Category Archives: Atheist

For all the predictions and talk of a slump in support among evangelicals, it appears Donald Trumps election loss was not at the hands of religious voters.

As an analyst of religious data, Ive been crunching data released in March 2021 that breaks down the 2020 US presidential election results by faith. And by and large there was very little notable change in the vote choice of religious groups between 2016 and 2020 in fact, for most faiths, support for Trump ticked up slightly. Instead, it was among those who do not identify with any religion that Trump saw a noticeable drop.

Despite exit poll data initially pointing toward a drop in white evangelical support for Trump in 2020, the latest data shows this not to be the case. The data is based on the Cooperative Election Study, which has become the gold standard for assessing vote choice because of its sample size and its ability to accurately represent the voting population of the United States.

In fact, with 80% of white evangelicals backing Trump in 2020, support actually ticked up from the 78% who voted for him four years earlier.

These differences are not statistically significant, and as such it would be wrong to say it definitively shows Trump gained among religious groups. But it indicates that among the largest religious groups in the US, voting patterns in the November 2020 vote seemed to hold largely steady with four years earlier. Trump did not manage to win significantly larger shares, nor was winner Joe Biden able to peel away religious voters from the Trump coalition.

However, there are some interesting and statistically significant trends when you break down the data further. Nonwhite Catholics shifted four points toward Donald Trump. This fits with what we saw in places like the heavily Hispanic and Catholic Miami-Dade County, Florida, where Trumps overall vote share improved from 35% to 46% between 2016 and 2020.

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Trump also managed to pick up 15 percentage points among the Mormon vote. On first glance this would appear a large jump. But it makes sense when you factor in that around 15% of the Mormon vote in 2016 went to Utah native and fellow Mormon Evan McMullin, who ran in that years election as a third-party candidate. Without McMullin in 2020, Trump picked up Mormon voters as did Joe Biden, who did slightly better than Hillary Clinton had among Mormons.

There is also some weak evidence that the Republican candidate picked up some support among smaller religious groups in the US, like Hindus and Buddhists. Trump increased his share among these two groups by four percentage points each. But it is important to note that these two groups combined constitute only about 1.5% of the American population. As such, a four-point increase translates to only a very small fraction of the overall popular vote.

What is clear is that Trump lost a good amount of ground among the religious unaffiliated. Trumps share of the atheist vote declined from 14% in 2016 to just 11% in 2020; the decline among agnostics was slightly larger, from 23% to 18%.

Additionally, those who identify as nothing in particular a group that represents 21% of the overall US population were not as supportive of Trump in his reelection bid. His vote share among this group dropped by three percentage points, while Bidens rose by over seven points, with the Democrat managing to win over many of the nothing in particulars who had backed third-party candidates in the 2016 election.

Looked at broadly, Trump did slightly better among Christians and other smaller religious groups in the US but lost ground among the religiously unaffiliated. What these results cannot account for, however, is record turnout. There were nearly 22 million more votes cast in 2020 than in 2016. So while vote shares may not have changed that much, the number of votes cast helped swing the election for the Democratic candidate. A more detailed breakdown of voter turnout is due to be released in July 2021 by the team that administers the Cooperative Election Study; that will bring the picture of religion and the 2020 vote into clearer focus.

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Why did Trump lose non-religious votes at the ballot? - The Jerusalem Post

CW: Homophobia, self-harm, suicide

When Kyles teachers found out he was self-harming, they immediately put two and two together and took it upon themselves to tell his born-again evangelical Christian parents that their son was gay.

After so long in the closet, Kyle was finally out to his parents. But, he could have never foreseen their extreme reaction.

Kyles Mum was hugely shocked and brought elders from the church round to try and pray the gay away. And then came the final straw. Kyles family suggested he see a doctor about getting conversion therapy.

Kyles mental health had deteriorated to the point where he was thinking of taking his own life every day. He decided that enough was enough. With the conversion therapy I said if you send me there, I will never come home again, Kyle said.

Young Kyle and younger Kyle

Growing up gay in a deeply religious household can be a traumatic experience, one that seems to traverse the boundaries of individual religions.

