Less-educated Americans dropping out of church fastest -- study

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel

When people have little to help them in times of trouble, there’s one place they can count on: the church they attend. But a new study suggests they’re losing interest in houses of worship.

Although attendance has fallen for all white Americans over the last generation, it's fallen twice as fast for the less-educated, says the study, presented this past weekend at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association.

"Religious congregations may be one of the few institutional sectors less educated Americans can turn to for for social, economic and emotional support in the fact of today's tough times," researcher W. Bradford Wilcox says in a statement. "Yet it appeasr that increasingly few of them are choosing to do so."

Poignantly titled "No Money, No Honey, No Church: The Deinstitutionalization of Religious Life Among the White Working Class," the paper focuses on whites because black and Latino churchgoing is less affected by income and education. Religions represented included Catholics, Protestants, Jews and Mormons.

Read more: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/religion/faith-and-values/sfl-fv-blog-working-class,0,1673250.story

[snooper2]

1. This really seems counter-intuitive...

[tpsbmam]

12. Except that education and intelligence are mutually exclusive, particularly in the US

where education, particularly higher education, is increasingly becoming less accessible for more and more Americans.

I worked in an inner city Chicago hospital. Few of my patients had advanced degrees. Most were H.S. grads, although a large minority didn't have that degree.

I had some very intelligent patients, a couple of whom were illiterate. One comes to mind -- he was an older man who had been part of the tail end of the great migration of African Americans from the South to the North.

This man worked his ass off for decades He had a 3rd- to 4th-grade education, thanks to Southern schools, having to work to help his parents/family & Southern bigotry/segregation. He bought a house and eventually paid it off. His kids were all grown -- they ALL had college degrees. And this man achieved all of this while never being able to read. He was smart as all get out, he just never got around to learning to read -- I guess actually going out and doing backbreaking work and raising children to have the academic successes that eluded him due to circumstances maybe didn't leave room for learning to read. For whatever reason, he never learned.

I realize he's just an N of one, but I saw a lot of other intelligent people through my work at that hospital and for them, intelligence and education were separate and distinct.

[Moonwalk]

13. Actually, not so counter-intuitive if you consider the responses in--

Replies #3 & #5. I think they have less money to give to churches, and need to work more. Also, remember that church is a social event. One has to face friends and neighbors and that's hard when you're ashamed or depressed or just have only bad news to relate. In the past, when towns and congregations were smaller, and people of certain religions (especially Jews, Catholics & Mormons) had to stick together because of prejudice against them, you went to church and got sympathy when things were bad. You got help. You felt like your "people" were around you and ready to give you some assistance--like a job or food or whatever.

But I wonder, in this climate of blaming the poor, if these people now feel like they're going to hear from some of these churches that if they're doing poorly, it's their fault. That god helps them that help themselves. Even if the church is sympathetic and wants to help them, they may feel that they identify more with being lower class, unemployed, etc., not with being Jewish, Catholic, Mormon. They may not like going to church and seeing others doing well when they're not.

[BR_Parkway]

14. Too many churches spend money on mega-church buildings and such

there's nothing left to actually 'help' people in trouble. the bigger the church, the wealthier the leaders - and the further they get apart from their congregations

[tularetom]

2. That's because they're getting bullshit instead of answers from the churches

Instead of the economical and social support they seek they hear anti abortion and anti gay propaganda.

And they've finally begun to catch on.

Far as I'm concerned this is the best news I've heard all day.

Now when they figure out that Fox "news" is feeding them the same crap we might start to see progress

[RKP5637]

6. Excellent!!! And my hope too, that they realize all of the BS they get heaped

on them.

[Moonwalk]

15. Well, let's not celebrate yet...

This is encouraging if, as you aay, they're tired of the bullshit. But I'm actually worried that they're just tired of the same old answers from these churches to their problems. Which means they decided those answers are bullshit, but are open to new and other bullshit. As we saw in the 30's & 60's, when the typical religions no longer make sense to people, don't address what they feel are their problems and issues, they don't necessarily go atheist. They go for different religions. In the 30's there was the rise of evangelical type, laying-on-of-hands churches like Amy Simple McPherson. In the 60's Eastern religions with Indian gurus caught on.

Which means all these people need is one religion that seems different from the old ones, and which has one charismatic, "I've got the all the answers!" leader, to pull them into it.

We'd better hope that he/she turns out to be a Ghandi rather than a Hitler. Come to that, we'd better hope that they haven't already decided that Fox New IS their new religion in place of all these others. Maybe they're staying home from church because church is their living room and Fox News is their pastor.

[LanternWaste]

18. I suppose a post hoc ergo prompter hoc argument is better..

I suppose a post hoc ergo prompter hoc argument is better than none at all... :shrug:

[dmallind]

3. Interesting - less education = less money = less comfortable with constant $$ appeals maybe?

Would be worth digging deper into the details, as overall education level has long been, and still IS, negatively correlated with religiosity.

[hedgehog]

4. As a side note, I am under the impression that a lot of couples

live together and put off the wedding until they have enough cash to throw a big party. I wonder if church attendance is seen as something people with money do? I know a lot of church folk get upset if people show up in casual clothes. Most church goers I know couldn't care less as long as you show up; but people will hear the ones complaining.

[RandySF]

5. Perhaps they are too busy working their second jobs on Sunday.

[Jester Messiah]

7. The really smart ones had already left. ;-) [nt]

[MgtPA]

9. Exactly! You beat me to it :-)

[Ozymanithrax]

8. The working class are watching TV to take their minds off their propblems...

rather than seek spiritual guides who will explain to them that their lives are fucked and if they just ask God's forgiveness they will, upon entry to heaven, have everything the rich have, while the rich are stuck behind that stinking fucking camel's ass trying to get through the eye of that fucking needle.

