Should you stay or should you go?

When it comes to growing up in a religious tradition, it seems more and more people are choosing to leave that tradition when they grow up.

According to the Religious Landscape Survey, conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life with 35,000 respondents, 28 percent of Americans leave religion behind, and another 44 percent change their religious affiliation in adulthood, switching to a different religious tradition. Who leaves the most? It seems Catholicism sees the most turnover in the United States, with many Catholics switching to Protestantism. (For those of you confused by those terms, if you identify yourself as a Christian, you may further identify yourself as either part of the Catholic Church or part of a number of Protestant churches, the umbrella term for all other Christian denominations like Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, and so on.) Some sociologists suggest that Catholics are more likely to admit they haven’t been practicing their faith than Protestants (consider the widely used term “practicing Catholic” and the lack of the use of “practicing Protestant”), so it’s possible the results are skewed by respondents’ perceptions of what makes one part of a tradition.

I must admit, I’m surprised by that statistic. Just a few years ago, I interviewed a professor at Indiana University who said 80 percent of people remain in the religion they were born into (see “Finding Faith” in my sampling of published articles). It seemed like it made sense at the time — after all, isn’t it easier to just do what your parents do than to study up on a new religion or try out a tradition that’s unfamiliar? The idea of more and more people leaving the faith they grew up with is surprising and should be a call to action to the nation’s faith traditions to figure out why they aren’t retaining their youth. Is your doctrine sound? Are you both welcoming new members and making old adherants feel accepted and loved? Are you ensuring your youth know your mission and your beliefs? Are you challenging them to dig deep and find out what they believe?

I could blog all day about the many issues brought up in this survey — of course, I won’t put you through that. To see some great graphs the Washington Post made out of the results, go here. The graphs also show how many people are practicing various religions in the United States (did you know 1 in 4 American adults reports not being a part of any particular religion?). Also, if you have some time on your hands and you’d like to read all of the survey results (which include information on interfaith marriage, religious competition, and age and gender stats), go here.

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