Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our church is growing and thriving. We attract people of all ages.

People who attend church regularly tend to be healthier and happier according to research.

Our church is welcoming and inclusive of GTLBQ +, immigrants, young, old and anyone who feels attracted to our services, spiritual practice groups, communit dinners, smaller social activities, forums, Bible studies, and extensive community service work.

Church is still an important part of life for many us.

However I can see why many people may have stopped attending church in recent years during the pandemic and extreme exploitation of religion for cynical political purposes and hate mongering.

It's because of the social aspects, not the belief aspects. Plus, that old research. Look it up.

I have been a member for many years and yes some attend for social reasons. Especially young families looking for connection and many elderly who we reached out to during the pandemic
As they were so isolated. However many attend spiritual practice workshops forums and events - not just church and community dinners/ concerts/ events.

Our church encourages people to read scriptures with an open and critical mind.

It more like an intermingled mix of spiritual and social reasons: people feel safe to explore their spiritual needs in different ways and are not required to check their doubts and intellectual rigor at the door.

I don’t think you can reduce need for spiritual homes to social functions alone - although that need for authentic human connection is certainly a big part of it.

All good reasons to belong to a religious institution - or any institution that provides social functions and gives people hope.

Attendance in all civic associations has been declining for 50 years. Religions (or any volunteer clubs with attendance and service requirements) demand a lot from people; most claim they don't go due to dogmatic issues or in protest of scandal, but I think these are cop-outs. It's mostly because it's easier to not go every Sunday. Americans have just become pretty lazy and self-absorbed, and it's easier to lie around and do your phone. Mainline Protestant churches are a proof point: They've dropped almost all dogma. Anything goes, they've bent over backwards to modern sensibilities, and their attendance has declined the most. I do think we are all worse off for it. Churches used to provide the social norms that gave people purpose, and kept behavior within acceptable bounds without the use of laws, contracts, or force. This is now largely gone, and there's a cost to that. We are now a low-trust society. And yes, I know that we used to be segregated and bla bla, but guess what--we still are. Literally everyone in a given neighborhood is now an ideological clone of one another. I met an ex-Catholic recently who said she stopped going to Mass because she doesn't believe that transubstantiation is scientifically possible... ahem... yeah, we get it. At some point, you just have to do the stuff and suspend your disbelief.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our church is growing and thriving. We attract people of all ages.

People who attend church regularly tend to be healthier and happier according to research.

Our church is welcoming and inclusive of GTLBQ +, immigrants, young, old and anyone who feels attracted to our services, spiritual practice groups, communit dinners, smaller social activities, forums, Bible studies, and extensive community service work.

Church is still an important part of life for many us.

However I can see why many people may have stopped attending church in recent years during the pandemic and extreme exploitation of religion for cynical political purposes and hate mongering.

It's because of the social aspects, not the belief aspects. Plus, that old research. Look it up.

I have been a member for many years and yes some attend for social reasons. Especially young families looking for connection and many elderly who we reached out to during the pandemic
As they were so isolated. However many attend spiritual practice workshops forums and events - not just church and community dinners/ concerts/ events.

Our church encourages people to read scriptures with an open and critical mind.

It more like an intermingled mix of spiritual and social reasons: people feel safe to explore their spiritual needs in different ways and are not required to check their doubts and intellectual rigor at the door.

I don’t think you can reduce need for spiritual homes to social functions alone - although that need for authentic human connection is certainly a big part of it.

Anonymous wrote:Get back to us when you're older and dealing with the aging process, cancer, tragedies, etc.

Religion can be a good thing. You don't have to attend an organized church to be religious.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get back to us when you're older and dealing with the aging process, cancer, tragedies, etc.

This may be odd to you, but those times are here and I deal with it with doctors, allopathic medicine, taking care of my health, and the support of family and friends, and not the unfounded belief some magic judge will decide to spare me if I say the right words in my head enough times.

That magic judge can also bring comfort, even if prayers to him don't cure disease. For some people, this is enough.

Anonymous wrote:Get back to us when you're older and dealing with the aging process, cancer, tragedies, etc.

This may be odd to you, but those times are here and I deal with it with doctors, allopathic medicine, taking care of my health, and the support of family and friends, and not the unfounded belief some magic judge will decide to spare me if I say the right words in my head enough times.

Anonymous wrote:Get back to us when you're older and dealing with the aging process, cancer, tragedies, etc.

Curious -- are you suggesting that under these circumstances people will start believing in supernatural beings who who help them if the pray hard?

Anonymous wrote:My Catholic church, which tool a huge hit during covid, is almost back to it’s pre-pandemic numbers in terms of attendance and the school has a waitlist. I am very optimistic that church attendance will continue to grow.

that's nice -- but still no evidence that the Catholic Church is correct, right?

Anonymous wrote:Our church is growing and thriving. We attract people of all ages.

People who attend church regularly tend to be healthier and happier according to research.

Our church is welcoming and inclusive of GTLBQ +, immigrants, young, old and anyone who feels attracted to our services, spiritual practice groups, communit dinners, smaller social activities, forums, Bible studies, and extensive community service work.

Church is still an important part of life for many us.

However I can see why many people may have stopped attending church in recent years during the pandemic and extreme exploitation of religion for cynical political purposes and hate mongering.

It's because of the social aspects, not the belief aspects. Plus, that old research. Look it up.

Anonymous wrote:People are lonely because they’re antisocial now & won’t interact with people they don’t already know. For example, organic ways of meeting potential dates are now shunned, and dating apps are celebrated.

This is due to the rise of tech and social media. Declining spirituality and participation in communal activities is just the secondary effect. You can see the above phenomenon happening all over the world including countries in which organized religion never took a strong hold of (e.g. Japan)

Get back to us when you're older and dealing with the aging process, cancer, tragedies, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But anyway, most of the things listed sound white and boring.

White?

Ruritans, ladies clubs, book groups, bowling leagues, golf leagues, yacht clubs, country clubs, DAR, union halls, VFW clubs and events, hunting clubs

Which of these doesn’t sound white?

And most churches are white too, outside of the ones that have been essentially adopted by immigrant groups because white people don’t attend anymore.

Have you ever been to a church in downtown DC? Anacostia? I assure you that they are vibrant communities and most definitely not white. Black people are overwhelmingly religious and attend church. So tell me what sounds black to you?

Okay… so there are immigrant and black churches. Other than that, everything else is white

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But anyway, most of the things listed sound white and boring.

White?

Ruritans, ladies clubs, book groups, bowling leagues, golf leagues, yacht clubs, country clubs, DAR, union halls, VFW clubs and events, hunting clubs

Which of these doesn’t sound white?

And most churches are white too, outside of the ones that have been essentially adopted by immigrant groups because white people don’t attend anymore.

Have you ever been to a church in downtown DC? Anacostia? I assure you that they are vibrant communities and most definitely not white. Black people are overwhelmingly religious and attend church. So tell me what sounds black to you?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But anyway, most of the things listed sound white and boring.

White?

Ruritans, ladies clubs, book groups, bowling leagues, golf leagues, yacht clubs, country clubs, DAR, union halls, VFW clubs and events, hunting clubs

Which of these doesn’t sound white?

And most churches are white too, outside of the ones that have been essentially adopted by immigrant groups because white people don’t attend anymore.

Anonymous wrote:But anyway, most of the things listed sound white and boring.

White?