Why Is Organized Religion Failing

[california boy]

7.5 Million Americans Have 'Lost Their Religion' Since 2012 according to a new survey.  That is only 3 years ago.  To put that number in some kind of perspective, it is as if every active Mormon in the entire world decided to not attend church any longer in just the last three years.  (just roughly calculating 15 million members and a 50% activity rate.)  Chruch attendance stayed at a pretty consistent rate until the 1990's.  Since then there has been a substantial increase in people leaving organized religion.  The rate is increasing at an alarming rate.  

 

From the article

 

When asked their religious preference, nearly 1 in 4 Americans now says “none.” Up until the 1990s, the percentage who were in this group known as “nones” hovered in the single digits. The 2014 GSS showed that nones are 21 percent of the population, up one point from 2012.

How large is this group? There are nearly as many Americans who claim no religion as there are Catholics (24 percent). If this growth continues, in a few years the largest “religion” in the U.S. may be no religion at all.

 

 

 

 

The question I would like to discuss in this thread is "Why do you think that organized religion is failing so dramatically?  I think this is an important issue to discuss.  And I would love to hear your thoughts both from the churches perspective as well as religion in general.  If you have a point to make, I would love it if you could back up your opinion with some kind of data.  I think this is an important enough issue that just guessing is not adequate.  

[Mormonmaniac]

Organized religion only fails when they become worldly. In general though, religion isnt failing, its individuals and society made of those individuals that are failing. I put a lot of blame on Hollywood.

Edited April 19, 2015 by Mormonmaniac

[3DOP]

Organized religion? I don't know if I care about that. Christ appeared to have failed. His disciples abandoned him save one. A thief believed. Three women. One disciple. A soldier. A Jewish elder lends his crypt. Earthquake and darkness add to the discouragement. Christ rose, and He has promised perpetuity for His Church. There is no promise about whether the gates of hell prevail against organized religion. Maybe "organized religion" should fail while Jesus' Mystical Body lives?

 

The idea I get about the true Church is that like Her Head, the Lord Jesus Christ, she will appear to many to have "failed", but we would be wise to doubt it.

Edited April 19, 2015 by 3DOP

[california boy]

Organized religion only fails when they become worldly. In general though, religion isnt failing, its individuals and society made of those individuals that are failing. I put a lot of blame on Hollywood.

 Would you say that the church has become worldly?  Because it too has experienced a drastic downturn from it's accellerated growth prior to 1990?  Do you think Hollywood is that much different than it was in the 80's?  I guess I am looking for things that have changed drastically since the 90's when things started to decline.

Edited April 19, 2015 by california boy

[bluebell]

7.5 Million Americans Have 'Lost Their Religion' Since 2012 according to a new survey.  That is only 3 years ago.  To put that number in some kind of perspective, it is as if every active Mormon in the entire world decided to not attend church any longer in just the last three years.  (just roughly calculating 15 million members and a 50% activity rate.)  Chruch attendance stayed at a pretty consistent rate until the 1990's.  Since then there has been a substantial increase in people leaving organized religion.  The rate is increasing at an alarming rate.  

 

From the article

 

 

 

 

The question I would like to discuss in this thread is "Why do you think that organized religion is failing so dramatically?  I think this is an important issue to discuss.  And I would love to hear your thoughts both from the churches perspective as well as religion in general.  If you have a point to make, I would love it if you could back up your opinion with some kind of data.  I think this is an important enough issue that just guessing is not adequate.  

 

 

 

I think the world is more secular, celebrating atheistic ideals and denigrating the concepts of obedience, sacrifice, and faith.  Religion has gone of out favor with the 'popular' crowd.

[JLHPROF]

The divide between the devout and the society of the world is widening.  People think they have progressed beyond the need for God.

A very scary wake up call is on the horizon.

[california boy]

I think the world is more secular, celebrating atheistic ideals and denigrating the concepts of obedience, sacrifice, and faith.  Religion has gone of out favor with the 'popular' crowd.

 

 

The divide between the devout and the society of the world is widening.  People think they have progressed beyond the need for God.

A very scary wake up call is on the horizon.

 

 

I think both of these observations are true.  But the nagging question for me is still the why?  Doesn't religion promise a better life here on earth by following its precepts?  Don't you think your lives are richer and fuller being involved in a religion?  Yet from what you are saying, people are finding a better life outside of religion.  Or is the only promise of religion a better life in the world to come?

[Robert F. Smith]

7.5 Million Americans Have 'Lost Their Religion' Since 2012 according to a new survey.  That is only 3 years ago.  To put that number in some kind of perspective, it is as if every active Mormon in the entire world decided to not attend church any longer in just the last three years.  (just roughly calculating 15 million members and a 50% activity rate.)  Chruch attendance stayed at a pretty consistent rate until the 1990's.  Since then there has been a substantial increase in people leaving organized religion.

