Varied responses to religion's 'Great Decline'

[SecularMotion]

[center][/center]

WACO (ABP)—A new study that shows the decline of religion in America may be worse than imagined, but it neither impressed nor shocked Craig Nash, community pastor at University Baptist Church in Waco.

For years, Nash watched as study after study reported significant drops in key measurements like church attendance, prayer life and denominational identity.

“I feel like these surveys come out every six months, and they say the same thing,” Nash said.

Worse yet, they keep some congregations and ministers so fearful they constantly try to dream up ways to keep people from leaving their churches.

http://www.baptiststandard.com/news/faith-culture/16095-varied-responses-to-religion-s-great-decline-2

[cbayer]

1. What in the world is on the y axis of that chart?

I'm more worried about the critical thinking ability of an american public who would look at that graph and draw any kind of conclusion whatsoever from it.

[Warren Stupidity]

4. Here you go.

Geek note: Because the index is a combination of different measures with different scales, the index produced by the algorithm does not have a specific scale. In this graph, the average level for the time period is indicated. The top of the graph is two standard deviations above the average; the bottom is three standard deviations below the mean. Differences between two points can be compared with differences between two other points, e.g., the difference between the 1960s and 1980s is a decline of about 1.5 standard deviations, but the difference between the late 1990s and 2012 is nearly three standard deviations. - See more at:

http://tobingrant.religionnews.com/2014/01/27/great-decline-religion-united-states-one-graph/#sthash.GPDKNWA6.dpuf

[goldent]

8. In other words, the y-axis is something about religion

I think he is really just going for a place on the list of worst charts.

[Brettongarcia]

9. "Religiosity"; how religious people are. As measured by a sociologist.

Using several different data bases, compiled.

[Warren Stupidity]

10. It is important for the poster to dismiss

the graph, so no explanations will be sufficient.

[Jim__]

12. Yes. Given that he's plotting points against the vertical axis, there must be some scale ...

... associated with it. It raises the obvious question of why he doesn't show us the scale.

[Thinkingabout]

2. Perhaps it is the leaders in the church who are responsible in several cases

of the decline of church attendance. In my case, I did not agree with the SBC church I was attending was the political path taken by the ministers. I feel there is only a short period of time for a minister to speak to their congregations about religion and they choose to spend it taking about politics. Also, I do not agree with their position on many issues. Churches should be about winning souls and not elections.

[Warren Stupidity]

3. "the decline of religion in America may be worse than imagined" - no it is BETTER. nt.

[TygrBright]

5. Wait, I'm confused. Thought the US was the MOST religious country in the world? n/t

[Promethean]

6. It is not by far. Just look at Saudi Arabia or Iran as perfect examples.

That said religion has been on a steady decline in the US for a long time. There are those who have come to the conclusion that part of the reason for the more open and brazen religious attempts to enforce their religion is because of that decline. They know they are losing and have started on a desperation strategy.

[cbayer]

11. It's a chicken and egg question at this point.

The data is not entirely consistent, but I think a number of things are going on.

Non-believers are more comfortable identifying as such, which is a good thing. Whether the actual number is changing or just the self-identification is not clear.

Many other are leaving their churches because they have been turned off by the politicization and the extreme right wing positions. Many of these people still identify as religious, which is why this graph is so totally useless. It apparently reflects "religiosity" which can mean anything from profound belief to simple church attendance.

Then there's the increase in non-believeing organizations that in some areas are creating things that look an awful like like "church". Should we count them as religious?

It's a complex issue which this very simplistic and incomplete article does little to nothing to address.

But that's not surprising, considering the source (The Baptist Standard, not Secular Motion).

[Warren Stupidity]

7. It could be both the most religious and religiosity could be in decline.

Those two statements do not contradict each other.