3 ms·

I’m amazed it is even 47%. That’s crazy. I don’t know anyone my age that goes to church regularly. I guess there are tons of old people that do so.

svieira 6y ago
Whereas I know very few people my age who do not. It depends on your social circles more than your age if my anecdata says anything about it at all.
- JustSomeNobody 6y ago
  Pretty much this. If you don't go to church, it is much more likely your friends don't either.
Spivak 6y ago
Check out https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/attendance-at-religious-services/ https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/attendanc... for a way more detailed, albeit older, survey. Age doesn't really factor into it. Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers all attend church evenly-ish. There's some variation but nothing like "young people are leaving churches in droves." What's more likely is that you've semi-purposely gravitated toward a non-religious group of friends. It's not even really a party/tribe thing either which is already known to create interpersonal bubbles. Red tribe attends church on average more than blue tribe but not at such a significant difference that it would explain people finding themselves with no religious friends.
paulpauper 6y ago
probably some people are members but do not attend frequently
- dalbasal 6y ago
  It's these kinds of subtleties that make polls/census data on this hard to interpret? Has attendance declined? Adherence? Donations? They might just be measuring an evolution in what "member" means to respondents. I live in Ireland. Huge secularization over the last generation. I think it would be hard to narrate that story with church membership and/or census data alone. Even church attendance doesn't always mean what you think it means. It might not imply membership, beliefs or even census reported identity. IMO, the more interesting questions relate to what the churches preach, and how that evolves over time.
claytn 6y ago
When the baby boomers are gone the percentage will drop tremendously. I only know of one or two people below the age of 40 that practice religion regularly. Definitely curious to see what the headline will read 30 years from now.
aphextron 6y ago
>I’m amazed it is even 47%. That’s crazy. I don’t know anyone my age that goes to church regularly. I guess there are tons of old people that do so. This varies considerably by region. In the south there are loads of these new "hip" mega churches with young pastors that appeal to the millennial crowd. I'd say the percentage of younger/middle age people that still identify as religious is somewhere around 50% here.

svieira 6y ago

Whereas I know very few people my age who do not. It depends on your social circles more than your age if my anecdata says anything about it at all.

JustSomeNobody 6y ago
Pretty much this. If you don't go to church, it is much more likely your friends don't either.

Spivak 6y ago

Check out https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/attendance-at-religious-services/ https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/attendanc... for a way more detailed, albeit older, survey. Age doesn't really factor into it. Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers all attend church evenly-ish. There's some variation but nothing like "young people are leaving churches in droves." What's more likely is that you've semi-purposely gravitated toward a non-religious group of friends. It's not even really a party/tribe thing either which is already known to create interpersonal bubbles. Red tribe attends church on average more than blue tribe but not at such a significant difference that it would explain people finding themselves with no religious friends.

paulpauper 6y ago

probably some people are members but do not attend frequently

dalbasal 6y ago
It's these kinds of subtleties that make polls/census data on this hard to interpret? Has attendance declined? Adherence? Donations? They might just be measuring an evolution in what "member" means to respondents. I live in Ireland. Huge secularization over the last generation. I think it would be hard to narrate that story with church membership and/or census data alone. Even church attendance doesn't always mean what you think it means. It might not imply membership, beliefs or even census reported identity. IMO, the more interesting questions relate to what the churches preach, and how that evolves over time.

claytn 6y ago

When the baby boomers are gone the percentage will drop tremendously. I only know of one or two people below the age of 40 that practice religion regularly. Definitely curious to see what the headline will read 30 years from now.

aphextron 6y ago

>I’m amazed it is even 47%. That’s crazy. I don’t know anyone my age that goes to church regularly. I guess there are tons of old people that do so. This varies considerably by region. In the south there are loads of these new "hip" mega churches with young pastors that appeal to the millennial crowd. I'd say the percentage of younger/middle age people that still identify as religious is somewhere around 50% here.