Haliem is a third year Keele student who is gay and was raised Muslim. The conflict between religion and sexuality was a constant throughout his upbringing.

On my dads side [homosexuality] was always forbidden to talk about, although at times it was inevitable such as if an LGBT+ person came on TV. Haliem said whoever it was would be quickly insulted, laughed at or turned off all together, Haliem told The Tab.

Homosexuality was rarely discussed within Kyles household or the wider Northern Irish Free Presbyterian Church community of which he was a part. When the topic did come up, it was always in a negative context. It was never positive. It was never something to embrace, Kyle said.

Kyle can recall specific incidents when his fathers negative attitude towards homosexuality would boil over into outright fury. I can remember a gay couple coming onto the telly and hed be roaring or would turn the TV off and wed have a conversation about how wrong or immoral it is, Kyle said.

Haliem encountered a similar level of hostility towards homosexuality within the home, leaving him feel awful and scared.

For my own safety, I suppressed a lot and to this day theres still people in my family who wont ever know about drag or my sexuality, Haliem told The Tab.

This idea of suppressing feelings is something that clearly resonates with Kyle. At school, he once tried to convince himself he fancied a girl in his maths class. I tried to ask another girl out and it just didnt happen, Kyle said.

Haliem

Haliem was around 13 years old when he realised he might gay. I always had girlfriends and silly relationships most of my school life, so I assumed it was a phase or potentially I was bisexual until I was about 16, Haliem told The Tab.

Haliem is now out to some of his family, and is particularly close to those on his Christian-born mothers side, who he says are more liberal. Theyve known about his sexuality for at least two years now, but there are certain members of his family who Haliem says will never know.

My dads family are strict Muslims from Egypt and Sudan. I dont visit them anymore because to this day you can get killed and will definitely be sent to prison for homosexuality, Haliem told The Tab.

Reflecting on the impact of Islam on his fledgling homosexual feelings, Haliem said: Its a weird position to be in as a young person, because youre born this way (gay) and youre told because of a chosen religion, that its wrong.

Kyle at Pride

The feelings of disgust and shame that were drummed into Kyle still affect him to this day. My religious upbringing completely victimised me for feeling the way that I felt.

You were subhuman if you were anything that my church said that you couldnt be, Kyle told The Tab.

A lot has since changed for Kyle. His siblings, English teachers and Lady Gaga got him through his childhood, before he left rural Ireland and headed for Newcastle. Thats when I realised, this is me, Kyle said.

He completed his undergraduate degree in Politics and is now pursuing a Masters course at Queens University Belfast. Reflecting on the moment when his parents suggested conversion therapy all those years ago, Kyle said: Im really glad I was able to stand up for myself.

Unfortunately, conversion therapy is still legal today, with a study finding that 68.7 per cent of participants in the practise suffered from suicidal thoughts as a result.

Haliem is also thriving. These days hes a big name on the drag scene, performing as the amazing Cairo Ali. When I discovered drag, I found a character which if people judged, I didnt care because its just an act of performance, extravagant make up, and outfits! Haliem told The Tab.

Growing up gay in a deeply religious household can be traumatic, but thats not the case for everyone. Lancaster student Luke was raised Catholic and attended church throughout his childhood.

He recalls no real conversations about his sexuality until his cousin came out as gay. At this point, Lukes parents sat him down for a chat and said theyd love him no matter what.

Luke only really registered his homosexual feelings towards the end of high school, coming out to his Mum in college and to the rest of his family last summer. According to Luke, they all reacted fairly well.

Luke is still Catholic to this day, telling The Tab: I just believe God made me as I am and to live in any other way would be to basically be saying that God got it wrong.

Kyle and Haliem on the other hand have found it impossible to continue to be a part of their respective religions. Kyle now describes himself as an angry atheist whos critical but respectful of religion in all forms.

Haliem is also an atheist. I respect religion and would never discriminate against anyone and if it makes you a better person or improves your life, who am I to say anything, Haliem said.