We have sufficient bread and circuses that provide forgetfulness on a Sunday afternoon, when they aren't working, looking for work, or miserable because they are unemployed.

[AlbertCat]

10. When people have little to help them in times of trouble, there’s one place they can count on:

Really? Prove it.

And what is the state of educated people turning from the church? The same? More?

[Dragonfli]

11. It is hard to live in a fantasy world when one is hungry, I am glad some sleepers have awakened /nt

[LetTimmySmoke]

16. This is the consequence of churches in America moving from a social justice stance...

...to being an organization primarily about sexual conservatism. Surprise surprise, people feel less welcome.

[izquierdista]

17. Maybe they have been educated

and learned that Religion is Bullshit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeSSwKffj9o
Remember, George Carlin never finished high school, but he turned out to be pretty wise.

[Bill McBlueState]

19. it's because church has largely been about social status

I saw it in my small town as a kid -- corporate types who went to expensive colleges were expected to show up in church somewhere to maintain their standing in the community. (Then they went to the country club for brunch and golfed a round.) High-school grads of lower income weren't expected to do this.

[Jim__]

20. That's a surprise.

I'd like to read the original paper; but, I can't find it on the web.

[InkAddict]

21. Where neighborhoods have been decimated

by global corporatist policies that favor and grant immunity from lawlessness to Wall Street bonusmakers (homewreckers) or in local areas where the demographics have over time changed with those wealth-draining policies, one won't find much assistance from their church; hence, perhaps, this little gem of a letter published through -- yet not on (hmmmmmm) == an LCMS congregation's site where the demographics are just a bit different might be enlightening? Sorry about the .pdf extension.

http://www.valleylutheran.org/files/What_is_Bethlehem_C...
(valleylutheran.org is in Chagrin Falls, OH)

Chagrin Falls, Ohio
Population: 3,683
Median Household Income: $64,381
Percentage with a Bachelors Degree or Higher: 61.24%
Chagrin Falls, Ohio is 99% White, 0% African American

versus

Euclid, Ohio
Media Population: 48,246
Median Household Income: $37,941
Percentage with a Bachelors Degree or Higher: 19.05%
Euclid, Ohio is 50% White, 48% African American
at least 70% of school children)


What is Bethlehem Community Church?
Who are we?
Why do we exist?

First, we are a part of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod – that is our theology – that is our
brotherhood. But that is also a fact that we don’t publicize. Why? Because it doesn’t mean much to
the people in our neighborhood – in fact, it kept them from entering our doors in years past. They
didn’t know what a Missouri Synod Lutheran was … but they knew they weren’t it so thus, they sure
didn’t belong to whatever it was we were doing. No, we don’t publicize our denominational affiliation...
(snip)

I came to understand the Lutherans, LCMS, all right: RW/fundamental/evangelical/intolerant/racist. This denomination
promotes the ultimate guilt of being a defective, sinful human. Good works are not necessary for salvation; one can
be as hateful as one wishes because the sacrament takes it all away, a convenience for those that think one has made
only right decisions in their lives. Members of this faith shun those they find sinful or who do not meet their expectations
of faith or tests of goodness. If I was the author of this plea, I wouldn't be in a big hurry to divulge that theology up front either - better to count on those old-timers to come through who are well-brainwashed into putting more in the plate to follow the jobs they sent offshore by their Republican votes and "family" values.

Continuing...

How can you help? Well, our needs are many – our facilities are in need of major repair – the
gas bills are enormous – the roofs leak – the furniture has been picked up off the curbs and many
pieces are broken – the wiring in our fellowship hall is unsafe and undependable – the furnaces in the
church are antique – the list goes on and on. We have cut the budget to the bone – no organist, a parttime,
part-volunteer custodian, one pastor who has taken pay cuts, no secretary, health insurance
provided through the pastor’s wife’s job because we can’t afford Concordia Plans. In a word…
donations and support for the ministry as God leads your heart. You are welcome at any time to join
with us in any ministry we do – come visit us, come see our facilities – they are old, but they are also a
blessing from God in this community and we thank Him for them. We thank Him for placing us where
we are – in the city doing urban ministry. But the people we are reaching do not have the means to
support the ministry. A lot of them are tithing – yes tithing – off disability checks and unemployment
checks. The “widow’s mite” comes to mind, and I know God smiles. We are praying God may move
you to help us continue and expand this ministry in ways we aren’t yet able to. We have a community
of youth knocking on our door – literally – every day – wanting a place to be and activities and groups
just for them. We currently have two portable, broken basketball hoops in our parking lot that are used
about 18 hours a day in the summer – but it’s not enough. Our kids deserve better. Help us if you can
– if God touches your heart. We love you and know that we labor in the Lord together – and it is never
in vain.
- from the grateful people of Bethlehem Church
=====================================================================================================

So, the rest of this letter is either tipped to find favor in the eyes of those wealthy do-gooders in
Chagrin Falls, or an honest assessment that the LCMS organization has utterly failed to support this congregation's
neighborhood mission. Wonder if the author got a nice letter that said Valley would pray for his congregation or
actually sent some assistance? I know this author; he offered no assistance whatever for a personal, religious-family
problem, perhaps for lack of resources or perhaps for lack of backbone; so my family moved on, but then I'm ONLY moderately
educated re: hypocrisy, religious or otherwise.