Postcards from the Protestant decline in America

[trotsky]

https://religionnews.com/2019/12/10/postcards-from-the-protestant-decline-in-america/

...The problems of aging congregations and diminishing numbers are so well-documented in mainline Protestantism that they hardly need repeating here, yet it’s rare for me to have so personal and piercing an experience of it. But what I saw in western Illinois is a microcosm of what’s happening all across the country, especially with young adults. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then here is a graphic from sociologist of religion Ryan Burge, who has analyzed several decades of General Social Survey data to demonstrate what has happened over time with Americans in their 20s.



...That means that about one in five of these young adults were Protestants at all in 2018, compared to twice that when I was in high school. The long-term trajectory is trending downward, even though there have been some uneven “rebound” years, like in 2017.

Sometimes because of my research into young adult Mormons, I meet people who are clinging to the belief that many young adults tend to leave religion in their teens and early twenties, only to return to the fold after they’ve sown some wild oats and established their adult identities independently of their parents. Once they get married and have children of their own, the thinking goes, they will come back to church.

There are definitely kernels of truth to this; the “life cycle effect” is a very real phenomenon that we have data about stretching back for decades. Late adolescence and the early twenties are the most vulnerable time for people to leave religion. The differences now are that 1) more young people than ever before are leaving during that vulnerable period and 2) many of them are not coming back at all, even if they buck the demographic trends by getting married and having children while they’re still in their twenties. (More are delaying marriage or not marrying at all; according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median age for marriage in 2018 was nearly 30 for men and 28 for women.)

[Major Nikon]

1. Who needs data when one has faith?

Just sayin’

[Cartoonist]

2. What a beautiful graph!

When Copernicus figured out that the Earth orbited the Sun, he was alone. Eventually, truth won out, with religion being the last to cross the line.

Truth is winning again, and those who still believe in the God myth are no different than those who believe the Sun orbits the Earth.

[Ferrets are Cool]

3. Despite what others may think, the youth of today ARE smarter

on average than WE were. (boomers) They have more access to information by a large margin.
My opinion...yours may differ.

[edhopper]

4. If they are so smart

Last edited Wed Dec 11, 2019, 02:18 PM - Edit history (1)

how come they don't know how a dial phone works?

?pubId=4221396001&videoId=5720870872001

This is meant as a joke. I have hope for this next generation.

[Major Nikon]

5. They don't work unless you still have an analog phone line

[Cartoonist]

7. I can't shoe a horse.

My grandfather could.

[edhopper]

8. But I bet you know how it is done.

I bet you could use an old time horn phone if you needed to.

[Cartoonist]

9. One of these?

[edhopper]

10. Yep

Just ask Mable to put you through.

[Major Nikon]

11. We still used a more modern version of the crank phone in the military

We used them to shock the piss out of each other.

[3Hotdogs]

6. Thank you, Jesus.

[Sea Glass]

13. I think a lot of people are missing how big a factor the Internet is in this decline in belief.

Religion works best in isolated communities where pretty much everyone believes in the same nonsense and can reinforce it in others. The internet blows that apart. Young people can compare notes. They realize that the emperor is buck nekkid and there is zero evidence that any of these ridiculous stories are "true."

[trotsky]

14. Yeah, it's huge IMO.

One of the ways religion kept dissenters in check was isolation. The Internet blows that up. Someone with doubts in East Elbowbend, TX can connect with a community of millions to find they aren't alone.

[Sea Glass]

15. Definitely.

Pew shows the enduring decline in belief and the rise of the "nones" as starting in the mid-90s, and that was when the internet was starting to get a foothold.