If you or someone you know has been affected by this story, please speak to someone or contact Samaritans on 116 123 at any time. You can also contact Anxiety UK on 03444 775 774, Mind on 0300 123 3393, and Calm (Campaign against living miserably, for men aged 15 to 35) on 0800 58 58 58.

Conversion therapy might be banned on Instagram, but its still legal in the UK

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'They tried to pray the gay away': Growing up gay in a deeply religious household - The Tab

Recent research shows that the number of religiously unaffiliated is increasing in Thailand, more now than a decade ago. Many students oppose the compulsory teaching of religion in school. At the same time, conversions to Catholicism are growing, after a path of search and study. Apr 08, 2021

BANGKOK: For nearly 10 years, more and more Thais have described themselves as religiously unaffiliated, this according to the Pew Research Center. Many Thai students also oppose compulsory religious education in school. Paradoxically, this may lead some to a more freely chosen personal quest for meaning. For example, Thanatos Sriyotha, a 20-year-old programmer, looked for meaning in his life. For about ten years, I was an atheist. Baptised last Ester Sunday, he explains that Christianity is a religion of freedom for him.

According to studies by the Pew Research Center (a Washington-based think tank), the number of Thais who are religiously unaffiliated is higher now than a decade ago. Recently, some students oppose compulsory religious instruction in the national education curriculum. They even call for religion courses to be optional, so that each can be free to choose according to their interest and learn about other spiritualities in the world. For some young people, this demand could open up a path towards a more freely chosen personal life.

Currently, many Catholic chaplaincies include both Catholic and non-Catholic members. Non-Catholic students are very visible. They are as active and engaged as others, said Chontawat Wano, a young Jesuit-in-training who heads the Catholic Student Network of Thailand, a Jesuit organisation that supports Catholic students in Thailand.

Everything turned upside down from that meetingI was on a quest, said Chaturawit Saenchum, 17, who was baptised this year. Speaking about his his life before his conversion to Catholicism, the high school student said he was searching for meaning and a reason to exist, reading a lot and meeting members of various religions. I learnt about several religions, he added. I talked to imams, and during my studies in Japan, I participated in religious debates between Buddhist monks. But it was a talk with a Sister of St Paul de Chartres, at a Catholic college in Bangkok, that was a trigger for him.

Curious about Christian life, he approached the Sister and asked her: How did you become a nun? Everything turned upside down from that meeting, he said. She helped him make an informed choice. For Chaturawit, she was like a guide, who confirmed that I was on the right path, on the way towards conversion and the request for baptism.

Thanatos Sriyotha, a young programmer in his twenties, also looked for something to give his life some meaning. He explained that For about ten years, I was an atheist. For him, Christianity is a religion of freedom. At the age of 15, he became interested in it. But his choice to connect with the Church was made only on the day he was able to lead his own life. As soon as I started making a living, I began to find time to read books about philosophy, religion and spirituality, and then I felt that the Catholic Church was calling me.

A path that opens up horizonsThe desire for God can sometimes remain hidden for years. This was the case of an older man, 40, who preferred not to give his name. He had already asked himself many questions starting at the age of 12. Born into a Buddhist family, it seemed essential to him to know Buddhism first before thinking about a possible conversion. I lived like a true Buddhist. I became a monk. I also went to a retreat in a temple as soon as I had time. Yet, he always felt that he could not fill a kind of void in him.

For Thanatos, the Christian faith turned things upside down. I can better recognise human values. Before, I could not understand why some people were opposed to the death penalty, why we had to take care of the poor, and many other things like that. Today, he understands all this without the need for explanations or theories. More importantly, his choice to become a Christian allows him to be himself and forever free.

For some Thai youth, the path to the Christian faith appears like a road that opens horizons and gives their lives as young adults a meaning they often unconsciously sought.Asia News

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Thailand: Easter of conversion, Christ as the answer to the meaning of life - Malaysian Christian News

Keir Starmer has promised to introduce a Labour bill to protect women and girls in the wake of the death of Sarah Everard.

The Labour leader said that the 33-year-olds abduction and killing as she walked home to Clapham in south London was a watershed moment for the UK on the scale of the deaths of Stephen Lawrence and Jamie Bulger.

