Church Attendance Declining

[EvilCat Breath]

The biggest reason for the fall is the fact that modern religious denominations have decided to abandon families and pursue homosexuals and trannies for membership.

I can see this to an extent. I think Christianity has been in a very uncomfortable place as the LGBT has gotten more widely accepted.

Seems like it was a lose-lose situation for them. They could either double down on discriminating against these people which was already resulting in them losing members, or they could try to embrace these people and lose some of their more conservative members.

Or it could be the acceptance of degenerates that drove people away. Homosexuality split the Presbyterians. Episcopalians and Methodists. I live in a fairly accepting area. I don't attend a church. Going to a church that normalized deviancy is against my religion.

 

[toobfreak]

Fourth time addressing this now.

No matter. The pious have merely stopped feeling safe at churches and have moved underground, staying in their homes.

 

[XponentialChaos]

Or it could be the acceptance of degenerates that drove people away. Homosexuality split the Presbyterians. Episcopalians and Methodists. I live in a fairly accepting area. I don't attend a church. Going to a church that normalized deviancy is against my religion.

That’s what I said.

“... or they could try to embrace these people and lose some of their more conservative members.”

That seems to be the route they selected for better or for worse.

Both options would have lost members in my opinion.

 

[XponentialChaos]

Fourth time addressing this now.

No matter. The pious have merely stopped feeling safe at churches and have moved underground, staying in their homes.

Why would they not feel safe at church? Prior to covid, attendance was also dropping.

 

[frigidweirdo]

Public schools, unions.
The Media.
Leftists.

Evil.

That's probably why people are turning away from religion.

If they want to get angry at people, ignore reality and have a good time, they can get it better from politicians now, than from church.

They can blame whoever they like, attack this that and the other for the evils of society and the politicians will tell them how freaking wonderful they are for being so damn enlightened.

 

[Shelzin]

The decline in church attendance has been happening over decades.

No disagreement.

The decline in news consumption, to my knowledge, has been happening in the last 3 months since president moron left office. The record number of voters occurred before the drop-off.

I was speaking more in terms of long-term trends.

OK

 

[toobfreak]

Why would they not feel safe at church?

How many have been threatened for going? For not wearing a mask? How many have been shot in and around churches and synagogues these past few years?

 

[EvilCat Breath]

The thing that bugged me more than anything was the "forgiven" moral escape hatch. Be a horrible person > ask the lord for forgiveness > clear conscience > repeat. So many Christians seem to have been led astray by this idea that it's enough to be forgiven by God without any attempt at directly repenting your sins to the people you have wronged.

Hmmmm. There is no forgiveness without true repentance. It's empty words and a dollop of hubris.

 

[XponentialChaos]

How many have been threatened for going?

Threatened for going to church? I don’t know. How many?

For not wearing a mask?

I specifically showed that attendance was already decreasing prior to covid. Masks have nothing to do with dropping attendance prior to last year.

How many have been shot in and around churches and synagogues these past few years?

Oh I see. So you think it’s a gun violence thing. That might partly explain it.

 

[toobfreak]

Threatened for going to church? I don’t know. How many?

Really? You have not heard for the past year churches not allowed to hold sessions because of Covid restrictions? People were already not feeling safe with violence on the streets and negative press given churches anyway from atheists, killings, and being lumped in with Trump. Many forced home for a year because of covid are finding it easier to stay home.

1 in 5 churches facing permanent closure within 18 months due to COVID-19 shutdowns: Barna pres.

As many as one in five churches could permanently close as a result of shutdowns stemming from the coronavirus pandemic, according to David Kinnaman, president of the prominent Christian research

www.christianpost.com

Pittsburgh synagogue mass shooting claims 11 lives; 4 officers among multiple wounded: Officials

Police responded to reports of an active shooter on Saturday morning.

abcnews.go.com

Masks have nothing to do with dropping attendance prior to last year.

Sure they do if you are barred from worshiping for not wearing one.

 

[my2¢]

I've heard it mentioned in sermons that church attendance has been decreasing ever since the 1960's. One preacher brought up the drop below 50% as noted here.

Growing up our family didn't attend church except for a period of a year or two. Five years ago I began wondering what I'd like to do during my retirement that was coming up at the start of 2017 and decided one of the things would be to read the Bible. Never had much luck getting through my King James version I was given back in 1969 and so I bought a Common English Bible and after reading it through I got a New Revised Stand Version and did the same. I also began listen each week to sermon podcasts from a dozen church stretching across the country, keeping up with the weekly lectionary, and each month sending a donation to one of the dozen.

When Covid-19 suspended in-person church services I felt I was ahead of the pack in adjusting to the situation.

