In the Low Countries it looks more as if the Church is dying. The majority of main churches, the bastions of a few decades ago, are nearly empty and even have no weekly Sunday service any more.
In the United States there are still many mega-churches, but there too we can find that the main churches are loosing attending ship.
Based on telephone surveys conducted in 2018 and 2019, Pew Research Center said Thursday
that 65% of American adults now describe themselves as Christian, down
from 77% in 2009. Meanwhile, the portion that describes their religious
identity as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular,” now stands at
26%, up from 17% in 2009.
The so called conservative Christian country sees her religious landscape changing at a rapid clip.
One-in-five adults (20%) are Catholic, down from 23% in 2009.
Self-described atheists now account for 4% of U.S. adults, up modestly
but significantly from 2% in 2009; agnostics make up 5% of U.S. adults,
up from 3% a decade ago; and 17% of Americans now describe their
religion as “nothing in particular,” up from 12% in 2009.
As in Europe we can see that members of
non-Christian religions also have grown modestly as a share of the adult
population.
Over the last decade, the share of Americans who say they attend
religious services at least once or twice a month dropped by 7
percentage points, while the share who say they attend religious
services less often (if at all) has risen by the same degree.
> In U.S., Decline of Christianity Continues at Rapid Pace
Showing posts with label atheist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label atheist. Show all posts
Wednesday, 23 October 2019
Sunday, 3 June 2018
Being Christian in Western Europe at the beginning of the 21st century #1
Today we do find a lot of people, in our regions, who say they are Christian and with that mostly mean Roman Catholic, but nearly never go to worship services like mass.
The majority of Europe’s Christians are non-practicing, but they differ from religiously unaffiliated people in their views on God, attitudes toward Muslims and immigrants, and opinions about religion’s role in society.
Western Europe, where Protestant Christianity originated and Catholicism has been based for most of its history, has become one of the world’s most secular regions. Although the vast majority of adults say they were baptized, today many do not describe themselves as Christians. Some say they gradually drifted away from religion, stopped believing in religious teachings, or were alienated by scandals or church positions on social issues, according to a major new Pew Research Center survey of religious beliefs and practices in Western Europe.
Non-practicing Christians also outnumber the religiously unaffiliated population (people who identify as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular,” sometimes called the “nones”) in most of the countries surveyed.1 And, even after a recent surge in immigration from the Middle East and North Africa, there are many more non-practicing Christians in Western Europe than people of all other religions combined (Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, etc.).
The 10% for Belgium is more 8%, where the Roman Catholic Churches are less filled and of the protestant churches the Pentecostals get most people in their church-services. Where we can find most people going to a religious service is by the Islamic community where the garage mosques and official mosques may count on a very good attendance on Friday night.
The majority of Europe’s Christians are non-practicing, but they differ from religiously unaffiliated people in their views on God, attitudes toward Muslims and immigrants, and opinions about religion’s role in society.
Western Europe, where Protestant Christianity originated and Catholicism has been based for most of its history, has become one of the world’s most secular regions. Although the vast majority of adults say they were baptized, today many do not describe themselves as Christians. Some say they gradually drifted away from religion, stopped believing in religious teachings, or were alienated by scandals or church positions on social issues, according to a major new Pew Research Center survey of religious beliefs and practices in Western Europe.
Yet most adults surveyed still do
consider themselves Christians, even if they seldom go to church.
Indeed, the survey shows that non-practicing Christians (defined, for
the purposes of this report, as people who identify as Christians, but
attend church services no more than a few times per year) make up the
biggest share of the population across the region. In every country
except Italy, they are more numerous than church-attending Christians
(those who go to religious services at least once a month). In the
United Kingdom, for example, there are roughly three times as many
non-practicing Christians (55%) as there are church-attending Christians
(18%) defined this way.
Non-practicing Christians also outnumber the religiously unaffiliated population (people who identify as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular,” sometimes called the “nones”) in most of the countries surveyed.1 And, even after a recent surge in immigration from the Middle East and North Africa, there are many more non-practicing Christians in Western Europe than people of all other religions combined (Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, etc.).
The 10% for Belgium is more 8%, where the Roman Catholic Churches are less filled and of the protestant churches the Pentecostals get most people in their church-services. Where we can find most people going to a religious service is by the Islamic community where the garage mosques and official mosques may count on a very good attendance on Friday night.
Thursday, 12 June 2014
Meet the atheist … who believes in God
By The CNN Editors Opinion by Frank Schaeffer, special to CNN (CNN)
-- All the public debates between celebrity atheists and evangelical pastors are as meaningless as literary awards and Oscar night. They are meaningless because participants lack the objectivity to admit that our beliefs have less to do with facts than with our personal needs and cultural backgrounds. The words we use to label ourselves are just as empty. What exactly is a “believer?” And for that matter what is an “atheist?” Who is the objective observer to define these terms? Maybe we need a new category other than theism, atheism or agnosticism that takes paradox and unknowing into account. Take me, I am an atheist who believes in God. Let me explain.
Read more of this post: http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2014/06/10/meet-an-atheist-who-believes-in-god/#more-46455
-- All the public debates between celebrity atheists and evangelical pastors are as meaningless as literary awards and Oscar night. They are meaningless because participants lack the objectivity to admit that our beliefs have less to do with facts than with our personal needs and cultural backgrounds. The words we use to label ourselves are just as empty. What exactly is a “believer?” And for that matter what is an “atheist?” Who is the objective observer to define these terms? Maybe we need a new category other than theism, atheism or agnosticism that takes paradox and unknowing into account. Take me, I am an atheist who believes in God. Let me explain.
Read more of this post: http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2014/06/10/meet-an-atheist-who-believes-in-god/#more-46455
Our brains are not highly evolved enough to reconcile our hunger for both absolute certainty and transcendent, inexplicable experiences.
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