Mainstream churches and synagogues in America have been losing members at an ever increasing rate for decades, while some forms of Christianity and Judaism in America have actually continued to grow.  That is why your comparison with Mormon Church attendance worldwide is not apt.  This is an American survey, and Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox Jews and Evangelical Christians, Mormons, etc., in America, do not follow the larger trend at all.  The published surveys which show this have been discussed here on this board many times.

 

The rate is increasing at an alarming rate.

I don't know that alarmist language is appropriate, since the figures don't actually tell us what they mean, or within which groups such trends are most obvious.  Such trends have been published and are readily available.

 

.........................................................

The question I would like to discuss in this thread is "Why do you think that organized religion is failing so dramatically?  I think this is an important issue to discuss.  And I would love to hear your thoughts both from the churches perspective as well as religion in general.  If you have a point to make, I would love it if you could back up your opinion with some kind of data.  I think this is an important enough issue that just guessing is not adequate.

"Organized religion" in the West has been declining overall for a long time, harking back to the Enlightenment and furthered by modern secularism (which is itself a "religion").  We see this most starkly in Europe, where state religion was so entrenched that people were taxed by the state to support it even into modern times.  Europeans are generally so anti-religion that children who believe are made fun of at school nowadays.  Even Mormon missionaries in Europe, who have a very different message from the entrenched religions, find themselves ignored and the object of scorn through guilt by association with other Christian religions.

 

Americans have been much slower to get on the secular bandwagon, so the statistics you see now were bound to come about.  No surprise.  It was all predictable.

 

Naturally, Mormonism elsewhere in the world has not had to contend with such dispiriting anti-religious attitudes.

[rodheadlee]

7.5 Million Americans Have 'Lost Their Religion' Since 2012 according to a new survey.  That is only 3 years ago.  To put that number in some kind of perspective, it is as if every active Mormon in the entire world decided to not attend church any longer in just the last three years.  (just roughly calculating 15 million members and a 50% activity rate.)  Chruch attendance stayed at a pretty consistent rate until the 1990's.  Since then there has been a substantial increase in people leaving organized religion.  The rate is increasing at an alarming rate.  

 

From the article

 

 

 

 

The question I would like to discuss in this thread is "Why do you think that organized religion is failing so dramatically?  I think this is an important issue to discuss.  And I would love to hear your thoughts both from the churches perspective as well as religion in general.  If you have a point to make, I would love it if you could back up your opinion with some kind of data.  I think this is an important enough issue that just guessing is not adequate.  

 

Which religions? Christian?  The 3 Abrahamic? other?

[The Nehor]

I think both of these observations are true.  But the nagging question for me is still the why?  Doesn't religion promise a better life here on earth by following its precepts?  Don't you think your lives are richer and fuller being involved in a religion?  Yet from what you are saying, people are finding a better life outside of religion.  Or is the only promise of religion a better life in the world to come?

 

More happiness? Yes. More "objectively better" from the viewpoint of comfort and pleasure? Much more doubtful. I believe Abinadi lived a richer and fuller life by embracing the gospel but he probably would not have faced exile and later execution if he had chosen a different path.

[rodheadlee]

I think it is just a sign of the times.

 

1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents,unthankful, unholy,

 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers,incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

[Mystery Meat]

Doesn't religion promise a better life here on earth by following its precepts?  

 

That was never what the Savior said and it has never been the message of the Church. In fact I would say the opposite. Being a faithful LDS may make life harder.

[carbon dioxide]

Should disorganized religion be preferred over organized?

[carbon dioxide]

My belief is that secularism/atheism is a weak system that thrives in times of peace, safety, and prosperity.  When people have all their needs meet, they really don't care about spiritual things.  Why go to church when football is on.  Now if another world war occurs, a pandemic that causes millions of death, large scale natural disasters, another great depression, one will see it reverse.  It is all found in the pride cycle as described in the Book of Mormon. 

[strappinglad]

There was a momentary uptick in church attendance immediately following 9/11 . It would be interesting to see studies that followed church attendance after any major disaster

no matter where in the world it took place.

For me, the decline is a generational thing. Most great grandparents belonged to a church, many grandparents were at least nominal attenders, parents now are so tied up in the secular material world just to have everything they think they need that there is little time left to consider organized religion. Perhaps the current youth will rebel against the materialist society and look for deeper meaning in spiritual pursuits , however, they probably won't find what they desire in the traditional realms. What I find worrisome is the movement to more fundamentalist thinking in order to cope with the massive societal changes in the world. People may say they want change but what they really want is stability. Make the trains run on time and you will rule the world.

[Mormonmaniac]

Would you say that the church has become worldly?  Because it too has experienced a drastic downturn from it's accellerated growth prior to 1990?  Do you think Hollywood is that much different than it was in the 80's?  I guess I am looking for things that have changed drastically since the 90's when things started to decline.

Growth has slowed in areas in this country due to people becoming worldly. Hollywood has changed a lot since the 80's. It started before that though. Hollywood, sadly, is where family members spend most of their free time rather than doing family activities together without the TV. Hollywood keeps pushing upon us newlower standards with morality and making marriage a joke. People eventually become that which they watch.

