Results: Church!
Published on 11/01/2023
I see a lot of stories of how attendance to churches of various denominations have been steadily declining over the years. Also the amount of people that go into the clergy or whatever are also in decline. What are your thoughts as to the possible reasons why?
QUESTIONS
GO to COMMENTS
Comments
1.
1.
I attended church in my youth, The Salvation Army. My grandmother and auntie were both very active in the church and went on missions to other countries. My whole family attended infrequently, my sister was a little more "devout" and at one time talked about becoming a "soldier" of the Salvation Army. But after the death of my Grandmother, our whole family started to go less and less, until we no longer went at all. Did you attend church frequently when you were younger only to stop going completely at some point? Never attended church, not even for weddings and funerals.
4%
76 votes
Only been in a church for things like weddings and funerals.
15%
309 votes
Attended in my youth. Stopped going at some point in my life.
46%
956 votes
Attended when i was young and still go to this day.
17%
358 votes
Not Applicable
24%
498 votes
2.
2.
My family, even as we attended church services, were never highly religious. I might say that we stopped completely because of the death of my grandmother, but I don't think that was true. It was a combination of things. If you attended church when young and stopped at some point, what would you say was the reason for you? Never went.
7%
154 votes
Never stopped going.
9%
188 votes
Learning more about awful things done in the past and present by people while "representing" the church.
14%
304 votes
Something happened to me related to church and the people running it that turned me away from my faith.
10%
214 votes
Moving away for one reason or the other from the more faithful people in my life and learning more about the world and becoming more educated.
13%
271 votes
becoming part of a different community of people who still practiced the good people do with church, like volunteerism and helping others, without the belief that i need to do it in order to not go to hell.
11%
221 votes
Other (please specify)
7%
156 votes
Not Applicable
40%
830 votes
| Other Answers | Percentage | Votes |
|---|---|---|
| 2.72% | 41 | |
| Work Schedule | 0.07% | 1 |
| Churches are loaded with fakes, phonies, hypocrites, homophobes, xenophobes, racists, sexists, and anti-semites. | 0.07% | 1 |
| just not religious | 0.07% | 1 |
| Found out that the Holy Buy-bull was a fraudulent pile of hooey, never felt better after losing the God burden, becoming an official atheist. | 0.07% | 1 |
| Didn’t go then, go now | 0.07% | 1 |
| the money they want | 0.07% | 1 |
| Converted to Buddhism | 0.07% | 1 |
| burned out, tired or running | 0.07% | 1 |
| Some of the church teaching, I felt were wrong | 0.07% | 1 |
| We moved away and I didn't want to take the bus there. | 0.07% | 1 |
| Married a Roman Catholic who also "quit" church but not his faith | 0.07% | 1 |
| Attend a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses | 0.07% | 1 |
| Went as a small child, then Mom decided that after milking cows and driving a half an hour to church was just too much so we stopped. Then as a teen I started going again with a good friend to a good church. Afte rmoving to another state stopped. | 0.07% | 1 |
| disappointed with the organization and members | 0.07% | 1 |
| Didn't like it when young but my parents made me go. Stopped going when they were no longer in a position to force me to. | 0.07% | 1 |
| due to accepting things they shouldn't and don't teach repentance anymore | 0.07% | 1 |
| sexually assaulted by clergy | 0.07% | 1 |
| just did mot want to go | 0.07% | 1 |
| got busy with life. | 0.07% | 1 |
| I was raised in a different religion than id described here. Was devoted as a child, but left it all behind after learning of the hypocrisy of it all. | 0.07% | 1 |
| developed different views | 0.07% | 1 |
| Busy with raising family and working | 0.07% | 1 |
