacking those who don't because it only diminishes "YOU".
 
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Sophrosyne

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Not much you can do in a church that is closed by the government over fears of the C19 boogeyman for almost a year that would drive membership down a lot and likely many members are still afraid to go to church without taking all 3 vaccines and wearing double masks and latex gloves due to the media making this virus thing worse than the black plague in the middle ages.
 
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Danthemailman

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This just shows how many false believers there have been. Not shocking.
There are genuine Christians and there are “nominal” or “pseudo” Christians. There are genuine believers and there are make believers.
 
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Hammster

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Ugghhhh...this is so not true. People who go to "church" really need to stop attacking those who don't because it only diminishes "YOU".
Not at all. And I don’t go to “church”. I go to church.
 
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d taylor

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This just shows how many false believers there have been. Not shocking.

A person either has trusted in The Messiah for God's free gift of Eternal Life or they have not, a simple black and white issue.

Attending church has nothing to do with it. Actually churches can confuse people on how to receive God's free gift of Eternal Life.
 
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Occams Barber

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This just shows how many false believers there have been. Not shocking.

Congratulations @Hämmster !!

You're the first in with the sheep/goats/wheat/tares/narrow/broad/path/gate reasoning. It may well be that these lost goats are false believers but this fatalistic finger- pointing attitude contributes little to solving the problem.

You should be asking why there are so many false believers and looking hard at the church to see where it's contributing to the problem. You need to question those who blame society since American society has been (and still is) dominated by Christians.

American Christianity obviously has a problem. Solving that problem will take some hard headed and realistic thinking instead of resignation . Based on past responses I am not optimistic.

OB
 
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Hammster

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A person either has trusted in The Messiah for God's free gift of Eternal Life or they have not, a simple black and white issue.

Attending church has nothing to do with it. Actually churches can confuse people on how to receive God's free gift of Eternal Life.
It does have something to do with it. It’s commanded.
 
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Hammster

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Congratulations @Hämmster !!

You're the first in with the sheep/goats/wheat/tares/narrow/broad/path/gate reasoning. It may well be that these lost goats are false believers but this fatalistic finger- pointing attitude contributes little to solving the problem.

You should be asking why there are so many false believers and looking hard at the church to see where it's contributing to the problem. You need to question those who blame society since American society has been (and still is) dominated by Christians.

American Christianity obviously has a problem. Solving that problem will take some hard headed and realistic thinking instead of resignation . Based on past responses I am not optimistic.

OB
I agree that there are problems. The solution is the great commission. That’s it.
 
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Occams Barber

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Not much you can do in a church that is closed by the government over fears of the C19 boogeyman for almost a year that would drive membership down a lot and likely many members are still afraid to go to church without taking all 3 vaccines and wearing double masks and latex gloves due to the media making this virus thing worse than the black plague in the middle ages.


Covid 19 is the easy excuse. This decline is part of a long term trend and is likely to continue given generational shifts etc. Gallup looked at Covid 19 and came to the conclusion that -

While it is possible that part of the decline seen in 2020 was temporary and related to the coronavirus pandemic, continued decline in future decades seems inevitable, given the much lower levels of religiosity and church membership among younger versus older generations of adults.
As I said to @Hämmster - the problem requires some hard thinking and less finger pointing.

OB
 
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Leah Daniels

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The graph says the attendance has been going down considerably since around 2000. The current "American church" is full of fake occult trash, self-centered fame hungry "preachers," and is money and prosperity focused, instead of the real gospel of Jesus Christ. God has been calling His true church out of it. It is filled with evil and ungodliness.
 
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Tigger45

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2 Thessalonians 2 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, 2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. 3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,

The decline of Christianity is biblical prophecy.

And I agree with @Hämmster that our ‘call’ as Christians is still to be spreading the Gospel.
 
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Occams Barber

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2 Thessalonians 2 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, 2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. 3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,

The decline of Christianity is biblical prophecy.

And I agree with @Hämmster that our ‘call’ as Christians is still to be spreading the Gospel.

You might need to get your fellow Christians on board with this first. It appears that only 17% of them have a clue about the Great Commission. Remember - you're talking about evangelising the most Christian of all the Western nations.

What is the Great Commission and why is it so controversial? (theconversation.com)
A majority of church-going American Christians are unfamiliar with the term, the “Great Commission,” a 2019 survey found.

Even among those familiar with it, 25 percent recognized the phrase but could not explain what it was. Only 17 percent were familiar with the phrase and its meaning.
OB
 
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Hammster

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You're going to solve this with missionaries?

OB
And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
— Matthew 28:18-20
 
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