[3DOP]

Growth has slowed in areas in this country due to people becoming worldly. Hollywood has changed a lot since the 80's. It started before that though. Hollywood, sadly, is where family members spend most of their free time rather than doing family activities together without the TV. Hollywood keeps pushing upon us newlower standards with morality and making marriage a joke. People eventually become that which they watch.

II Edited April 20, 2015 by 3DOP

[Monster]

My belief is that secularism/atheism is a weak system that thrives in times of peace, safety, and prosperity.  When people have all their needs meet, they really don't care about spiritual things.  Why go to church when football is on.  Now if another world war occurs, a pandemic that causes millions of death, large scale natural disasters, another great depression, one will see it reverse.  It is all found in the pride cycle as described in the Book of Mormon. 

I find your God inept. To have to resort to death and destruction to prove a point is like a child lashing out to see who he can hurt to make himself feel better. This kind of God is not worthy of worship.

 

Organized religion is failing for two reasons. First in has not progressed with the world. It is stuck in the past insisting the future is scary. But many secular types want a more hopeful future than all the death that organized religion touts. Second as human knowledge grows the need to explain the unexplainable by invoking God diminsihes. Organized religion is just not needed to define the universe any longer.

Edited April 20, 2015 by Monster

[The Nehor]

I find your God inept. To have to resort to death and destruction to prove a point is like a child lashing out to see who he can hurt to make himself feel better. This kind of God is not worthy of worship.

I find the people he is dealing with inept. To resort to self-damnation when eternal happiness is offered is acting like a spoiled child turning down happiness so he can make mud pies in a slum. That kind of moron is not worth saving, yet for some reason he tries anyways.

Organized religion is failing for two reasons. First in has not progressed with the world. It is stuck in the past insisting the future is scary. But many secular types want a more hopeful future than all the death that organized religion touts. Second as human knowledge grows the need to explain the unexplainable by invoking God diminsihes. Organized religion is just not needed to define the universe any longer.

Yes, if there is one thing this generation is known for it is belief that the future will be much better. [/sarcasm]

Of course you are claiming it is a marketing problem and we should tailor our message to appeal to the masses. Those who believe treat it as facts and realize that what people want really does not factor into it.

Secular types sound like idiots. "I want a hopeful future. I do not care about reality or what is actually going to happen." And they call us delusional.

Edited April 20, 2015 by The Nehor

[JLHPROF]

I find your God inept. To have to resort to death and destruction to prove a point is like a child lashing out to see who he can hurt to make himself feel better. This kind of God is not worthy of worship.

 

God is a parent disciplining willful spoiled children who think they have all the answers.  If God was to take a hands off practice we'd destroy ourselves and probably the planet within a generation.  God doesn't punish his children out of spite, he punishes us to teach us.

And without a doubt, most of the death and destruction in this world is self inflicted.

 

 

Organized religion is failing for two reasons. First in has not progressed with the world. It is stuck in the past insisting the future is scary. But many secular types want a more hopeful future than all the death that organized religion touts. Second as human knowledge grows the need to explain the unexplainable by invoking God diminsihes. Organized religion is just not needed to define the universe any longer.

 

Eternal truth has ZERO need to progress.  If something is already right it has no need to change.

And human knowledge is an absolute joke comparative to the knowledge of the eternities.

[Damien the Leper]

unChristian and You Lost Me by David Kinnaman and the Barna Group are good resources on the problem.

[Calm]

That was never what the Savior said and it has never been the message of the Church. In fact I would say the opposite. Being a faithful LDS may make life harder.

Just don't cite "I never said it would be easy, I only said it would be worth it" please. 

 

According to this site, that was Mae West who said it, not Christ (though I have my doubts about that accuracy since I can't find any actual reference to where she said it):

 

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/300527-i-never-said-it-would-be-easy-i-only-said

 

If only I had known this when I worked in a church bookstore and had to put up with all those 5x7 matted pictures of Christ on the display rack with this saying underneath it (I was subversive enough I would mention to people looking at them as if interested that Christ had never actually said that in any scripture, had a few respond that his teachings conveyed that message, at which point I would say 'well, why not use those then instead of pretending he said something?').  I wonder if they still sell them.

 

add-on:  found a couple versions on the site, but they were "currently unavailable"....probably could get them from the original company though...

 

https://deseretbook.com/p/never-said-would-easy-only-worth-intermountain-mat-frame-65368

Edited April 20, 2015 by calmoriah

[BCSpace]

Why Is Organized Religion Failing?

 

I would suggest, among other reasonable things already mentioned, a percieved lack of miracles. c.f. Moroni 7:27-37

[Brian 2.0]

I guess I am looking for things that have changed drastically since the 90's when things started to decline.

The Internet fits that bill rather nicely.

[Rivers]

Religion just isn't cool anymore. 9/11 may have hade something to do about it.