The bill, to be published before next months Queens Speech, would make it an offence to harass women on the street, increase sentences for rapists and stalkers and introduce whole life jail terms for those guilty of abduction and sexual assault and murder of a stranger.

It would end the anomaly that sees men convicted of killing their partner at home receiving sentences as much as 10 years shorter than those who murder a stranger in the street.

The pledge came in an interview with the Sunday Times, in which Sir Keir also pronounced himself a monarchist and a patriot, but also confirmed that he does not believe in God.

Keir Starmer opposes vaccine passport plansPublic want to keep vaccine passports even after pandemic overDavid Cameron lobbied No 10 and Hancock over Greensill

This would make him the first prime minister to be a declared atheist if he reaches 10 Downing Street.

In a swipe at Boris Johnson, Starmer said that he regards the core values in political leadership are principle and integrity and dignity, and added: He doesnt have them.

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And I dont want to be Boris Johnson, said the Labour leader. Im not like Boris Johnson in any respect. Theres almost nothing we have in common.

In an implicit criticism of the Johnson government, Starmer said it was astonishing that in 2021 we do not have a comprehensive piece of legislation to protect women and girls.

Mr Johnson has been coming under increasing pressure to publish his long-promised strategy on tackling violence against women and girls.

Discussing the legislation which Labour is drafting, Starmer said: The more I turn it over in my mind the more obvious it is. I dont care whether Im a supporter of it, or the Labour Party, or its cross-party, or even the government takes it on. Because we cant go on like this.

Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens, 48, has been charged with the kidnap and murder of Ms Everard, 33, whose death led to an outpouring of grief, with women gathering for a vigil on Clapham Common, where flowers were piled high around the bandstand near to the spot where she disappeared.

Controversy over heavy-handed policing of the vigil led to calls for Met commissioner Cressida Dick to resign.

But Sir Keir said that views on Dicks handling of the event should not distract from the more important issues raised by Ms Everards death.

Instead of us talking about what women in Clapham wanted us to talk about, we started a discussion about Cressida Dick, which wasnt the issue, he said.

The Sarah Everard case is a Stephen Lawrence or Jamie Bulger moment. This could be a chance to actually do something.

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Keir Starmer promises bill to protect women and girls in wake of Sarah Everard killing - The Independent

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints held its biannual general conference over the weekend, and one particular statement from that lengthy gathering is worth discussing on this site.

At one point during his speech yesterday, the LDS Churchs President Russell M. Nelson explained that everyone will struggle in life, in different ways, but the solution was always the same: Increase your faith. But then he kept talking

You can hear it at the 2:37:12 mark:

Your mountains may be loneliness, doubt, illness, or other personal problems. Your mountains will vary, and yet the answer to each of your challenges is to increase your faith.

That takes work. Lazy learners and lax disciples will only struggle to muster even a particle of faith.

Thats a lie. People who dont have religious faith dont come to that conclusion because theyre lazy or lacking the ability to learn. Its usually the opposite. Theyre actually challenging the Churchs dogma. Theyre questioning their beliefs and demanding better answers, only to realize those dont exist.

Its a slap in the face to ex-Mormons everywhere to suggest they left the fold due to laziness rather than serious reflections about their religious beliefs.

The fact that the head of the Mormon Church doesnt realize why people are leaving the faith is, in fact, part of the reason so many Mormons are leaving the faith.

Nelson said a few minutes later that anyone questioning their faith should stop increasing your doubts by rehearsing them with other doubters in other words, got questions that challenge Church doctrine? Dont talk to an atheist. Dont talk to anyone who might take those doubts seriously. Only speak to the devout!

Theyre scared. The best answer Mormons have for people questioning their faith is to keep their grievances private while the Church belittles those who have walked away.

For what its worth, the ex-Mormon subreddit today is full of people posting their college and grad school diplomas so much for being lazy learners.

But these kinds of statements arent harmless. What Nelson says goes a long way in informing how Mormon leaders treat people with doubts. Instead of suggesting their questions ought to be taken seriously, Nelsons words urge other leaders to look down on those doubters as if theyre deficient in some way. The stigma against skeptics just got worse.

