Fewer Religious Americans

[PeterPan09]

I thought this was really interesting, is this the influence of the younger generation?

A wide-ranging study on American religious life found that the Roman Catholic population has been shifting out of of the Northeast to the Southwest, the percentage of Christians in the nation has declined and more people say they have no religion at all.

Fifteen percent of respondents said they had no religion, an increase from 14.2 percent in 2001 and 8.2 percent in 1990, according to the American Religious Identification Survey.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

IMO, this reflects 2 changes:

The huge influx of legal and illegal Mexican immigrants into the Southwest, most of whom are roman Catholic.

The lessening of the stigma associated with atheism.

 

[The Orchid]

I thought this was really interesting, is this the influence of the younger generation?

It certainly could be the influence of the younger generation. My daughter is an atheist as are many of her friends. None of her closer friends go to church regularly. I also know that many of her age-mates are trying alternative beliefs such as paganism.

 

[Tiggernut_jadie]

I look forward to the day when it's over 50%!

 

[Laugh O. Grams]

IMO, this reflects 2 changes:

The huge influx of legal and illegal Mexican immigrants into the Southwest, most of whom are roman Catholic.

The lessening of the stigma associated with atheism.

I'd say that's a pretty accurate guess.

MY FIL is a church elder who been commenting this trend for the better part of the last decade. Church members are dying off, and noone's replacing them. Small churches are having a tough go because of it.

 

[blu3d3vil]

It's not the influence of the younger generation, it's the lack of influence of the older generation.

 

[NY Disney fan]

I know the mega churches don't have attendance problems esp. w/young people.

 

[ckay87]

It's not the influence of the younger generation, it's the lack of influence of the older generation.

This is it. If you don't take your kids to church...if you don't make your kids go to church, that is, they won't become religious.

 

[SteveInBrooklyn]

Young people I think see the hipocracy of the homophobia promoted by most religions. Many kids believe that a religion that promotes hate simply can't be true. Unfortunately most religions promote hate of homosexuals. And mark my words, all this hate will destroy the religions themselves, not homosexuality.

 

[NY Disney fan]

This is it. If you don't take your kids to church...if you don't make your kids go to church, that is, they won't become religious.

I know the Catholic church has really fallen out of favor w/ people. People don't want to take their kids there. In my neck of the woods Cathlolic schools are near extinct.

 

[PeterPan09]

I know the Catholic church has really fallen out of favor w/ people. People don't want to take their kids there. In my neck of the woods Cathlolic schools are near extinct.

You couldn't tell that by 10 am Mass in my town yesterday. There wasn't a seat to be had, and there were a LOT of kids there. The problem they seem to have is when the kids reach HS and College age. If they stay with church at all, they end up at the non-denominational church across town that plays a lot of rock music.

My DN said she was one of the few in her college crowd that still went to Church and believed in God. Most of her friends were either admitted athiests or were indifferent.

 

[ford family]

I'd say that's a pretty accurate guess.

MY FIL is a church elder who been commenting this trend for the better part of the last decade. Church members are dying off, and noone's replacing them. Small churches are having a tough go because of it.

I read an interesting study some while ago that talked about the way such trends, once started, accelerated generation by generation.
The study said that the percentage of children who followed their parents religious beliefs was much lower than children who followed their parents lack of belief.
This has been self evident in Europe for a long time, even in traditionally Catholic countries such as France and Spain.

ford family

 

[suzanna1066@comcast.]

This is it. If you don't take your kids to church...if you don't make your kids go to church, that is, they won't become religious.

I was made to go to church until I moved out of my house as an adult. I am an atheist. My husband had to go to the mosque growing up---he is now an atheist as well.

I personally think it is a natural evolution of society. Religion has been used throughout history to explain the unexplainable. As we develop technology and find rational explanations to various phenomena, we have less of a reason to believe.

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

No one clean answer. I know that there are several RC churchs going up here (in Central Florida) as they are closing in the northeast. Some of that is due to the migration of retirement folks to this area...and other areas (southwest, too).

Some of it is due to the younger people realizing that some formal religious groups can be more of a hate based organization than a love based, peace seeking organization. When groups band together to exclude others, they do more harm to themselves than any of the groups they are excluding.

The gay issue is another aspect. It's not just the younger generation who are looking at formal church/religious groups and seeing the lack of tolerance and acceptance. That is driving some away, and keeping others from joining.

Some of it is the social construct (regardless of immediate economic concerns) that as the social order is more successful people move away from the need to attend church.

No simple clean answers, but an interesting observation none the less.

