Millennials Are Leaving Religion And Not Coming Back

[yortsed snacilbuper]

And this trend has obvious political implications.

As we wrote a few months ago, whether people are religious is increasingly tied to — and even driven by — their political identities. For years, the Christian conservative movement has warned about a tide of rising secularism, but research has suggested that the strong association between religion and the Republican Party may actually be fueling this divide. And if even more Democrats lose their faith, that will only exacerbate the acrimonious rift between secular liberals and religious conservatives.

“At that critical moment when people are getting married and having kids and their religious identity is becoming more stable, Republicans mostly do still return to religion — it’s Democrats that aren’t coming back,” said Michele Margolis, author of “From the Politics to the Pews: How Partisanship and the Political Environment Shape Religious Identity.”

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/millennials-are-leaving-religion-and-not-coming-back/

[dalton99a]

1. Ok. They're going to hell.

Where are you gonna go if you haven't got religion

[Bucky]

11. When I die, I hope I go to wherever John Dingell is

[Blue_true]

23. Same here. nt

[hedda_foil]

2. The takeover of many mainstream churches by rightwing religionists hasn't helped.

[wryter2000]

4. Which ones?

An honest question. I'm not aware of any.

On edit: it's certainly true that mainstream churches are losing members to the mega-churches

[Voltaire2]

7. Which mainstream christian denominations

have been “taken over by rightwing religionists”?

[hedda_foil]

9. I said churches, not denominations. The only denomination I'm aware of is SB.

I'll try to find you a link to the takeover of churches by the right. There's a good recent article on it.

[Voltaire2]

10. You do that. It's pretty hard to take over

an asset of a religious organization without also taking control of that organization. But I’ll eagerly await your documentation of churches being taken away from mainstream religious denominations by rightwing religionists.

Oh and the Southern Baptists have been rightwing racist shitheads for their entire history.

[Bucky]

13. Billy Graham Ministries has definitely been took over

Billy Graham, while personally pro-life, was open minded on abortion rights and assertively bi-partisan. He was unapologetically Evangelical, but worked with non-Christians on a number of issues and consistently spoke the language of respect.

Franklin Graham has made the ministry's openly Republican, lies about liberals to make them seem ungodly, and ignores--or worse, excuses--all the blatant immorality by the current president. He's even signed onto the "Trump I God's chosen leader" bullhockey.

[Voltaire2]

19. Billy Graham? Seriously?

His son is just more rightwing than he was. And this was not a ‘rightwing takeover’ it was his son inheriting the family business.

But if that was all that was meant, whatever.

[Demsrule86]

43. We were going to a Methodist church...we pick our churches by the pastor and the people that go but

the Methodist have turned against LGBTQ...in their last meeting...thus we left and will never return to any of their churches...the only denominations that I am aware of that where Gay marriage is permitted by doctrine and LGBTQ are welcomed is the Episcopal church and the Church of Christ...our current church. Both do much good in terms of feeding the poor and helping in the community as well.

[Voltaire2]

44. Yeah they took a vote and decided on bigotry.

Their churches were not taken over by rightwing religionists. The members of the denomination, at their general convention, decided that god hates the gays. I'm still waiting for an example of righwing religionists taking over churches. It is a bullshit narrative that attempts to exonerate religion from its long history of bigotry and intolerance.

[TheBlackAdder]

38. Actually, many churches are having two sets of services, a traditional one & a hybrid pentecost one

.

Traditional churches are struggling to keep and attract congregants so they are doing whatever to keep their coffers flush with cash. They are now integrating two-stage baptism and the belief that the Holy Spirit will enter a person once they start speaking in tongues (glossolalia).

You see, the Pentecost views of A/G and COGIC along with those of charismatic churches places the Holy Spirit within the person, instead of it being an external force. People want to believe that God lives within them and have chosen them as being worthy to sit by the right side of Jesus in the afterlife, no matter what they do.

Pay attention to the various church service signs and you'll see mentions of a traditional service and a contemporary one.

The Catholic church, Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran and others have also adopted the cult position of Biblical Inerrancy, that was pushed by a group of fringe religious nuts in the late 70s, leading up the the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy. This is a position which claims that the Bible was divinely inspired (since it can't be divinely created since there are over 300 errors in it, some grossly in error). As such, making the claim the the Bible is without error means that the churches have to make up fantastical backstories to try to justify the error--which have no historical, since they are just bullshit made up by pastors and priests to try and explain why there are conflicts in the Bible. The problem is, the congregants close their eyes to this and willfully accept they are being lied to, training them to accept lies if it meets their agenda... enter the era of Trump.

.

[wryter2000]

3. I left religion

And came back at age 61. Of course, I belong to a liberal church that respects intellect.

[bmbmd]

33. Honest question-

Which denomination?

[wryter2000]

36. Episcopal

I was impressed that we ordained a gay bishop and had a woman in charge of the church

I’m agnostic, so I don’t take scripture literally, but I love my church.

