WASHINGTON, DC, Apr 8 — Is America losing its trust in God? The question is raised by new polling that finds just 47% of Americans say they belong to a church, a synagogue, or a mosque.
Gallup began surveying religious affiliations in the U.S. in 1937 when 73% of those who were asked said they were, indeed, associated with a house of worship. Its most recent poll, published last week, showed that, for the first time, church membership has fallen below 50%.
Another study sponsored by the Religion and Politics Website showed that “slightly less than one-third of the U.S. population is deeply religious, frequently attending church services or engaging in other religious activities in their homes. Another third is fully secular, never participating in any sort of religious practice, whether it’s prayer, reading holy writ, or attending services. Meanwhile, a final third of Americans are nominally religious—attending services infrequently or engaging in other practices with varying levels of devotion.”
The Website seems to relate the increase of politically leftist activists over the past few decades with the decline of religious membership. “It fits,” says Rebecca Weber, CEO of the Association of Mature American Citizens [AMAC], “socialists and communists tend to deny that there is a God.”
In an article he published just last week, the Heritage Foundation’s James Roberts explains that
“spiritual emptiness is reflected in increasing rates of deaths of despair and hopelessness—as well as the bitter polarization of American society. Lacking a spiritual and philosophical firewall against it, America has become a rich target for the many new (and global) incarnations of leftist ideology—e.g., radical environmentalism, libertinism, and identity politics.”
AMAC’s Weber believes that the decay of religion and the coinciding progressive movement in America may stem from the “right to fun” ideology adopted by the younger generations. “It is easy to put the blame for the decay of religion in America on politics, as some would have it, but others might simply tell you that it’s because kids, today, may see God as a “party pooper,” who keeps us from having fun by forbidding things such as recreational drugs and recreational sex.”
As a result, Weber says, some but not all younger Americans have given up on religion. “A Pew study conducted about a year ago showed that U.S. teens between the ages of 13 and 17 found that 36% of them display their faith by wearing accessories with religious symbols. The study also found that 27% take the time to say a prayer before a sporting event and 22% invite friends to religious gatherings, including worship services.”
The AMAC chief says she takes the time to thank God for such signs “that religion in America is not dead because, as someone once said, a Godless society has neither love for God nor for people.”