Church attendance is DOWN! (Links) Victory for us!
Offline There are several articles that speak of this and the trend is clear! Church attendance is going DOWN, DOWN, DOWN! Remember that Christianity was spread by FORCE for around 1700 years oftentimes with the threat of DEATH!!
Soon after our founding fathers took religion OUT of goverment the church has been on a downward spiral since people aren't FORCED to believe in middle eastern myth!
Since the 1970s, the share of those who never attend religious services or attend less than once a year increased by 53 percent!
http://www.familyfacts.org/charts/620/church-attendance-is-declining
In the last four decades, monthly (or more) participation in religious services dropped from 50 percent of moderately educated (high school and perhaps some college) whites to 37 percent, according to the study, “No Money, No Honey, No Church: The Deinstitutionalization of Religious Life Among the White Working Class.” Attendance by the least educated (high school dropouts) dropped from 38 percent to 23 percent, by sociologists Wilcox, of the University of Virginia and Andrew Cherlin of Johns Hopkins University
found.
Stephanie Coontz, professor of history and family studies at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, thinks there has been a general and widespread loss of faith, not just in religion, but in many institutions.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44192469/ns/health-behavior/t/who-going-church-not-who-you-think-study-finds/
Between 2001 and 2008, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that membership in congregational churches like Zion dropped from about 1.3 million in the U.S. to about 736,000.
Part of that decline, in states like Wyoming, especially, is due to an increasing senior citizen population, on top of fewer youths attending church on a regular basis. A national survey by American Faith Communities Today from 2000 to 2005 showed the average percentage of churchgoers over 60 increased, while the 18-- to 34--year--old group decreased over the same time span. That trend remained constant between 2008 and 2010.
Still, most denominations, locally and nationally, are reporting some sort of decreased attendance. The same census survey, for example, shows decreased attendance among Lutheran, Methodists and Jewish populations across the U.S.
http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2011/11/13/news/01top%2011-13-11.txt
Click here to find out why Christianity is the biggest fairy tale ever created!! www.nobeliefs.com/exist.htm www.JesusNEVERexisted.com
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I honestly believe it is thanks to groups like ours and the theist [over] reaction to us & Dawkins & Hitchens etc.... that nonbelief is becoming more acceptable, and people are takeing a closer look at what they actualy believe, and realizing it's a load of nonsense. So they may not be joining our site but they are getting more sensible about not joining a religion. Let's keep up the good work gang.
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It really has buddy!
You remember when Harris, Dawkins, and Hitchens all came out with their books and went on book tours? They were received very well all over the nation! Even in the bible belt states!
Plus doubt in Christianity is at an ALL TIME HIGH! I've talked to Christians who questions all sorts of things about their religion! More and more of them realize it could very well be all crap!
Click here to find out why Christianity is the biggest fairy tale ever created!! www.nobeliefs.com/exist.htm www.JesusNEVERexisted.com
Even if those that have personalized watered down religions dont take the final step to declare atheism, they are much more likely to be milder, much more rational, and reasonable in my experience.
Secularist, Atheist, Skeptic, Freethinker
While Christianity is what we run into the most in the west, god claims have always existed in our species history, so I do warn atheists not to single out one god claim.
I know "atheist" does refer to claims of gods, but to me it should about the over all default to rejecting any naked assertion that has no verification.
Now to any theist reading this, this is not any sort of call to outlaw religion, we cannot force 7 billion people to all be on the same page, either way. But you can look at it more like someone saying "hey guys, I do like you, but really, the earth is not flat". That is how most atheists see what they do, but we need to be as well grounded in the reality that no one is special in human evolution, not atheist or theists, it will occur with or without us as individuals.
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