CHURCH MEMBERSHIP COLLAPSING IN AMERICA

A new Gallup Poll reveals that membership in religious institutions in America is collapsing. Find an article about the study here . Particularly since the year 2000, numbers have fallen off a cliff. Now, fewer than half (47%) of Americans claim church (or synagogue or mosque) membership. This is a decline of 20 points in the last 20 years. This is age-related with younger people less likely to be church-related.

The reasons for the desertion of the churches remains a point of speculation. The poll offered no suggestions. 

As both dioceses affected by the schism in South Carolina search for new bishops, they should also search for ways in which they can stem the tide of falling church membership (actually, while the ADSC is in serious and relentless decline in membership, the EDSC is up 20% since the schism). The candidates for bishop in both cases might be considering ways in which the dioceses can go beyond their own internal problems, urgent that they are, and address what may be the biggest problem of all, the survival of the dioceses as viable institutions in society. The new Gallup poll should set off alarm bells in every church, including those in South Carolina.