| worked on sundays | 0.07% | 1 |
| Work schedule made it too difficult | 0.07% | 1 |
| I was not welcome at church after my divorce. I divorced for abuse. I am now searching for a real church | 0.07% | 1 |
| Got lazy and preferred to sleep in on Sunday. Now I get up early enough but church starts too late. (Still to lazy) | 0.07% | 1 |
| Lazy | 0.07% | 1 |
| I just hate to have to | 0.07% | 1 |
| When I was old enough to read a lot and fully understand how much superstition and patriarchial control was involved I became an atheist | 0.07% | 1 |
| Too far to drive to get to church. | 0.07% | 1 |
| No particular reason | 0.07% | 1 |
| Divorsed | 0.07% | 1 |
| Can't find a good church near me | 0.07% | 1 |
| just stopped | 0.07% | 1 |
| Not sure why | 0.07% | 1 |
| Did not want to get up early on Sunday after working all week | 0.07% | 1 |
| Covid | 0.07% | 1 |
| Universalist changed to Unitarian | 0.07% | 1 |
| stopped believing | 0.07% | 1 |
| The change from Latin to English in Mass. | 0.07% | 1 |
| My family took us to church but didn't believe any of it. It was a social thing. | 0.07% | 1 |
| responsibilities of life and family | 0.07% | 1 |
| Moving away and working weekends | 0.07% | 1 |
| STOP with these "Other (please specify)" options. | 0.07% | 1 |
| Kind of boring | 0.07% | 1 |
| Didn't want to go alone and didn't feel like I fit in | 0.07% | 1 |
| don't agree with religion being used by some to justify war | 0.07% | 1 |
| Mom forced us to go, Dad hated it | 0.07% | 1 |
| lost faith as I grew up and learn the otherside of "church". ...lies and manipulation | 0.07% | 1 |
| Disinterested in Organized Religion and all the corruption involved with it anymore. | 0.07% | 1 |
| do not believe in their rhetoric | 0.07% | 1 |
| finish kindergarten | 0.07% | 1 |
| I don't believe in religion, I have my faith and talk with god from home. | 0.07% | 1 |
| did not like it | 0.07% | 1 |
| I am the church so I do not attend me but we do have assembly's for education classed as a college. | 0.07% | 1 |
| Laziness | 0.07% | 1 |
| I work every Sunday | 0.07% | 1 |
| When a priest made a woman with a screaming child leave, and he told parishioners he did not want to hear coins in the collection plate. It became all about money and I was young so family decided not to go anymore. | 0.07% | 1 |
| Just simply stopped because of moving to a different environment, lifestyle, work schedules. | 0.07% | 1 |
| Follow my own beliefs, don't need a building with hypocrites! | 0.07% | 1 |
| went regularly until jr high when our band was touring on weekends, got back to church in college--In 2012 became a licensed & ordained chaplain | 0.07% | 1 |
| Moved to a different area and didn’t find a new church | 0.07% | 1 |
| I went to Temple | 0.07% | 1 |
| God does not need to be in a church or building as God in everywhere & just talking praying to God in nature is also filled with love so when God is in your heart filled with love and sometimes disappointment..God is always with you regardless. | 0.07% | 1 |
| Have been hurt by various members of the church. Still went, then started doing my spiritual practices at home because my presence was required far more at home. | 0.07% | 1 |
| discovered religion is nonsense | 0.07% | 1 |
| We only went occasionally. Then stopped going. Having God in your heart and way of living means more to me. | 0.07% | 1 |
| Started a job that involved shift work and worked most Sundays. | 0.07% | 1 |
| Enlisted but went back when I got older. | 0.07% | 1 |
| Parents made me go | 0.07% | 1 |
| Stopped as soon as my parents stopped making me - at age 13 | 0.07% | 1 |
| complicated | 0.07% | 1 |
| Tried it and just decided i didn’t really want to go | 0.07% | 1 |
| Don't like to go anywhere | 0.07% | 1 |
| Wanted to hang out with my friends. | 0.07% | 1 |
| was Catholic and could not stand the hypocrites in the church | 0.07% | 1 |
| I have become dusgusted with the way main stream religion is headed. Many chuchaes are divided abaout transgenders, same sex marriaage and homosexuals. They don't seem very religious to me anymore | 0.07% | 1 |