Remember: If youre trying to leave the Mormon Church for good, there are resources out there to help you do it as painlessly as possible.

Link:

Mormon Church President: People Who Have Religious Doubts Are Lazy Learners - Friendly Atheist - Patheos

A photograph of a rioting mob has been shared amid West Bengal elections with the claim that it depicts violence against Hindus in Hooghly. #StandWithBengalHindus is the hashtag used along with the claim.

Multiple Twitter accounts have shared the image.

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A simple reverse image search takes one to a May 5, 2013 article published in Daily Mail where the same image has been used. Protesters armed with sticks flee from police tear gas: The Islamic hardliners are demanding the death penalty for blasphemy, reads its description. The image has been credited to photographer Ibrahim of former photo agency Demotix.

The article reported, 37 people were killed and hundreds more injured in Bangladesh today in fierce street fighting between police and Islamic hardliners demanding the death penalty for blasphemy.

Al Jazeera reported that the protests were led by supporters of Hefazat-e-Islam, an Islamist group, against what they said were blasphemous writings by atheist bloggers. The protestors shouted, God is great hang the atheist bloggers. The riots took place in the capital Dhaka.

Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina rejected demands by Islamists for a new anti-blasphemy law granting the death penalty and said that existing laws were sufficient to punish those who attempted to insult religion.

An eight-year-old image of riots in Bangladesh where protestors demanded the death penalty for blasphemy has been shared as violence against Hindus in Hooghly, West Bengal.

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Image of 2013 Bangladesh riots shared as violence against Hindus in West Bengal - Alt News

The term new atheism was coined by the journalist Gary Wolf. He used it in a 2006 article for Wired entitled The Church of the Non-Believers. The chief representatives of Wolfs new atheism were Richard Dawkins, Sam Harrisand Daniel Dennett. What unites these thinkers, more than anything else, is their conviction that theism is not just unjustified, but pernicious: it must be rigorously opposed.

The label new atheism has stuck. Whether it is appropriate is a further question. Dawkins doesnt think so. In the preface to the tenth edition of The God Delusion, he writes: It isnt clear to me how we differ from old atheists.

One thing that new atheists certainly share with many of their predecessors is the belief that we can discredit theism in the same way that we can discredit a faulty scientific hypothesis: by appeal to a combination of evidence and logical reasoning.

You cant escape the scientific implications of religion, Dawkins said in a debate with the then archbishop of York John Habgood.A universe with a God would look quite different from a universe without one Religion is a scientific theory.

If Dawkins is right, then theists and atheists disagree about what we should believe on the basis of observation. Clearly, Dawkins himself thinks that our observations tell against theism. But he also thinks we can imagine observations that would tell in its favour.

In fact, Dawkins thinks we can imagine observations that would tell conclusively in theisms favour. If he existed and chose to reveal it, Dawkins writes in The God Delusion, God himself could clinch the argument, noisily and unequivocally, in his favour.

What observations does Dawkins think would leave us with no alternative but to acknowledge that God exists? We can certainly imagine all sorts of ear-splitting goings-on that would indicate hitherto unacknowledged forces at work in the universe, and they might even lead us to posit the existence of some being of far greater power and intelligence than us. But God?

Whatever conclusive observations Dawkins has in mind, most theists will say that if such observations are what would clinch the argument in favour of Gods existence, then no wonder that Dawkins is an atheist! On any remotely sophisticated conception, God is transcendent in a way that precludes any evidencenoisy, unequivocal, or otherwiseeither for Gods existence or against it. That is why theists typically regard Gods existence as a matter of faith.

But if God transcends evidence in the way theists maintain, then they face another worry: i.e., that their claims about God, including the very claim that God exists, lack meaning.

[see also:What the New Atheists got wrong]

This worry wasexpressed by the early 20th-century philosophers known as logical positivists. Logical positivists had much in common with new atheists. They shared arespect for science;many of them shared the conviction that theism is pernicious;and when they classified a claim as meaningless, they meant that it lacked what they sometimes called literal meaning: it could not be confirmed or disconfirmed in the way a scientific hypothesis couldby appeal to a combination of evidence and logical reasoning.