[bmbmd]

42. That was my guess.

I'm sticking with the United Methodists for a while longer, but considering the Episcopal Church.

[wryter2000]

45. Not all Episcopal churches are created equal

They can be conservative in red parts of the country. So check out the church carefully.

You won’t hear politics in the pews.

[roamer65]

5. I've noticed attendance is down at my dad's church.

Past 3 or 4 months. I suspect it’s the political association between fundies and the Orange Anus.

There are no mega churches in his area.

[Voltaire2]

6. Thank god.

[Enoki33]

8. Good for them. Churches, at least the majority of big ones, have been

increasingly corrupted by business (money) and politics.

[Bucky]

15. Money changers in the temple? WWJD?

[KG]

12. more people getting hip to the scam is a good thing.

[stopbush]

14. GREAT NEWS!

Let’s hope the trend not only continues but accelerates.

[USALiberal]

16. Religion is totally illogical. Makes no sense to me. nt

[ismnotwasm]

18. Wow

Less than half (46 percent) of millennials believe it is necessary to believe in God to be moral. They’re also much less likely than Baby Boomers to say that it’s important for children to be brought up in a religion so they can learn good values (57 percent vs. 75 percent).

I’m not anti-religion per se, but that number should be zero. Nobody needs a religion to be “moral” or have “good values”

[maxsolomon]

46. In theory. Monotheism has been successful (partially) in doing so, historically.

What that should say is SOME MEN need the fear of eternal punishment in order to act ethically, with charity and kindness, towards other humans, in particular the vulnerable. Meaning, to not steal, rape, and kill at will.

And it doesn't really work that well. See: the entire history of Abrahamic Monotheism.

[not_the_one]

20. Baby steps.... in the right direction

The physical universe is based on science. We certainly don't understand it all, nor will we ever.

Made up shit is just that, made up shit.

But in this case, the journey of finding the truth of science is the reward. Things would be quite boring if we knew it all, already. There would no longer be the need to search... It is the SEARCH that gets our juices flowing...

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

21. Plenty of us boomers are also "lapsed" this religion or that. nt

[Initech]

22. Christianity has been taken over and replaced with a dangerous and scary ultra far right cult.

And they're not coming back either. Good for young people for realizing that this kind of mindset is dangerous.

[KentuckyWoman]

24. I go to church regularly.

Once in awhile a wingnuts shows up. They don't last long. Politics isn't tolerated much. They put reminders to us when last day to register, last day for absentee ballot, voting day... we are a precinct. Of course holidays birthdays, anniversaries and other events are right there too.

We are there to be better people, help each other, help the community, serve anyone we can. We sing. We read the Bible. We try to lift the spirit of anyone who needs it.

Someone with a different agenda doesn't fit in well and they don't stay.

[Skittles]

27. you do not need religion to be a better person

Last edited Sun Dec 22, 2019, 07:44 PM - Edit history (1)

no indeed

[KentuckyWoman]

37. Of course not

It works for me. Obviously I need the extra help.

I only meant to point out not all congregations are bastions of wing nutters.

[Skittles]

39. sorry, I guess Texas taints me

all the church-going folk I know loves them some pussy-grabbing con man

[madville]

25. Antiquated form of mind control

Social media has replaced it as the primary influencer.

[Skittles]

26. GOOD

[LiberalFighter]

28. I'm guessing part of it has to do with the increase of available resources.

Before, people grew up in families going to church and the primary source was the minister. If you had a question, there wasn't anyone else. And they weren't someone you challenged.

Different now.

[Takket]

29. GOP are leaving in droves too.......

evangelicalism is not a religion, it is a political ideology run by a political party, and it dominates the right wing. So honestly with Democrats leaving and GOP touting a fake religion, that doesn't leave a whole lot of people actually in a real religion.

[CanonRay]

30. I joined the UU at age 62

The first church I ever joined in my whole life. Was baptized Catholic but outgrew it by age 7.

[42bambi]

31. Maybe we could convert them back into holding dear to the teachings of Jesus.

[Mariana]

41. Or, you could respect their decision and leave them alone. nt.

[OhNo-Really]

32. Subtitle: Millennials Are Becoming More Compassionate & Tolerant

All politics aside

That’s the view from here.

[DeminPennswoods]

34. The younger generations are interested in good deeds and compassion

The churches that are thriving in my area are the ones that are focused on this, not the rites and rituals of the major religions. At least that's my read.

[bearsfootball516]

35. The church my in-laws go to is reducing their Sunday mass's from 3 to 2

In order to make the church appear fuller during service.

[Silent3]

40. I'm happy to hear that, but I'd be happier...

...if there wasn't so much woo often taking the place of religion, like astrology, tarot cards, chakras, reiki, ghost hunting, psychics, etc. etc.

And who'd have ever guessed flat earthers would get a resurgence?