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Church Attendance?

Tony

Penultimate Amazing
Tony
Joined
Mar 5, 2003
Messages
15,410
Is church attendance on the rise in the US? Europe?
 
Church attendanace varies. So you would have to be more specific. On the rise since last week, last month, last year, September 11th, The Spanish America War? Until you are more specific the question is unanswerable
 
I think it's been on the decline since yesterday. I predict the decline will continue until Friday, when it will rebound and spike on Sunday.
 
"Church attendance was up significantly Easter Sunday from 18,000 BCE, but took a dramatic downturn Monday morning."

source: The Official Statistics Bureau of the United States of My @ss.
 
Upchurch said:
I think it's been on the decline since yesterday. I predict the decline will continue until Friday, when it will rebound and spike on Sunday.
Click to expand...

You're quite the prognosticator Upchurch. Why you haven't grabbed the million is beyond me.;)
 
Nyarlathotep said:
Church attendanace varies. So you would have to be more specific. On the rise since last week, last month, last year, September 11th, The Spanish America War? Until you are more specific the question is unanswerable
Click to expand...


I mean in general as a cultural trend. But if you must have a time period, Has church attendance been on the rise in the last 20 years?
 
Tony said:



I mean in general as a cultural trend. But if you must have a time period, Has church attendance been on the rise in the last 20 years?
Click to expand...

Well, doing a quick google church I can find things saying it's up and I can find things saying it's down. I know precisely jack about statistics and the like so I have no idea which set of data to beleive. So there you have it, it's up but it's down.:p
 
I don´t know about church attendance in general, but I know one person who hasn´t been inside a church for about 10 years ;)

Seriously, I´ve heard several times that church membership has been slowly declining for the last twenty years. That´s in Northern/Central Europe, at least.
 
My gut reaction would be to say it's going up, but I'm a pessimist :D

One more thing to clarify before we try to google up an answer: are you interested in attendance numbers or attendance as a percentage of the population?
 
From what I recall, Church attendance has been steadily declining, especially in industrialized countries. Although, apparently it's been going up since September 11th, and the other day, the headline in the LifeStyles section of the newspaper was, "What a Trend we have in Jesus", and the media seems to be teeming with religious shows recently.

And I don't know how accurate this is, but back when I was a hairstylist, in school, we used to get nuns come in all the time. They were quite elderly, and said that all of the new nuns & priests were coming from Africa, Latin America, and Ireland, and that it was quite rare to get a new 'convert' from Canada.
 
I don't know any statistics, but just based on my hearing word of churches closing or sharing facilities, I'd say it's declining. Also, other Xians I've talked to don't think it's that important to go to church on a regular basis.
 
Chaos said:
I don´t know about church attendance in general, but I know one person who hasn´t been inside a church for about 10 years ;)

Seriously, I´ve heard several times that church membership has been slowly declining for the last twenty years. That´s in Northern/Central Europe, at least.
Click to expand...

I've got you beat chaos, I know someone who hasn't been inside of one for 18 years.

Of course I think that person has a good 10 years of age on you, at least...
 
In Italy too church attendance is declining steadily, even many so called catholics have better use for the sunday :D

Ciao
Luciano (not inside a church in 27 years :p )
 
Luciano said:
In Italy too church attendance is declining steadily, even many so called catholics have better use for the sunday :D

Ciao
Luciano (not inside a church in 27 years :p )
Click to expand...
I don't know much about Catholicism, but what kind of sin is it there not to go to church - it isn't a "mortal" sin, is it? Just wondering.
 
I have read several times that church attendance in Europe is going down.
In Spain the change is very dramatic. The generation of my parents attended church, the majority of them did. However the next generations abandoned the church near totally. For example, I only now two persons from my age attending church!
However, the church still remains popular for baptism, holy communion, and marriage.
 
Peskanov said:
I have read several times that church attendance in Europe is going down.
In Spain the change is very dramatic. The generation of my parents attended church, the majority of them did. However the next generations abandoned the church near totally. For example, I only now two persons from my age attending church!
However, the church still remains popular for baptism, holy communion, and marriage.
Click to expand...
The same in Italy, and me too I know only 2 persons attending church, my mom and my aunt, both of them over 70 (and both of them anticlerical :rolleyes: )
I don't remember anymore if it's a mortal sin but I know people don't care :D

Luciano
 
I wonder how skewed my viewpoint is though. I mean, I don't really hang out with anyone who goes to church, but I know my relatives are really keen on it. Maybe there are lots of people who go to church, I just don't talk to them.
 
I read an article in the local newspaper this weekend on the subject. Belief seems strong but attendance is down.
Overall, church attendance in the United States hasn't grown in years and might be sliding, according to several studies and polls.

"Weekly church attendance is declining over time," said Mark Chaves, a University of Arizona sociologist. "No one is arguing that churches are growing. The argument is whether they are staying even or shrinking."

Four in 10 Americans said they attended church in the past seven days when polled in March by the Gallup Organization. That figure has been consistent for 12 years.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0411passion11.html
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As I recall, there was some research on this 'shift' trend a couple years ago. Groups like Buddhists and Pentecostals were increasing, others declining.

I remembered it because it drew a common conclusion for two very different groups. Attributed to a people desiring a more 'personal experience' with the divine... (I could not find the study online though).

A good site for some data:
http://www.adherents.com
 
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