The Extinction of Religion

So I read this article last week and hadn't gotten to commenting on it yet.

It reports on a study that finds that over the last 100 years, affiliation with an organized religion has decreased significantly, and the trends show that it will continue doing so. Trends show that for 9 western democratic nations, the numbers will dwindle until they near extinction. Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland and Switzerland are all seeing this decline. Where does the US fit in? Well, we don't know. The US does not include denominational questions in it's census, therefore this statistic can't be traced the same way. I have a guess though.

The big question is, what does this mean? Are people losing their faith in God, or just the churches? One fascinating aspect of this study is that it isn't affiliation with a single religion, it's spread pretty equally amongst all religions, Christian or otherwise.

Historically, we've seen religions decline or become extinct, same as language, BUT there has always been something that replaced it. WE AREN'T SEEING THAT THIS TIME! There is no great upsurge of membership to another religion. The numbers do not reflect that these people are going somewhere else.


A paper published by Walter Sundberg in 2000 stated that in the US the numbers are drastically declining as well.

The figures for the period from 1965 to 1994 are:
American Baptist Churches in the USA -3.3%
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) -51.1%
Episcopal Church -27.0%
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America -8.5%
Presbyterian Church (USA) -13.1%
Reformed Church in America -19.8%
United Church of Christ -27.5%
United Methodist Church -22.4%

Some of these numbers are quite dramatic, others less so. But it must be remembered that during this same period, the population of the United States grew by nearly thirty percent.

An interesting twist is that Evangelical churches have seen an increase in membership over that same time period. The chief examples of evangelical denominations that have enjoyed membership growth in the period from 1965 to 1994 are:

Assemblies of God +306%
Church of God (Cleveland, TN) +252%
Church of God in Christ +1,232%
Church of the Nazarene +74%
Southern Baptist Convention +45%

I think that the evangelical numbers can be deceiving. Notice one of those numbers are for a single city. I could start my own religion, convert my own family, and show the same numbers.

It would seem that world-wide, there is a slight increase in the number of people who consider themselves atheist, but these numbers still do not explain the decreases in organized religion. You also have to take into consideration that it is becoming more acceptable to "come out" as an atheist... Once upon a time, you were putting your life at risk.... and even more recently, faced social suicide if you admitted atheism.

So what does this mean? Do people still have their faith, but feel their government doesn't need to know about it? Do they still believe in God but, like me, feel that no single religion has the "whole picture"? Or are more people becoming atheist?
You also have to consider the rediscovery of "pagan-based" belief structures which were revived and thrived in secret since the Renaissance. Witchcraft had a "coming out" of sorts about 100 years ago or so, and neopaganism, in general, has gained acceptance and popularity since the 60's and 70's.

Perhaps, we are reaching a point where the majority of the world not only has freedom of religion, but truly trust in that freedom. Maybe the numbers should have always looked like this... I, of course, don't want to see the religions disappear. Though I don't personally believe in an organized religion, I do feel that they add wonderful aspects to our cultural individualities. Religion is our history, it's where we come from. Religion shaped this world for so long, and yes, often through ugly, brutal means.... but I am fearful that if we loose our religious identity, it will be "re-invented" somewhere down the road.... And then, will we repeat our prior atrocities?

I hope, pray, that this study only indicates a new open-mindedness.