Barna Group has come out with a new survey report about marriage and divorce in America. See the entire report here. News report based on the study can also be seen at Baptist Press, Marriage Partnership etc.
Here are some of the key findings: a) Christians are more likely to get married than other faith groups. While 76% of Americans get married, 84% of Christians tend to tie the knot, 74% among non-Christian faiths and 65% among atheists and agnostics. b) Lowest likelihood of divorce are Catholics (28%), evangelicals (26%), Asians (20%) and those who deem themselves to be conservative on social and political matters (28%). c) Highest likelihood of divorce downscale adults (39%), Baby Boomers (38%), those aligned with a non-Christian faith (38%), African-Americans (36%), and people who consider themselves to be liberal on social and political matters (37%).
Some important inferences based on this latest statastics is that half of all marriage ending divorce is not true! See a report in Christianity Today publication Marraige Partnership called Don’t believe in divorce stats. Another important finding is that though low, Asian divorces have risen significantly. Couple of years ago, I remember reading some study that reported divorce rate between 12 and 15 percent. Now it is one in five.
There is no more stigma with divorce in the American community. Some will marvel that as maturity of people’s attitude, while others will see that as erosion of communal ethics and liberalization of views concerning marriage. There is no doubt that marriage culture is eroding fast in the West and the rest of the world is also catching up fast in this area. I guess it is the progress paradox!
I came across this disturbing report - since abortion became legal in America in 1973, life was snuffed out of more than 15 million black babies! Also in this community is one of the largest out-of-wedlock births in the country. All this statastics proves ramphant sexual activity before and outside of marriage, a low view of life and poverty ridden ethos to get rid of babies, instead of valuing and nurturing new borns.
This is in the scale of genocides that are going on many part of the world. Systematic eradication of black babies from the world. Some might argue, it is better off to abort than grow up under neglect, without father and in poverty, only to end up pushing drugs and joing gangs. Pragmatic as that solution may look like, a society that does not defend its most vulnerable is destined toward self destruction.
Last month was Black history month and abortion among the African American community is a tragic reality. Sadly most conversation I hear during this season is on schooling, economic advancement, state support, ‘I-have-a-dream speech’, great black preachers etc. Wonderful as they are, I see many overlooking moral and family issues. Only few social or political organizations dare to challenge moral vaccum, fatherlessness, abortions, sexual promiscuity etc.
See National Black Pro-life Union for what is being done among black communities to get the pro-life message across. I wish more social and religious organization will speak up for the innocent victims and abstinence based view of sexuality will make more inroads in this community.
I was recently searching for some pro-family organizations in north of the border and came across some really distrubing trends among French-Candiaans. Of all the Canadian provinces, Quebec has the lowest marriage rate. It also has the lowest birth rate—the province is literally dying out. Quebec’s abortion rate is higher than all other Canadian provinces! Quebec leads the other provinces in divorce and suicide rates as well. See reports in Montreal Mirror, Maclean’s, Christian News, New York Times etc.
Montreal has become a notorious haven for pedophiles. Abortion rate is right up there with impoverished developing countries. The 2002 abortion rate was 42.6 abortions per 100 births—over four times that of Holland, over twice that of France and well ahead of the rest of Canada and the States.
Some calls this the Quiet Revolution of declining marriage rate, growing cohabitation,mouonting divorce and rising abortion rates is changing the face of the province. It is not simply quiet or silent, but a clearn sign of end of civilization or should I say the province. It has not only moral and legal implications, but is sure to affect demographic, economic and immigrations policies in the state.
Once a traditional Catholic society that maintained high moral and ethical standards in the communities. It had lower marriage age, cohab was unheard off, sex was permitted strictly within marriage. As the liberal culture makes inroads and brushes aside what held the society together and helped to prosper, is self destructing itself. Also a clear warning to other nations.
Read an excellent article in First Things by John Neuhans. Another good read would be ”What happened to Christian Canada?” by Mark Knoll. I generally enjoy Mark’s insights and hope to get my hands on understanding Canadian Christianity. If any of you read this, please give your inputs on what is causing this cultural shift in Canada?
