Some great statistics on Church Going in the US

[RobertSeattle]

I love the fact that many more people SAY they go to church regularly than ACTUALLY do go to church regularly.

Blog Analysis:
http://theologica.blogspot.com/2005/06/how-many-americans-really-attend.html

Source Info:
http://ww.theamericanchurch.org/facts/1.htm

1. The percentage of people that attend a Christian church each weekend is far below what pollsters report. (US percentage of population in worship on any given weekend in 2000)
2. The percentage of people attending a Christian church each weekend decreased significantly from 1990-2000. (US worship attendance in 1990 and 2000 by percentage of population)
3. Christian church attendance is between 1 ½ and 2 times higher in the South and the Midwest than it is in the West and the Northeast. (Percentage of population attending a Christian church on any given weekend in 2000)
4. Only one state saw an increase in the percentage attending church from 1990-2000. (Increase or decline in percentage of population attending a Christian church on any given weekend 1990–2000)
5. The percentage that attends church on any given weekend is declining in over two thirds of the counties in the United States. (US counties: Increase or decline in percentage of population attending a Christian church on any given weekend 1990–2000)
6. Evangelicals, mainliners, and Catholics are strongest in very different regions of the country. (maps for Evangelicals, mainliners, and Catholics)
7. Churches with 50–299 people in attendance are shrinking, while the smallest churches and larger churches are growing. (Decadal growth rate of churches by size category)
8. Established churches, from 40–180 years old, on average decline in attendance. (Yearly attendance growth of existing churches by decade started)
9. The increase in the number of churches is about one eighth of what is needed to keep up with population growth. (Net increase in number of churches in the US between 1990 and 2000)
10. The church-planting rate has been declining throughout the history of our country. (Churches started per 1 million residents)
11. Existing churches are plateauing and new church growth provides less than half of the growth necessary to keep up with population growth. (Attendance growth percentage of Protestant churches 1990–2000)
12. If the present trends continue, the percentage of the population that attends church in 2050 will be almost half of what it is today. (Projected percentage of population attending church on any given weekend)

[BlueEyedSon]

1. Link to my previous post on religion in the US

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=3794822&mesg_id=3794840

[RobertSeattle]

2. Thanks

I'm always fascinated by when some blip up in church attendance is reported with great fanfare but the megatrend of declining church attendence is never menionted in the MSM.

[WePurrsevere]

6. Interpreting the data...

"Religious" does not mean Judeo-Christian necessarily and "faith" does not exclusively belong to them either and yet it seems that is how some are interpreting the data which, from what I've read, wasn't specific about which "religion", "faith", etc... so maybe folks suddenly left the "Judeo-Christian" path and have become followers of a religion worshipping Bush as "God" (oh wait.. some already seem to :eyes: ) Yes, I'm kidding (mostly) but actually if someone wants to split hairs even an atheist could technically say they're very "religious" and have "faith". After all folks can be "religious" about they brush their teeth, walk the dog, etc and they can have faith in what they don't believe as much as some have faith in what they do.

If someone where to ask me if I were "religious" I'd say actually I'm more "spiritual" but if the pollster has merely yes and no for answers they would probably check yes. I also have a deep faith but it's not one that is based fully on any of the "Judeo-Christian" religions. If a pollster or statistician is any good they can easily manipulate the data with the mere slight twist of wording. Of course there are also folks like me that occasionally like to mess with the minds of pollsters and try to sway the data just for giggles. ;-)

[Warpy]

3. My guess is that most of the people who say they're regular

churchgoers and that means just Xmas and Easter are the kind of chislers that vote pubbie, but that's just a meanspirited guess.

The bad news is that the megachurches and storefront churches are the ones that are growing, and those are the likeliest to preach against Christ and in favor of Leviticus, Paul, and Calvin. Pointing to other people as the root cause of all one's problems is seductive. That's sad.

I'm wondering if the shrinking mainstream churches might increase their attendance by telling the truth and shaming the devil and getting back on message, offending GOP members or not.

Whatever they're doing now is just not working.

[HockeyMom]

4. Masses I've been to

it is mostly older people 50+ - very few families and even fewer young, single, 20 somethings.

[Tux]

5. I heard that

UU churches are growing some. Maybe they can counter the evangelicals (yeah, I can hope). Maybe people can boost real churches and not funie cults by going to a church that practices what it is meant to teach: religion and not politics.