Something startling is happening in American religion: We are witnessing the end of church or, at the very least, the end of conventional church. The United States is fast-becoming a society where Christianity is being reorganized after religion.
In recent decades, untold numbers of people have left the Roman Catholic Church. In a 2008 survey, Pew research found that one in 10 Americans now considers themselves an ex-Catholic. The situation is so dire that the church launched a PR campaign inviting Catholics to "come home," to woo back disgruntled members. There was a slight uptick in Catholic membership last year, mostly due to immigrant Catholics. There is no data indicating that Catholics are returning en masse and much anecdotal evidence suggesting that leaving-taking continues. Catholic leaders worry that once the new immigrants become fully part of American society they might leave, too.
The end of church, however, is not merely a Catholic problem. For decades, mainline Protestants have watched helplessly as their membership rolls dwindled, employing program after program to try to stop the decline. In the last 15 years, conservative Protestant denominations have witnessed significant erosions in membership, money and participation -- with some of the greatest drops in groups like the Southern Baptist Convention that once seemed impervious to decline. In a typical week, less than a quarter of Americans attend a religious service, down from the half of the population who were regular churchgoers a generation ago.
There are successful individual congregations -- Catholic or Protestant, mainline or evangelical, liberal or conservative, small or large -- everywhere. But the institutional structures of American religion -- denominations of all theological sorts -- are in a free-fall.
The religious market collapse has happened with astonishing speed. In 1999, when survey takers asked Americans "Do you consider yourself spiritual or religious," a solid majority of 54 percent responded that they were "religious but not spiritual." By 2009, only 9 percent of Americans responded that way. In 10 years, those willing to identify themselves primarily as "religious" plummeted by 45 percentage points.
In the last decade, the word "religion" has become equated with institutional or organized religion. Because of crises such as the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the Roman Catholic abuse scandal, Americans now define "religion" in almost exclusively negative terms. These larger events, especially when combined with increasing irrelevance of too much of organized religion, contributed to an overall decline in church membership, and an overall decline of the numbers of Christians, in the United States.
There may be hope, however, regarding the future of faith. Despite worry about the word, "religion," Americans are extremely warm toward "spiritual but not religious" (30 percent) and, even more interestingly (and perhaps paradoxically), the term "spiritual and religious" (48 percent). While "religion" means institutional religion, "spirituality" means an experience of faith. Large numbers of Americans are hankering for experiential faith whereby they can connect with God, the divine, or wonder as well as with their neighbors and that lead to a more profound sense of meaning in the world. Maybe Americans once called this "religion," but no more. Americans call it "spirituality."
Some Americans want to be spiritually left alone, without complications from organized religion. But nearly half of Americans appear to hope for a spiritual reformation -- or even revolution -- in their faith traditions and denominations. Congregations that exhibit a vibrant spiritual life embodying a living faith in practical ways succeeding, even in the religion bear market. These sorts of communities are models of what might be possible to renew wearied organizations. But the macro-structures of American faith -- denominations -- have yet to hear this message. They are still trying to fix institutional problems and flex political muscle instead of tending to the spiritual longings of regular Americans.
"Spiritual and religious" expresses a grassroots desire for new kinds of faith communities, where institutional structures do not inhibit or impede one's relationship with God or neighbor. Americans are searching for churches -- and temples, synagogues, and mosques -- that are not caught up in political intrigue, rigid rules and prohibitions, institutional maintenance, unresponsive authorities, and inflexible dogma but instead offer pathways of life-giving spiritual experience, connection, meaning, vocation, and doing justice in the world. Americans are not rejecting faith -- they are, however, rejecting self-serving religious institutions.
The end of conventional church isn't necessarily a bad thing. Christianity after religion, a faith renewed by the experience of God's spirit, is closer to what Jesus hoped for his followers than the scandalous division, politics, and enmity we have now. Will there still be Christianity after the end of institutional religion? Yes, there will be. But it is going to be different than what Americans have known, a faith responsive to the longings of those who are expecting more spiritual depth and greater ethical integrity rather than more conventional church. Indeed, I suspect that the end of church is only the beginning of a new Great Awakening.
Follow Diana Butler Bass on Twitter: www.twitter.com/dianabutlerbass
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Christ-Like;That means being like Jesus Christ. No we are not perfect and never will be,However we are to strive for perfection which is an endeavor that lasts for our lifetime or the day Jesus returns for us. Us; Meaning those who have been born again by Believing Jesus Christ,IS God, was born of a virgin,lived a perfect live was crucified for our sins,died, rose three days later and is returning, and then THIS: ask Jesus to forgive our sins accept His gift of eternal life and ask him to come into our heart and thanking Him at that moment for saving us.Then trying to be a Christian(like Jesus) in all we do and say.
The word Christian is not accurate in everyday wording in any media forum that does not profess Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.YES it is a personal choice between Us and God. But remember we have to accept what comes from whichever choice we make.I, for one have chosen Jesus Christ and Eternal Life! John 3:16
that is difficult to explain, and comes from where I do no know.
You do not have to be in a majestic building and you do not have to have someone else saying the prayers.... you are perfectly capable of doing all that yourself. And this has always been good enough for me.
I will ask two questions (of which I would love a response): (1) Could it be that going to Church is a test of our love for others? Romans 12 (2) Does 'feeling' necessarily make it right? Maybe we need others to keep us in reality...
GOD loved(s) the world. I'm sure He felt perfectly fine in heaven. Yet, "the word became flesh and dwelt among us." (John 1:14)
The resurrection sealed the deal.
And I will never fault anyone for what they choose to believe in (or not) as it is a personal matter, as long as it doesn't turn them into crazy and potentially dangerous extremist radicals such as what we have been witnessing so much of these days. Take Santorum for instance........ ;-)
But, I will fault people who want to do harm to others that don't deserve it, do you have a problem with that?
You don't seem to handle disagreement very well...now take a deep breath, enjoy the fact that you're alive and go play with the kitties.
You keep interpreting posts in the most negative fashion, and I'm sorry for that.
It's high time you scrape up what's left of your dignity and just move on.
Scary!
Sometimes people take their faith beyond the intentions of their religion, like what we are seeing in the mid east and, now, here in the U.S. Witness the hatred for "liberals", gays, Mormons, Islamists; anyone not like them. Religion is about saving of the souls of its believers. One would think that would be enough for its participants. Sadly, for the rest of us, it apparently isn't.
Religion brings out the best and the worst in people. It is its own good and evil. It has the power of myth and it belongs in a cage.
This would come as news to Boethius, Kierkegaard, Dostoevsky, Pascal...
Nowdays we know that this sense is quite specific : Any father and son share 23 chromosomes, exactly.
But God doesn´t have chromomes, we see then that is FALSE that Jesus is The Son of God, obviously Jesus is only a son of God.
Then The New Testament is FALSE, which doesn´t mean that it has not trues, only that is mainly a human invention.
Jesus NEVER claimed to be Almighty God, NEVER. He said so himself he was God's Son.
It can't get much clearer than that. They've done alot of damage. The truth is out there for anyone who truely wants it.=)