Losing faith

Posted: April 8, 2009

By Peter Adelsen

At many churches across the nation, the sanctuaries are not as full as they used to be. America was founded on religious freedom, and now a survey shows that more Americans are using that freedom to reject organized religion.

According to the American Religious Identification Survey from Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., about three out of every four Americans identify themselves as Christian. That is down from 1990, when it was closer to nine out of every 10, or 86 percent.

Mainline Christian denominations have seen the steepest decline while non-denominational Christianity has increased in membership. Those who reject all forms of religion increased from 8.2 percent in 1990 to 15 percent in 2008.

The New England and Pacific Coasts have been the hardest hit by the decline. In 1990, 50 percent of the people of New England identified themselves as Roman Catholic, and in 2008, it was 36 percent. As for other Christians, it was a decline of 3 percent from 35 to 32 percent. Along the Pacific Coast, it was the opposite; Roman Catholics saw a slight increase from 26 to 29 percent, and other Christians saw the decline from 54 to 42 percent.

The one thing the two regions have in common is the amount of people who declared no religion at all. New England went from 8 percent saying none in 1990 to 22 percent saying none in 2008. The Pacific Coast went from 14 percent in 1990 to 20 percent in 2008.

"The Northeast and the West are simply more liberal parts of the country," said Mike Dominick, senior pastor at St. Luke's United Methodist Church. "The religion in those parts has followed suit of the whole society, and that's part of the factor in my mind. There is some intellectual elitism in the Northeast that has contributed to a lot of people forsaking religion."

The Midwest has also seen a decline but not to the extent of the coasts. In the east-north central division of the Midwest, which includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin, people who identified themselves at Roman Catholic dropped from 29 percent in 1990 to 24 percent in 2008. For other Christians, it dropped from 59 percent to 53 percent. The amount of people who declared themselves as none went from 8 percent to 15 percent.

Like the Midwest, the South did not see much of a decline. There was actually an increase in the number people identifying themselves as Roman Catholic in the region, but a decline in the people identifying themselves as other Christian.

"Those same trends exist in our denomination," Dominick said. "The United Methodist Church in the Northeast and in the West is losing ground more rapidly than in the Midwest and South in our church. Like all of the mainline denominations, we are battling two world views, one that holds on to the scripture and one that more reflects the secular society."

Pastor Barry Akers of Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer also has seen a decline in worship attendance, like many churches in the Kokomo area. He attributes it locally to economic difficulties at Chrysler and Delphi. Members have left the area to look for work. Another reason for an overall decline, he said, is the attitude of the people in this era.

"Part of it is wanting to be more entertained," Akers said. "We're used to that in terms of our culture in watching movies or playing video games. We want to go and feel like we are being inspired. We have inspiring services here as well, but there is more to do with the type of music, or more dramas or other activities happening in worship services that maybe draws somebody."

Pastor L.E. Anderson Jr., of Mt. Pisgah Missionary Baptist Church, said that for churches to be effective, they must continue to operate with the word of God as the anchor.

"The word of God is how we meet the needs of people," Anderson said. "I do like the philosophy of you can change with methodology but not your message. And sometimes even with changing the methods, I am a little leery, and I am always consciously monitoring that we don't become gimmicky because that's not it. Because after the gimmicks are done, you always have to come up with new gimmicks to keep people, and I don't believe in that."

Anderson also said that many churches practice "spiritual birth control." They don't practice evangelicalism, and so the church doesn't grow.

Anderson said that society might have corroded the fundamentals of family and morals.

"We're living in a Burger King mentality in churches with 'have it your way,' and that's not the key to it," he said. "People don't like the word 'sin,' but sin is sin. What we call alternate lifestyles, God calls sin. We are living in a generation that has been blindsided and really raised by TV; it is very hard to tell that generation that that isn't right."

With all the negativity from the survey, there are still ways to get people to come to church. For example, Akers said Redeemer Lutheran School has drawn people into Redeemer Lutheran Church. He also said that people need to be more involved in inviting and encouraging people to come to church. Anderson said that his church has seen an increase in membership because his church is trying to stay relevant.

"We're not confined to rituals that are rigid, and we are not confined to traditions that are empty, but we are basically trying to lift Jesus, period. Jesus is still the main focus."

In Indiana, Dominick says the United Methodists are making a direct and concerted effort to focus on reaching out to new people and sharing the strong message of God's love and grace to get the denomination growing again.

As for the secularization of society, all the pastors agree that it is not helping the Church.

Sunday is Easter, a time of newness and remembrance for the Christian body, but it is much like every other Sunday, too.

"We think of every Sunday as a little Easter," Akers said. "So every Sunday we are going to celebrate that Jesus Christ suffered, died, and rose again and because of that victory, it's going to have an impact on our lives."

For more information on the survey statistics within Christian denominations and other religions in the United States, check out the Web site at www.americanreligionsurvey-aris.org.

Link: http://kokomoperspective.com/news/article_9157cf62-5c18-55d7-aeda-94b3cb141f4d.html