No matter what media you turn to - Christian or secular, everybody is talking about the recently released report from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life on American religious landscape. Christian radio, tv, magazines, blogs, emails etc are filled with commentary and ‘expert’ opinion about the future of religion in America. Even many secular media dissecting this report with much delight, especially in light of Presidential election.
I had blogged on the same day as this report came out with some of my initial observations. But there is so much in it and many analysis continue to emerge. I am confident that for many months church and ministry leaders are going to chew upon this and try to understand its implications for themselves.
Mainline Protestant denominations continue their plunge downward through mediocrity to total irrelevance. No surprise there. Non-denominational evangelical churches continue to grow.The “unaffiliated” camp shows a rapid increase. Roman Catholicism is declining more quickly than any other “faith tradition” in One in four adults age 18 to 29 claim no affiliation with any religious institution.
One comment really caught my attention recently. Greg Smith, the researcher at the Pew Forum behind these report stated, “There is no question that the demographic balance has shifted in the past few decades toward evangelical churches. They are now the mainline of American Protestantism.”
It could mean two things: Evangelicals have taken the center stage in American Christianity or it is predicting the soon coming demise of evangelicalism like that of current mainlines. In many circles both of this reality is becoming more evident than ever before. Younger evangelicals are dropping out of established and mega churches. Emerging movement seems to be gaining strength. Religious leaders are throwing up their hands in the air at the challenge of the postmodern generation.
We are truely living in dangerous and exciting times! Leadership challenges we face have no precedents. How do we make sense of tumultuous shifts in demography? What does future looks like when faith allegience is so fickle? What do church leaders do when people are change churches like changing clothes? Something to really think about.
A new study is out on changing religious affliation in USA. It’s from Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. It says that - U.S. Roman Catholics and Protestants are leaving the churches of their childhood and either choosing other faiths or no religion at all. Read the report in Chicago Tribune, TIME, and New York Times. See also the article in Christianity Today.
According to the findings, 28 percent, of American adults said they have left the faith in which they were raised. About 16 percent of Americans say they are not members of any religious group, making the “unaffiliated” group the fourth largest religious tradition in the United States. The Catholic Church has lost more members than any other religious group.
Hinduism exhibits the highest overall retention rate with 84 percent of adults who were raised as Hindus saying they were still Hindu. Ninety percent of Hindus marry within their own faith, and eight-in-ten Hindus who were raised Hindu remain so as adults. Eight in 10 Hindus are foreign-born may help explain the high retention rates. Buddhists struggle hardest to pass the faith from one generation to the next.
Other interesting findings - Mormons and Muslims are the groups with the largest families; more than one in five Mormon adults and 15 percent of Muslim adults in the U.S. have three or more children living at home. Black Americans are the most likely to report a formal religious affiliation.
There has been lots of talk of church drop outs lately. This study continues to proves some rumbling in the ground. Mega chruch and many immigrant church leaders are taking note. Denominational head are reevaluating their church planting strategy and approaches toward the new generations. It is so scary and exciting to live in such changing times!
We all have seen many studies on young people who have dropped out of immigrant churches. Ever wonder if those of next generation who stay in the church, why they do? Or those who dropped out, if they ever join another church, what makes them stay there?
According to a recent study by LifeWay research, the most common reasons young people keep attending churches are:
a) Church is vital to a relationship with God(65%), b) They want church guidance in everyday life decisions (58%), c) It helps them become a betterperson (50%), d) They are committed to the purppose and work of the church (42%).
Two-thirds of the teens who stay in church as young adults describe the church as “a vital part of my relationship with God”–demonstrating the importance of each teen having a strong relationship with God, as well as the importance of church attendance.
Teen brain is is like a car with a good accelerator but a weak brake. With powerful impulses and without proper control, teens are likely to crash! Which is some of the findings of a new research on how adolescent brain works.
Parents and youth workers have always known this. Teenagers may grow into adult bodies, but mentally, emotionally and spiritually they may not be mature yet and might not exhibit any signs of responsible adulthood yet. Whether it be sexual experimentation, use of drugs, media consumption and gun culture, effect of accelarator without break can be seen.
Research confirmed that during mid teen years, kids are more impulsive and aggressive, emotionally volatile, likely to take risks, reactive to stress and vulnerable to peer pressure. They are also more prone to focus on and overestimate short-term payoffs and underplay longer-term consequences of what they do (no delayed gratification). They are less likely to explore alternative courses of action.
