Americans Turning Away from Religious Affiliation

As the evangelical movement seems to have taken over as the primary political-values compass in a Trump-dominated Republican Party, a party that has refused to articulate a true party platform and one that is withdrawing from political debates among candidates, there is an accelerating trend across the United States: defection from organized religion. In rural communities and small towns, churches still represent a local “glue” for the people who live there. But as the Census tells us, we are now overwhelmingly urban, a far cry from the 1789 reality when 94% of the nation was rural and agricultural… an agricultural reality that skewed our political system to favor rural votes (two Senators from every state regardless of population) to this day.

Indeed, as religious affiliation dwindles, those remaining and deeply religious sectors are often raising their voices, literally screaming, and pushing for that rural inequality to increase at the expense of urban voters. They are drowning in change, feeling as if society is leaving them behind. Diversity is the enemy. To many, religious homogeneity and dominance justify the means. This may be one of the most important factors pushing the culture wars, the pushback against free choice and minority voting rights. But this is a segment of the population that has never, until now, been a defined minority within the United States. How have the numbers changed?

It first was recorded, officially, in a recently conducted Gallup Poll, reported by Gallup on March 29th. Here are some of their findings: “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… U.S. church membership was 73% when Gallup first measured it in 1937 and remained near 70% for the next six decades, before beginning a steady decline around the turn of the 21st century…

“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.” Some, with more agnostic or spiritual leanings, remain affiliated with their religious heritage, even celebrating religious holidays for social as opposed to religious reasons. But segregating those passionate evangelical believers produces about a quarter of all American religious affiliations, a distinct minority within the general population. 

The above chart breaks down that religious segment into great detail; it was released by the PRRI (Public Religion Research Institute), a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to conducting independent research at the intersection of religion, culture, and public policy, on July 8th. As you can see, a mere 14% of the US is represented by white evangelicals, a core and increasingly vociferous segment of the GOP. To many political analysts, the polarization and increasing acceptance of violence as justified to expand or limit political realities is a powerful, last and desperate gasp of white evangelicals to exert what many in that constituency believe is their God-given mandate to preserve their definition of the pure American spirit. Even if that means the end of democracy or civil war.

But the decline in religious affiliation combined with the harsh impact of the pandemic are producing an additional crush on so many religious institutions. In addition to the massive economic liability facing the Catholic Church from a long-standing pattern of sexual abuse, even local churches that have remained true to their religious values are facing economic devastation. As a January 19th report by Holly Meyer and Haleluya Hadero, writing for the Associated Press, tells us, “Churches suffering during pandemic With less money in the collection plates, some congregations have struggled to stay afloat…

“Biltmore United Methodist Church of Asheville, N.C., is for sale… Biltmore is just one of an untold number of congregations across the country that have struggled to stay afloat financially and minister to their flocks during the pandemic, though others have managed to weather the storm, often with help from the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, and sustained levels of member donations…

“The coronavirus hit at a time when already fewer Americans were going to worship services — with at least half of the nearly 15,300 congregations surveyed in a 2020 report by Faith Communities Today reporting weekly attendance of 65 or fewer — and exacerbated the problems at smaller churches where increasingly lean budgets often hindered them from things like hiring full-time clergy… ‘The pandemic didn’t change those patterns, it only made them a little bit worse,’ said Scott Thumma, director of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research and co-chair of Faith Communities Today.

“Attendance has been a persistent challenge. As faith leaders moved to return to in-person worship, first the highly transmissible Delta variant and now the even faster-spreading Omicron have thrown a wrench into such efforts, with some churches going back online and others still open reporting fewer souls in the pews… More broadly, various other surveys and reports show a mixed picture on congregational giving nationwide.

“Gifts to religious organizations grew by 1% to more than $131 billion in 2020, a year when Americans also donated a record $471 billion overall to charity, according to an annual report by Giving USA. Separately, a September survey of 1,000 Protestant pastors by the evangelical firm Lifeway Research found about half of congregations received roughly what they budgeted for last year, with 27% getting less than anticipated and 22% getting more.” 

The vast majority of those attending houses of worship represent the best values our nation can embrace, but increasingly a minority within that constituency feels marginalized by a world that is changing beyond their generational experience. They seem to have sacrificed their religious teachings to “survive.” Politicians, offering simple, “go back to an earlier era” panacea, one that can never work, are increasingly adopting what appears to be a “throw the baby out with the bathwater” approach, one that threatens our entire system of government. As younger, less religious generations, redefine our nation, the big question is whether that vast demographic of rising voters can take over running this nation in time to save it from itself.

I’m Peter Dekom, and it becomes necessary to understand the many underlying variables that have eroded what was once and could be again the greatest democracy on earth, the United (?) States of America.