The NYT says church attendence is up. It's wrong.

[Dover]

Bogus Trend of the Week: Booming Evangelical Attendance
A Gallup editor punctures a religion bubble at the New York Times.



By Jack Shafer
Posted Monday, Dec. 22, 2008, at 5:03 PM ET

It stands to reason that the recent crash might have driven impoverished souls to their nearest church in search of salvation. Churches—like yesterday's housing bankers—don't demand much in the way of collateral from their clientele, making for a handsome risk-to-reward ratio.

A run on churches sounds so plausible that it was a cinch that the New York Times would look into it, and look into it they did on Dec. 14 with a Page One story. In that piece, the paper combined self-reports from evangelical churches, a "spot check of large Roman Catholic parishes and mainline Protestant churches around the nation," and a paper by an economist, drawing on historical data, to declare in a headline: "An Evangelical Article of Faith: Bad Times Draw Bigger Crowds." (The headline on the Web version of the story is broader: "Bad Times Draw Bigger Crowds to Churches." It's also dated Dec. 13.)

The Times story reports:

Since September, pastors nationwide say they have seen such a burst of new interest that they find themselves contending with powerful conflicting emotions—deep empathy and quiet excitement—as they re-encounter an old piece of religious lore: Bad times are good for evangelical churches.

Has today's freshly cratered economy already given bloom to increased church attendance? No, Gallup's editor-in-chief, Frank Newport, writes in a Dec. 17 Web posting in reaction to the Times story. He asserts that "a review of almost 300,000 interviews conducted by Gallup so far in 2008 shows no evidence that church attendance in America has been increasing late this year as a result of bad economic times." ...cont'd

http://www.slate.com/id/2207294?nav=wp

[MADem]

1. I'd think hard times would incline people to leave churches, particularly those "Ten Percent Tithe"

outfits. That ten percent can pay the light bill, or help with the groceries, or put gas in the car, after all!

[Warpy]

2. Right, and the preachers who told their sheep that tithing

would come back to them tenfold in prosperity theology are looking just a little sleazy. You might almost think people realize they'd been scammed.

As this plays out, I think mainstream churches might see an increase in bodies. What they won't see is an increase in the collection plate.

[enlightenment]

3. I'd be willing to bet that what we will see is a spike

in the number of new 'denominations'.

Based purely on my own observation whilst reading history, it seems that rather than being drawn to churches during difficult times people actually begin to question the validity of whatever religion they are involved in - not surprising, since religions' make a lot of promises that they can't keep.

So folks get disgruntled with the message and decide to 'split off', 'break away', or otherwise take their toys and go home. If there are like-minded folks around, they then form new churches that usually feature the same basic tenets - with the pointed exception of whatever it was that drove the disgruntled away in the first place.

So keep an eye on strip malls near you . . . you might just see some brand new storefront churches springing up.

[stopbush]

4. Yes, it was reported eariler in the week that there was no upsurge in church attendance.

Historically, the double whammy of WWI and the Depression produced a significant dip in church attendance. One HOPES that a similar dip will happen now, and that today's Americans will seek solutions in reality to address the hard times.

It's easy to get all religious when times are good. When times are tough, religion becomes the bailiwick of only two groups: the very rich, who can well afford to believe in god's blessings...and the very poor, who can't afford not to.

[quaker bill]

5. I gather the proper view

here is that all things which conspire against religion / theology are a net benefit to society on the whole.

Therefore I am sorry to report that economic hard times, war, and the election of conservative republicans, (curious how these tend to run together) always seems to improve attendance at Quaker Meetings. After the 2004 election we hardly had enough chairs and parking spaces. We have been steadily increasing in number and diversity throughout 2008.

But then, we have no creedal test, minister, tithe, fancy building, or prosperity gospel, just silent meditation with ordinary people (gay and straight) and a committment to peace and social justice.

[DeSwiss]

6. Wherever and whenever you find these.....

on edit: spelling




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......these will never be too far away....