A safe and secure home environment is key to navigate them through this tumultous and potentially dangerous season of life. A healthy neighborhood and a community of faith is key to the adolescent development. Parents and youth leaders need to work together for the sake of kids. Each can do what the other cannot. In some circles the growing suscpion of each other turns out to be more harmful for healthy development of teens.
Check out these books - Family based youth ministry by Mark DeVries or God bearing Life by Kenda Dean.
About three-fourths of young people quit church. Lifeway Research (Southern Baptist) says they know the reasons why 70 percent of 18-year-olds who attended church regularly in high school quit by age 23: they don’t like it. And by age 30, 34 percent still have not rebounded. That means one in four young Protestants has left the church. Read the report in Christianity Today or Lifeway Research.
So why do they drop out? On their laundry list of reasons: they wanted a break (27%), church is too judgmental (26%), they moved away to college (25%), busy with work (23%). On the positive side, the 30 percent who kept attending church cited solid spiritual reasons, including: “it’s vital to my relationship with God” (65%) and church “helps guide my everyday decisions” (58%).
Lifeway’s Ed Stetzer blames the losses on youth ministry: “Too many youth groups are holding tanks with pizza,” “There’s no life transformation taking place. People are looking for a faith that can change them and be part of changing the world.” This is nothing new -denominational leaders blamed the youth workers and youth worker found their church structure too rigid or their hands tied up to do anything meaningful.
“Unless religious leaders take younger adults more seriously, the future of American religion is in doubt,” said Bowling Alone author and Princeton sociologist Robert Wuthnow, whose new book, After the Baby Boomers, was published in September. “The proportion of young adults identifying with mainline churches is about half what it was a generation ago, and evangelicals have barely held their own.”
I wonder among immigrant churches how many would have the courage and honesty to study about this growing trend in their own context. We rather look in other direction and pretend that there is no problems. Otherwise we are so preoccupied with those who show up that we are not even aware of those falling through the cracks. For the coconut generation book, we had taken a poll of church drop outs among Asian Indian churches and the reason behind their leaving their parent’s church.
Walk into any desi homes in America lately and you are likely to see them huddle around the tv program beamed from India. The latest player to enter this market is StarTV program thro DirectTV.
There are plenty of viewers in America for the programs in Gujurati, Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu. Besides entertainment value, this also provides a cultural link to India. They are fed with masala stories, news and their favorite stars. Of course, Indian brands and products are growing its market share for dollar value.
The Indian TV producers are discovering the small but economincally strong Indian American community and have started marketing their programs to them, much like what Bollywood has been doing lately. They are also weaving into NRI stories to attract them. Many young Indian American producers have also entered the rings.
Part of this package deal is channels and programs in Indian spirituality - AASTHA spiritual network hopes to fill the spiritual vaccum for mainstream American audience. Yoga, new age gurus, Indian devotional music etc will find a much larger viewership in America. But what happens when New Age spirituality gets old ?
The 20-something folks are not going to church anymore. We saw this trend among Indian churches in America. According to our research for Coconut Generation book, people in their 20s are lowest in attendance in many churches. See my article - Why they are not coming to Church?
I read Sarah Cunningham’s book Dear Church: Letters from a Disillusioned Generation (Zondervan, 2006) and realized that it is not just the issue with immigrant churches alone. Todays 20-something are generally disillusioned with the organized institutional religious gathering. Read her interview with Leadership Journal.
Sarah calls herself a “provoactive insider” than a “friendly outside.” She believes in “keeping the faith” and “tradition.” A 28-year-old PK (pastor’s kid) and former megachurch staffer now teaches high school history and is part of a house church now.
Many of these 20-something are turning to informal, unstructured, homebased worship and fellowship. Isn’t how the church was in the first place? Is this tendency to head out of denominations (even non-denominational bodies as well) and gravitate toward churchless christianity something that church leaders be worried about? Is there a risk of corruption of beliefs, lack of authority, deterioration of quality of worship & teaching, poor governance etc?
Is this a threat to church or a new trend to watch out for? Let me know what you think.
