Fw: [UU Humanists] Data, for Pete - they walk right out.

[JOHN BURCHFIELD]

Thanks to my computer illiteracy, I was unable to "trim the tail."  Sorry!

On Saturday, January 21, 2017 12:19 PM, Willa Cloud via Humanists <huma...@lists.uua.org> wrote:

I've been involved with a Secular Humanist organization since it started in March 2012.  I've heard 5 people talk about going to the local UU Congregation and finding it too full of God talk.  Even when the minister is there he does say "in his name we pray."  Usually the minister at that church is not the problem it is individual congregants giving the service who are into universal energy and God as a life force.  The people who told of their experiences rarely went back twice.  Of the 250 members in the Secular Humanist only 2 of us attend the UU congregation every month or so.  Church members don't want to visit the Secular Humanists because they think we spend all their time bashing Christians and other religions which is not the case at all.  The minister described it as a hate filled group when someone asked him about it, yet he has never bothered to find out what the group is like.


    On Friday, January 20, 2017 5:32 PM, H J via Humanists <huma...@lists.uua.org> wrote:


Yes, Pete, here is some actual data.  Note that there won't be data from UU churches - there aren't enough to get good statistics.  And we all know that anecdotal data isn't very helpful.  So we don't have data from people who entered UU and left - but we do have data on why those who left their church left, and that's practically the same thing.  
A rigorous, scientific study from Pew just answered this (Aug 2016), and the result is a big deal.
They left because they just didn't believe the supernatural woo anymore.  Of all the answers, that answer was more (49%) than all the other answers *put together* (48%)!
Only 10% said that they still believed but didn't go for some other reason (like "can't get to church" or such).
After all, if they explicitly left their Christian church due to the supernatural stuff, and walk into a new church and are hit with more supernatural language, we'll be lucky if they even stay through the service, much less come back next week.
Here's the data.  I think it's just what you asked for.
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/08/24/why-americas-nones-left-religion-behind/

-Jon
***********************************
From: Pete Wernick <pwer...@aol.com>
To: mwe...@ec.rr.com, huma...@lists.uua.org
Subject: Re: [UU Humanists] discomfort with the word "worship"
Message-ID: <159ba14a75...@webprd-a98.mail.aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8

So... if this is so,

Young people walk into a UU church today and hear all that God talk and walk right out.
here's a question I hope you can answer:
Do you have any sort of documentation for young people doing that? Even anecdotal?

As a humanist I feel I should be evidence-based, especially when someone asks, how do you know? I mean, it's logical, but...

I need all the ammunition I can authoritatively offer for my suggestion to downplay "official" uses of the word Worship, while not telling anyone what they can or can't say.

Ideas welcome!

Pete
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[S.J. Alexander]

Come on down to the UU of Smithton and join this secular humanist.