Nevertheless, there are various reasons why new atheists should not view logical positivists as simple allies. For one thing, as the British logical positivist AJ Ayer used to emphasise, if the claim that God exists is meaningless, then so is the claim that God does not exist. This is why Ayer denied he was an atheist. But more importantly, logical positivists were always among the first to insist there are different ways to make sense of things beyond literal meaning.

A claim that lacked literal meaning could still express feelings (This music is heart-rending)or register some sort of commitment (I give you my word) or condemn certain courses of action (Using your own children as unwilling decoys is unconscionable)or perform countless other functions. The fact that there are different ways to make sense of things leaves room for the view that religious claims, though lacking in literal meaning, still have meaning of some other kind.

There is a noteworthy passage in Language, Truth and Logic in which Ayer concludes that religious claims do not serve the same function as scientific claims and then says: An interesting feature of this conclusion is that it accords with what many theists are accustomed to say themselves.

To be sure, there are now huge questions about what other kind of meaning religious claims may have. But unless we are simply deaf to the possibility that there are ways of making sense of things that are very different from any scientific way of making sense of things, we shall recognise these as legitimate and important questions.

It seems to me that one of the first and most basic things we need to acknowledge about theism, if we are properly going to reckon with it, is that it is precisely not what Dawkins takes it to be a scientific hypothesis.

Adrian Moore is professor of philosophy and tutorial fellow at St Hughs College, Oxford. He is the author of The Infinite, Points of Viewand The Evolution of Modern Metaphysics.

This article is part of the Agora series, a collaboration between the New Statesman and Aaron James Wendland, senior research fellow in philosophy at Massey College, Toronto. He tweets @aj_wendland.

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What the New Atheists miss about the meaning of God - New Statesman

Studies have repeatedly found that religion is good for mental health; people who are religious or spiritual report being happier, less depressed and more satisfied with their lives.

Does that mean the opposite is true that atheists are less happy and more depressed?

Finding answers to those questions was the aim of Godless in the Great White North: Assessing the Health of Canadian Atheists, a new study by David Speed, a professor of psychology at the University of New Brunswick.

Using information from the 2012 Canadian Community Health Survey, Speed and co-researchers Caitlin Barry, also of UNB, and Ryan Cragun of the University of Tampa, compared the mental health of those who said they were highly religious and those who said they were atheists.

The results? While the data showed people who are actively involved in their places of worship reported better mental health outcomes, so did atheists.

"We know higher levels of religiosity equals good mental health, but that doesnt mean lower levels of religiosity means poor mental health," Speed said in an interview.

Why do religious people report better mental health outcomes? The answer, said Speed, is social support people feel better if they are actively involved with others in a church, mosque, synagogue, temple, gurdwara or other place of worship.

Or as he put it, being religious itself is not the reason for better mental health, but it is indirectly responsible since it can "provide a warm and supportive social environment."

People who are not religious can get the same benefit, he said, by regularly spending time with others things like meeting regularly with friends, playing on a sports team, being part of book clubs or other activities.

"Atheists who had strong social networks had strong mental health outcomes," he said.

At the same time Speed who is not religious recognizes that religion has some built-in advantages when it comes to providing social support such as an organized system of looking after its members.

This includes having pastoral staff whose job it is to look in on or connect with people on a regular basis, or designated volunteers who provide various kinds of interaction and care when people are sick or under stress.

Then there are the regular services, potlucks, home groups and other gatherings that ensure people have someplace to go to meet others and find the social support they need.

Of course, the quality of the social support provided by a religious community is key. If it is a bad or toxic environment if there is conflict, disputes over theology and practice, oppressive leadership or if the groups beliefs make some people feel unwelcome it can be bad for mental health.

Speeds study is one of a growing number that are starting to research the impact of declining religiosity in Canada and the U.S. This includes examining the rise of the nones people who claim no affiliation with any religious group.

By going deeper into data, researchers like Speed are discovering the nones arent a homogenous group. Not everyone who claims to be one is an atheist, he said; many are still spiritual. These people have been dubbed "theistic nones," people who still have a strong belief in God.