 

[EvilCat Breath]

Fourth time addressing this now.

No matter. The pious have merely stopped feeling safe at churches and have moved underground, staying in their homes.

They meet in smaller groups for Bible study.

 

[XponentialChaos]

Really? You have not heard for the past year churches not allowed to hold sessions because of Covid restrictions?

I’ve specifically told you THREE TIMES now that this trend has been happening long before covid.

Covid might partly explain this last year but it has absolutely nothing to do with the decades of declining prior to that.

 

[Dekster]

COVID will do that. Movie attendance is declining as well.

Read the article. This decline has been growing long before covid.

View attachment 474456

Being religiously unaffiliated does not mean that Christianity is "dwindling away" as you put it.

 

[XponentialChaos]

COVID will do that. Movie attendance is declining as well.

Read the article. This decline has been growing long before covid.

View attachment 474456

Being religiously unaffiliated does not mean that Christianity is "dwindling away" as you put it.

Reducing, declining, dwindling. Whatever.

I’ll go get a thesaurus if we’re going to play word games.

 

[surada]

The decline in church attendance has been happening over decades.

No disagreement.

The decline in news consumption, to my knowledge, has been

happening in the last 3 months since president moron left office. The record number of voters occurred before the drop-off.

I was speaking more in terms of long-term trends.

OK

I think attendance has fallen off since the 1970s with the rise of focus on the rapture, futurism and Scofield's dogma.

 

[Dekster]

COVID will do that. Movie attendance is declining as well.

Read the article. This decline has been growing long before covid.

View attachment 474456

Being religiously unaffiliated does not mean that Christianity is "dwindling away" as you put it.

Reducing, declining, dwindling. Whatever.

I’ll go get a thesaurus if we’re going to play word games.

Let me know when you have it handy.

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

“U.S. church membership has fallen below 50% for the first time, according to a Gallup poll published Monday, continuing a decades-long decline in membership driven by growing numbers of Americans who express no religious affiliation.”

Poll: American Church Membership Drops Below 50% For First Time

Religious affiliation has been declining steadily since the start of the 21st century.

www.forbes.com

People who attend church has steadily declined as the number of non-religious has continued to grow.

Christians can’t be happy with this. Our country is rapidly becoming more secular.

What do Christians think about this? Why is your religion dwindling away?

That America is becoming more secular shouldn’t make Christians unhappy; indeed, how secular American might become has nothing to do with being Christian.

That America is a secular country is actually a benefit to Christians and other religions; a religiously neutral government, consistent with the Framers’ intent that church and state be separate, isn’t going to seek to disadvantage persons of faith through force of law.

A secular America is consistent with the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, safeguarding the rights of persons of faith even if persons of faith become an overall minority.

 

[XponentialChaos]

COVID will do that. Movie attendance is declining as well.

Read the article. This decline has been growing long before covid.

View attachment 474456

Being religiously unaffiliated does not mean that Christianity is "dwindling away" as you put it.

Reducing, declining, dwindling. Whatever.

I’ll go get a thesaurus if we’re going to play word games.

Let me know when you have it handy.

Got it. Let’s find the perfect word since this is so important.

With declining church attendance, Christianity is ___________.

 

[XponentialChaos]

“U.S. church membership has fallen below 50% for the first time, according to a Gallup poll published Monday, continuing a decades-long decline in membership driven by growing numbers of Americans who express no religious affiliation.”

Poll: American Church Membership Drops Below 50% For First Time

Religious affiliation has been declining steadily since the start of the 21st century.

www.forbes.com

People who attend church has steadily declined as the number of non-religious has continued to grow.

Christians can’t be happy with this. Our country is rapidly becoming more secular.

What do Christians think about this? Why is your religion dwindling away?

That America is becoming more secular shouldn’t make Christians unhappy; indeed, how secular American might become has nothing to do with being Christian.

That America is a secular country is actually a benefit to Christians and other religions; a religiously neutral government, consistent with the Framers’ intent that church and state be separate, isn’t going to seek to disadvantage persons of faith through force of law.

A secular America is consistent with the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, safeguarding the rights of persons of faith even if persons of faith become an overall minority.

I’m with you in that it shouldn’t make a difference. Their right to practice their religion is perfectly acceptable regardless of how many participate. But from discussing with them in the past, I would think that this would be an issue to them.

Look at how Christians have to thought of a few Christian topics in this country:

- Abortion
-Gay rights
- “God” on our currency
- Saying “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas”
- I’m sure there are others but I thought of these first.

In each of these instances, it isn’t about preserving their rights to practice as they choose. Rather, it’s about having OTHER people practice what they like.

As the country becomes more secular it becomes apparent to me that their influence on what OTHER people do weakens.