The Numbers
April 15, 2006--As Christians around the world celebrate Easter, 83% of Americans believe that the person known to history as Jesus Christ actually walked the earth. A Rasmussen Reports holiday survey found that 6% disagree.
The survey also found that 78% believe Jesus "was the Son of God who came to earth to die for our sins."
Seventy-five percent (75%) believe the central claim of the Easter celebration, that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Fourteen percent (14%) say the Resurrection did not happen.
African-Americans are somewhat more likely to believe these claims about Christ than other Americans. Those who earn more than $100,000 a year are a bit less likely to believe. There is very little difference on these questions by age.
Twenty percent (20%) of Americans say that they are Evangelical Christians. Another 47% claim some other Christian affiliation.
Thirty-six percent (36%) say they attend some form of religious services every week, a percentage that increases with age.
I keep hearing that we live in a post-Christian society, but these numbers don't appear post-Christian to me. What they say is we live in a post-Church society. If 78% of Americans believe Jesus died for our sins, and only 36% regularly attend Christian services, what has lost currency is the institution of the church, not the faith.
Hmmm...
posted by Sharon Gerald | 2:54 PM
2 Comments:
Did you and I talk about this post-Church idea recently? I agree with you. I think the Church is failing many people who want to have a spirtual life and find it hard to do so without some structure. Confession time: I'm including myself here. I find it hard to go to church. Yes, I'm tired. But I remember what a teacher, Jean Sauls, said after she came to the writing project's summer institute: I didn't want to go, but a friend pushed me into it. I thought I needed to stay at home and rest, but what I really needed was rejuvenation. I got it by going every day and reading and writing.
Paul is right (not always, in my opinion) in that bit about the good that I would do. . .
Jeanne
I think you are right that the church is failing a lot of people. At least a lot of people have been failed by a church and are no longer interested in giving any of them a chance.
I'm not sure what the answer to that is. We live such fast-paced lives these days, and church is neither fast-paced nor particularly restful, so it is difficult for people to figure out how to fit it in. It's especially difficult for people who've fallen out of the habit of church to figure out how to fit it in.
I suppose the church is almost forced by this reality to look for other ways of reaching people. I know some bloggers I've run across are treating the Internet as a kind of mission field, and maybe some of them are reaching people who wouldn't otherwise have any kind of spiritual guidance or structure.
On the other hand, people get out of anything what they put into it, and someone who is an occasional and reluctant spectator to church can't really expect much. I think the more involved you get, especially in small groups and in missions, the more opportunities you have for church to give you the kind of rejuvenation it's supposed to offer.
Much to think about here. More later...
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