Why have 40 million Americans — like me — quit going to church?

Empty Pews

The drops have been precipitous

Recently, I viewed a photo of a beautiful church in Portage, Pa from many years ago. Not only did this show the beauty of the former Sacred Heart parish, but one commenter noted the large crowds who filled the pews.

Those days are long gone.

The sad part of this in America is that religious attendance has plummeted over the years to the point where people who express a desire to follow a belief still rarely attend services, if ever.

The numbers are staggering.

Gallup

In an analysis based on their research data, the Gallup organization noted that while people have a religious preference, few actually practice a faith any longer.

Even though most Americans have a religious preference and say religion is at least fairly important to them, much smaller proportions regularly attend religious services.

Asked whether they personally had attended church, synagogue, mosque or temple in the past seven days, an average of 32% of U.S. adults in 2023 reported they had done so, either in person or virtually. In 2000, 44% had gone to church in the past seven days, and in 1958, 49% had …

The long-term decline in church attendance is linked to a drop in religious identification in general -- particularly for Protestant religions -- but also to decreasing weekly attendance among U.S. Catholics.

When describing their behavior more generally, 21% of Americans report they attend religious services "every week," with another 9% saying they do so "almost every week" and 11% saying they attend about once a month. That leaves the majority saying they "seldom" (26%) or "never" (31%) attend religious services.

“How religious are Americans?” Gallup, March 29, 2024

Only 21 percent attend weekly services? That is shocking, but somewhat obvious to some Americans.

Why have they stopped?

What is the reason for the decline in attendance? As the Gallup poll notes, religious identification is down significantly from the past. A man who grew up in a city in Nebraska wrote his analysis of why this had occurred, and he started this way,

Nearly everyone I grew up with in my childhood church in Lincoln, Nebraska, is no longer Christian. That’s not unusual. Forty million Americans have stopped attending church in the past 25 years. That’s something like 12 percent of the population, and it represents the largest concentrated change in church attendance in American history. As a Christian, I feel this shift acutely. My wife and I wonder whether the institutions and communities that have helped preserve us in our own faith will still exist for our four children, let alone whatever grandkids we might one day have.

Jake Meador, “The misunderstood reason millions of Americans stopped

going to church,” The Atlantic, July 29, 2023

Meador pointed to research from some political scientists who attempted to determine why people have “dechurched,”

The Great Dechurching finds that religious abuse and more general moral corruption in churches have driven people away. This is, of course, an indictment of the failures of many leaders who did not address abuse in their church. But Davis and Graham also find that a much larger share of those who have left church have done so for more banal reasons. The book suggests that the defining problem driving out most people who leave is … just how American life works in the 21st century.

Contemporary America simply isn’t set up to promote mutuality, care, or common life. Rather, it is designed to maximize individual accomplishment as defined by professional and financial success. Such a system leaves precious little time or energy for forms of community that don’t contribute to one’s own professional life or, as one ages, the professional prospects of one’s children. Workism reigns in America, and because of it, community in America, religious community included, is a math problem that doesn’t add up.

Jake Meador,The Atlantic, July 29, 2023

Is this an indictment of the American Dream — or of our capitalistic society?

In essence, it could be.

However, it notes that the abuse factors that drove people like me away from the Catholic Church along with the moral corruption of contemporary christianity deserve a great deal of the blame.

The Catholic hierarchy in the United States is today, and has been for more than half a century, a disgrace. No excuses can be given for the coverups that were engineered by the hierarchy, and are still justified by them.

Hopefully, Pope Leo will be able to restructure the Catholic Church in America, but will he be able to fill the pews again?

Well, Meador is optimistic, while I am not,

What can churches do in such a context? In theory, the Christian Church could be an antidote to all that. What is more needed in our time than a community marked by sincere love, sharing what they have from each according to their ability and to each according to their need, eating together regularly, generously serving neighbors, and living lives of quiet virtue and prayer?

A healthy church can be a safety net in the harsh American economy by offering its members material assistance in times of need: meals after a baby is born, money for rent after a layoff. Perhaps more important, it reminds people that their identity is not in their job or how much money they make; they are children of God, loved and protected and infinitely valuable.

Meador, The Atlantic

The Nones are the only group that is growing

The future does not look bright because of the rejection of religion by Generation Z in particular, but by those under 40 who view religion as an anachronism,

Religiously unaffiliated people, often referred to as “nones,” now make up the largest religious category in the U.S., according to a new report by the Pew Research Center.

Pew’s new report, released Jan. 24, shows that nones now account for 28% of the total U.S. population, outstripping the next largest group, Catholics, who make up 20%.

The recent data is consistent with a long-term trend of Americans rejecting religious affiliation in growing numbers, with the percentage nearly doubling from 16% in 2007.

The rise of the nones has resulted in not only lessened religious participation but also a decrease in civic engagement with nones being less likely to vote, do volunteer work, or have strong friend groups or community, according to Pew.

Catholic News Agency

I see no reason for optimism, and I see no reason for people like me, who live a life based on morality and Christian principles, to return to a church or society that does not do so.

The Protestant religions have often turned into political organizations that turn off the young — and those older Americans.

This will not change — morality and following the words of Jesus Christ are no longer vital with them.