Gallup Statistics on Religious-service Attendance

[Angie Boyter]

Following up on our book for tomorrow, I wondered how religiously observant Americnas are these days.

Interesting!!!

https://news.gallup.com/poll/642548/church-attendance-declined-religious-groups.aspx

PS Google also told me that in 2022 81% of Americans told Gallup they believed in God, down 6 % from 2017. That squares with the distribution for this chart from 2024.

[Mike DiFilippo]

"Empire of Reason" vs "Empire of Faith"

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[Steven Clark Cunningham]

Although religious affiliation and traditional attendance are declining, I would argue that essentially all people are still spiritual (according to the international consensus definition of spirituality: an intrinsic part of our humanity through which we seek meaning and purpose and have relationships - to self, to others, to nature, etc).  And I'd further argue that rather than seeing this phenomenon as a simple decline in religiosity, it's better understood as a change in the expression of spirituality from traditional religious activities to other activities that don't at all look religious but fulfill many of the same needs.  Sociologist Wendy Cadge offers several examples in an excellent talk she gave at The Chautauqua Institute a few years ago.  I don't have a video, but here is a transcript.  She uses the language of "spiritual delivery systems" and “spiritual infrastructure" to describe this phenomenon.

Great book this month, by the way!

Steve

Steven Clark Cunningham, MD, MLA, FACS

• HPB and General Surgeon
• Ascension Saint Agnes Hospital
• Johns Hopkins Howard County Medical Center 
• Religious Literacy Scholar, Harvard Extension School
• It's Considerate to Be Literate about Religion, Conflict, and Peace
• Children's Book Author
• Dinosaur Name Poems
• Your Body Sick and Well: How Do You Know?

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