| I became agnostic due to the misogyny of religion and my belief that religion is man-made and brings more harm than good. Telling a girl/woman that she gets painful cramps and has painful childbirth because women deserve it because Eve's sins SMDH | 0.07% | 1 |
| When my mother died I was 9 and my father said - there is no God & we quit going to church. | 0.07% | 1 |
| stopped because of unethical behavior | 0.07% | 1 |
| too boring | 0.07% | 1 |
| personal | 0.07% | 1 |
| covid infection really topped church off | 0.07% | 1 |
| Realized you can be anywhere to have god hear you. | 0.07% | 1 |
| I saw too many "Christians" who were the most racist people I encountered. | 0.07% | 1 |
| My church closed | 0.07% | 1 |
| REALIZED ORGANIZED RELIGION IS NOT FOR ME | 0.07% | 1 |
| Everyone says they are right and Everyone else is wrong while mostly saying the same thing | 0.07% | 1 |
| went from saint to sinner, very bad | 0.07% | 1 |
| Went to college | 0.07% | 1 |
| Religion propaganda, "Who re-written the Bible" ?? | 0.07% | 1 |
| I use to go quite often but moved and just haven't found a church I'm interested in going to yet. | 0.07% | 1 |
| church stopped having any meaning to me | 0.07% | 1 |
| Used to sing in the choir then they got rid of the choir | 0.07% | 1 |
| started having to work on Sundays. | 0.07% | 1 |
| did not feel that it was worth the effort | 0.07% | 1 |
| no interest | 0.07% | 1 |
| Partying teenager! | 0.07% | 1 |
| I don't need to go to church to have a relationship with God. | 0.07% | 1 |
| stopped going for a while and now am back | 0.07% | 1 |
| Went to Catholic Church and school, but stopped going to church several years ago, when l started working on Sundays! | 0.07% | 1 |
| educating myself on the purpose of religion, which I find it to be more about controlling people | 0.07% | 1 |
| In my early life I attended church regularly, then I went out into the world and got married, then I stopped going except for special days, then I realized something was ,missing so I started going to church again and singing in the choir. No all is | 0.07% | 1 |
| jewish | 0.07% | 1 |
| Never was a beliver in all the hype and mythology that comes with religion. Faith and prayers are no longer believable for the younger generation. since science has poven most of it to be bunk. | 0.07% | 1 |
| Just got out of the habit | 0.07% | 1 |
| When I left home at 16 I a job that required me to work on Sundays | 0.07% | 1 |
| Blind faith what a concept! | 0.07% | 1 |
| mom was tired of making excuses for my dad who was an alcoholic for not coming | 0.07% | 1 |
| Constantly moving to different cities | 0.07% | 1 |
| Illness keeps me away but still religious | 0.07% | 1 |
| family issues | 0.07% | 1 |
| I return to church. | 0.07% | 1 |
| moved away and didn't want to try new churches | 0.07% | 1 |
| I’m not sure why I quit | 0.07% | 1 |
3.
3.
When we got married, my wife wanted to have the ceremony in the Catholic Church. Because I was not Catholic, in order to be wed there, we needed to at the minimum attend couples classes with the Reverend. Did you ever take these types of classes before getting married? Never married.
11%
239 votes
Never took these types of classes.
35%
736 votes
Yes I took these types of classes.
18%
377 votes
Not Applicable
36%
748 votes
4.
4.
In these classes the Reverend suggested we split up for a month or more and see other people to make sure we really wanted to be married. We had been together for 4 years already at this point, living together. We just nodded our head and ignored this suggestion. Long story short, we finished the classes, got married in the church and about a year later that Reverend left the church forever to be with his male companion. Do you think if the church didn't frown upon their Priests marrying or being Gay they might have more people staying or becoming Priests? Yes
40%
846 votes
No
16%
339 votes
Not Applicable
44%
915 votes
COMMENTS