Having announced my retirement effective at the end of November, I find myself reflecting back over these past 7 years in Pembroke. Interestingly enough, the just released “Religious Landscape Survey” by the Pew Research Center happens to cover precisely these same 7 years! So, I found it quite fascinating to read their report documenting the changes since 2008. I will be highlighting the changes that caught my attention, but you can read more for yourself at:
http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/new-pew-research-center-study-examines-americas-changing-religious-landscape/
Since 2008, Vermont (37%) and New Hampshire (36%) have jumped into the #1 and #2 states whose adults described themselves as “Unaffiliated” or what the survey calls the religious “nones.” (indicated no religious preference whatsoever). Back in 2008 the #1 and #2 states were Washington and Oregon in the Pacific northwest. In the Northeast as a whole (including all the New England states plus New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey) 25% were Nones, 13% Evangelical Protestants, 15% Mainline Protestants, and 30% Catholics.
Below is a summary of the highlights:
- The Christian share of the population is declining and the religiously unaffiliated share is growing in all four major geographic regions of the country.
- Christians are declining, both as a share of the U.S. population and in total number.
- The biggest declines have been in the mainline Protestant tradition and among Catholics.
- The major trends seen in American religion since 2007 – the decline of Christians and rise of the “nones” – have occurred in some form across many demographic groups, including men and women, older and younger Americans, and people with different levels of education and different races and ethnicities.
- Christianity – and especially Catholicism – has been losing more adherents through religious switching than it has been gaining.
- The Evangelical Protestant tradition is the only major Christian group in the survey that has gained more members than it has lost through religious switching.
My point in sharing this survey is not to discourage us, but rather to reveal how “white the fields are for the harvest (John 4:35 KJV), especially in our own neck of the woods! That’s why our “witness,” our “helping others,” our “building relationships” with neighbors and co-workers is so very important and needed.
And, summer is a great time to casually connect with others to build those relationships…
- on the golf course
- at the pool
- taking in a ball game
- having a BBQ
There is no limit to the opportunities God gives us to help somebody and help ourselves and his kingdom!
Blessings upon you all,
Rev. Jim