Interestingly, at least one study has found the level of certainty in beliefs either for or against the existence of God is a factor for predicting positive mental health outcomes.

According to Luke Galen, a professor of psychology at Grand Valley State University in Michigan who is doing research into this subject, both ardent believers and committed atheists report greater overall well-being than either believers or atheists who were unsure or confused about their belief in God.

For Galen, those getting the least benefit are those in the middle, people who "lack of coherence in their worldview."

In other research, Galen found that atheists could get the same benefits as religious people by being active in humanist or atheist groups something echoed by Joseph Baker, a sociologist of religion at East Tennessee State University.

In an interview with Religion News Service, he said while atheism can give people as strong a sense of identity as religion can for believers, and may help with their mental well-being, the challenge for them is "think consciously and seriously about where they will find community and organize accordingly," he said.

As for Speed, he hopes more research will be done about the question of religion, atheism and health.

"Atheists are not well studied," he said. "But there is an explosion in this area with the growth of nones."

faith@freepress.mb.ca

John LonghurstFaith reporter

John Longhurst has been writing for Winnipeg's faith pages since 2003. He also writes for Religion News Service in the U.S., and blogs about the media, marketing and communications at Making the News.

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Researchers study mental health of believers, atheists - Winnipeg Free Press

Church attendance is at an all time low and the pandemic doesnt deserve the blame.

(Congratulations, everyone. We did it. Extra cookies for everyone at the next meeting.)

According to a new Gallup poll, only 47% of Americans say they belong to a house of worship, marking the first time ever that the number has dipped below 50%. Its a continuation of a trend that began decades ago but has been accelerating in recent years.

Whats the cause for this change? Gallup says the main factor is the rise of people with no religious preference at all not just atheists, but believers who want nothing to do with organized religion.

The decline in church membership is primarily a function of the increasing number of Americans who express no religious preference. Over the past two decades, the percentage of Americans who do not identify with any religion has grown from 8% in 1998-2000 to 13% in 2008-2010 and 21% over the past three years.

Heres whats especially interesting about that: You would expect the Nones not to go to church. But even among religious people, church membership is in decline. In 2000, roughly 73% of believers belonged to a religious institution. That number is now sitting at 60%.

Even more damning? Those numbers are tilted in the direction of the elderly. Only 36% of Millennials says they belong to a church (or mosque or synagogue) compared to 66% of those born before 1946. Every age bracket has seen a decline in church attendance, and that includes young people who werent going to church in large numbers to begin with.

In other words, the trend lines arent looking good for religious leaders no matter how you parse the data.

Let me repeat that. Theres a decline in church membership no matter which group youre looking at. Compared to two decades ago, theres been a drop in attendance among non-college graduates (22% drop), single people (22%), Republicans (12%), Conservatives (14%), and people who live in the South (16%).

Gallup makes clear that anyone who blames these numbers solely on COVID is missing the point:

The U.S. remains a religious nation, with more than seven in 10 affiliating with some type of organized religion. However, far fewer, now less than half, have a formal membership with a specific house of worship. While it is possible that part of the decline seen in 2020 was temporary and related to the coronavirus pandemic, continued decline in future decades seems inevitable, given the much lower levels of religiosity and church membership among younger versus older generations of adults.

Gallup doesnt get into why all this is happening, but I would argue that you could safely assign blame to the right-wing politicization of many prominent churches (and entire denominations), the consistent bigotry many religions still harbor against LGBTQ people, the sex abuse scandals, the treatment of women, the abundance of resources for people questioning or leaving their faith, and the fact that so many more Americans now know non-religious people (and realize were not monsters).

While its true that certain individual churches with hard-core right-wing Trump-loving messages may have grown in size over the years theres certainly an audience for Christian Nationalism those same tactics also push away anyone whos on the fence about faith or whose religious beliefs dont align with those views. (Im hoping the Republican Party itself sees the same fate: Theyll be just fine in Mississippi, Im sure, but there will be hell to pay in the long run in states like Georgia.)

