TRENDS & Are mainline Protestants no longer declining?

The latest available data from the General Social Survey, a major tool for sociologists, shows that the percentage of mainline Protestants in the U.S. recently increased for the first time in nearly 30 years, from 10.2% to 10.8%, while Catholics and evangelicals showed a moderate decline. Researchers caution that subsequent data would be needed to verify a trend. Yet the graph of steady, relentless decline, stopped by a sharp recent uptick, can’t be ignored.

For many, “evangelical” has become more of a cultural and political label in the U.S. than a theological one. Some evangelicals who left versions of Republicanism defined by Trump also discarded that religious brand and migrated to more mainline congregations.

March 31, 2021 by Wesley Granberg-Michaelson read more at … https://religionnews.com/2021/03/31/behind-gallups-portrait-of-church-decline/?

BELIEF & Research confirms belief in God a downward trend in America.

Respondents confidence in existence of God 

Read more at … https://gssdataexplorer.norc.org/trends/Religion%20&%20Spirituality?measure=god

PRAYER & Americans continue to pray even as religious practices wither, survey finds #TheWashingtonPost

By Scott Clement, The Washington Post, 3/6/15.

American religion is on the ropes, but it has a prayer.

A record-low share of Americans attend church regularly, affiliate with a religious faith and see themselves as religious, according to a major survey released this week.

The findings from the 2014 General Social Survey mark a continuation of a decades-long departure from the pews along with a growing share who profess loyalty to no religion at all. But whatever Americans’ hang-ups with weekend services and denominational ties, they haven’t stopped praying on their own.

Fully 57 percent of respondents said they pray at least once a day, little different from 54 percent in 1983, when the question was first asked on the survey. Three-quarters of respondents said they pray at least once a week, while 1 in 4 pray less often or never.

The national survey is the broadest study of religious attitudes in the United States. It has been conducted at least every two years since 1972 by NORC at the University of Chicago…

Read more at … http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/americans-continue-to-pray-even-as-religious-practices-wither-survey-finds/2015/03/06/89cbb99a-c37f-11e4-9271-610273846239_story.html