 

[The Orchid]

Young people I think see the hipocracy of the homophobia promoted by most religions. Many kids believe that a religion that promotes hate simply can't be true. Unfortunately most religions promote hate of homosexuals. And mark my words, all this hate will destroy the religions themselves, not homosexuality.

I couldn't agree more! In my daughter's rural school, the vast majority of kids are gay friendly and a LOT consider themselves bixesual or gay. My daughter is a lesbian. I get the impression from her and her friends that the anti-gay message from churches is one of the bigger reasons why they have rejected religious teachings. And it is only going to get worse for the churches if the hate-talk doesn't stop. The last administration really affected the kids in my daughter's peer group. They aren't stupid; they watch the news. They didn't appreciate their president threatening to change the constitution to take away potential rights from gays and their friends. I do believe that homophobia is on its way out. As our younger people mature, they are bringing peace towards gays with them into their adulthood. Unfortunately for the churches, if they don't remove the hate from their own agendas, they are going to lose a lot of support.

 

[blu3d3vil]

I couldn't agree more! In my daughter's rural school, the vast majority of kids are gay friendly and a LOT consider themselves bixesual or gay. My daughter is a lesbian. I get the impression from her and her friends that the anti-gay message from churches is one of the bigger reasons why they have rejected religious teachings. And it is only going to get worse for the churches if the hate-talk doesn't stop. The last administration really affected the kids in my daughter's peer group. They aren't stupid; they watch the news. They didn't appreciate their president threatening to change the constitution to take away potential rights from gays and their friends. I do believe that homophobia is on its way out. As our younger people mature, they are bringing peace towards gays with them into their adulthood. Unfortunately for the churches, if they don't remove the hate from their own agendas, they are going to lose a lot of support.

This almost seems like a strange concept to me. I've gone to church my entire life and have never heard about hate for gays in any church I have attended. The message I always hear is love - for everyone.

 

[PeterPan09]

I couldn't agree more! In my daughter's rural school, the vast majority of kids are gay friendly and a LOT consider themselves bixesual or gay. My daughter is a lesbian. I get the impression from her and her friends that the anti-gay message from churches is one of the bigger reasons why they have rejected religious teachings. And it is only going to get worse for the churches if the hate-talk doesn't stop. The last administration really affected the kids in my daughter's peer group. They aren't stupid; they watch the news. They didn't appreciate their president threatening to change the constitution to take away potential rights from gays and their friends. I do believe that homophobia is on its way out. As our younger people mature, they are bringing peace towards gays with them into their adulthood. Unfortunately for the churches, if they don't remove the hate from their own agendas, they are going to lose a lot of support.

I agree. The anti-gay message is not working with the younger generation. They see being gay as something that is not a choice, but rather a way people are born so Churches who call homosexuals "an abomination" or "disordered" are losing those kids. It just doesn't make sense to them.

However, I don't think that message is the only reason that the younger generation is less religious than their parents. I think there's more to it than that single issue.

 

[PeterPan09]

This almost seems like a strange concept to me. I've gone to church my entire life and have never heard about hate for gays in any church I have attended. The message I always hear is love - for everyone.

I heard a LOT of that down here prior to the election. We had an amendment about marriage that was designed to keep gays from marrying, so the anti-gay rhetoric was in high gear.

I pretty much stayed away from Mass during that period.

 

[SteveInBrooklyn]

I couldn't agree more! In my daughter's rural school, the vast majority of kids are gay friendly and a LOT consider themselves bixesual or gay. My daughter is a lesbian. I get the impression from her and her friends that the anti-gay message from churches is one of the bigger reasons why they have rejected religious teachings. And it is only going to get worse for the churches if the hate-talk doesn't stop. The last administration really affected the kids in my daughter's peer group. They aren't stupid; they watch the news. They didn't appreciate their president threatening to change the constitution to take away potential rights from gays and their friends. I do believe that homophobia is on its way out. As our younger people mature, they are bringing peace towards gays with them into their adulthood. Unfortunately for the churches, if they don't remove the hate from their own agendas, they are going to lose a lot of support.

Wow, it sounds like you are very supportive, that is so cool. I think if there is a God it pleases Him to see his creations fully accepted as He made them.

Yep, homophobia is definitely on its way out...now, are the churches going to change or are they going to go out with it?

 

[blu3d3vil]

I heard a LOT of that down here prior to the election. We had an amendment about marriage that was designed to keep gays from marrying, so the anti-gay rhetoric was in high gear.

I pretty much stayed away from Mass during that period.

I've never been to Mass, maybe thats why I've never heard it.

I am ok with same sex unions, and if given the choice would vote for it.

I'm not ok with same sex marriage.

Maybe its just semantics but they are different in my book.