Ultimately, the reason for the decline in church attendance seems to have more to do with the actions (and inactions) of religious leaders than any coordinated push away from organized religion. Pastors ought to look in the mirror before they blame atheists (or a virus) for whats happening to religion in America.

Happy early Easter.

(Featured image via Shutterstock)

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Congratulations, Atheists: Church Attendance in America is at an All-Time Low. - Friendly Atheist - Patheos

AS A legislator, columnist, and quasi-raconteur, I do enjoy back-and-forth regarding sports, politics, and more. But I generally avoid getting into religion. Still, as someone who feels that vibrant religious communities with their associated values and activities are important parts of a healthy society, I sometimes get cognitive dissonance about avoiding the topic. Some might call it conscience.

Which brings me to a friend Ill call Ed. Hes a non-believer with whom I have conversed about religion. Being a former Marine, I once asked Ed if he believed Marines had esprit de corps.

Of course, said Ed.

French expression meaning spirit of the corps, replied Ed. A common feeling of pride and purpose that motivates the group. Sure, Marines have it in spades.

Can a sports team have it?

Sure. If it has good leadership and a common purpose.

So you believe in this particular esprit, or spirit? Even though you cant see or touch it?

Yes, laughed Ed. Of course.

Can a religious group also be animated or motivated by an esprit de corps, like Marines or sports teams?

So what if religious folks claim theyre motivated by a special esprit de corps that they refer to as a holy spirit?

Ed is silent. Having already acknowledged the existence of esprit, he wont use the English word for it. He saw where I was going. To admit the existence of a Holy Spirit which is what some religious folks refer to as an animating esprit that inspires them is essentially to admit the existence of God, in that some Christian doctrines describe the Holy Spirit as the third person of the Trinity, or God as spiritually active in the world.

Without listing names, there are many transformative figures throughout human history who, clearly inspired by a certain esprit (Holy Spirit?), have provided humankind with lessons, parables, belief structures, and inspiration to live good and productive lives. And happy ones too.

Countless surveys and research document that the religious are more generous and happier than non-religious. With exceptions of course, but the data is out there. Google away.

I ask Ed to consider the incredible good work that programs like Catholic Charities do around the world effectively and efficiently. What do atheist charities do? Might Ed be happier if he donated wherewithal or energy to one of the many wonderful religious charities?

I pay taxes, says Ed. The government does a lot of good work.

And I dont need to go to church for a spiritual experience. I can get that by climbing a mountain.

But isnt that a bit narcissistic? Isnt there strength in numbers as well as value to being part of a group or community animated by an esprit/spirit to do public good and help people?

Ed laughed. But at least he didnt get personal. A challenge for some of us when we summon nerve to talk about religion or values is that we must brace for criticism.

Who are you to talk about this stuff, given all your foibles, flaws, and sins? And what about all the hypocritical religious people who do bad things?

Some require an unattainable measure of perfection from the inherently imperfect before theyll engage them about religion a perfection not expected from others before discussing other things.

But we drift away from our historical religious roots at our own peril. Witness the growing coarseness, alienation and violence that seems to accompany Americas increasing secularization. New Hampshire is rated as the least religious state. It also features about the highest rate of substance abuse. A correlation?

History is replete with religious conflict. True. As well as plenty of anti-religious violence. After the horrific French Revolution, Paris Notre Dame cathedral was converted by the secular to what they called a Temple of Reason. After the horrific Russian Revolution, official atheism shut down the churches. Soviet dictator Josef Stalin ridiculed religious influence, asking How many divisions can the Pope deploy?

Funny thing though. Notre Dame Cathedral eventually returned to religious splendor. And churches are now open all over Russia even as some are closing in New Hampshire. The Holy Spirit can be ridiculed, quashed, or denied, but its apparently eternal as it provides hope and inspiration for individuals and communities to take kinder, gentler paths

Easter Sunday is April 4. A chance for Ed to pick out a church and perhaps witness some real esprit first-hand.

State Representative Mike Moffett of Loudon is a retired professor and former Marine Corps officer.

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Mike Moffett: Educating Ed and Easter | Op-eds | unionleader.com - The Union Leader