The decline membership in of mainline churches over the last century had more to do with sex than theology, research by a trio of sociologists suggests. Read more here http://www.baptiststandard.com/postnuke/index.php?module=htmlpages&func=display&pid=4064.
Any thoughts on this article?
I don't want to be rude, but my thoughts on this are "well, duh!".
I did a blog entry on "population politics" that meshes nicely with this new "discovery. :)
Posted by: Tony | Thursday, October 20, 2005 at 02:48 PM
The major problem was the statement that it had more to do with sex than theology. Excuse me, it was the abandoment of Christian theology on contraception that lead to the population declines.
Of course any study in part written by Fr. Andrew Greeley is highly suspicious anyway.
Posted by: Jeff Miller | Thursday, October 20, 2005 at 06:31 PM
_Touchstone_ had a very interesting and related article on the growth of the early church. Rather than crediting the growth of Christianity to Constantine's conversion, etc, the article maintains that the growth was due to women prefering Christian principles on marriage, family, children, etc. the the pagan alternative. As women embraced Christianity, and the monogamous, anti-abortive life that it promoted, men quickly followed. The men and women were both influenced, indeed defined, by the "culture of life" that is Christianity.
Once the protestant Christian churches, and now so many Catholics, embraced the contraceptive mentality (and all its ugly friends) there is little wonder people left.
Posted by: Ruby | Friday, October 21, 2005 at 05:45 PM
That's only part of it. The mainline protestant denominations are losing a lot of people to the Evangelical movement because of their soft stances and compromising on Scripture.
Posted by: *Name Hidden* | Friday, November 04, 2005 at 12:23 PM
That's only part of it. The mainline protestant denominations are losing a lot of people to the Evangelical movement because of their soft stances and compromising on Scripture.
Actually, the results of the study was that this idea wasn't very true.
My experience is that while evangelical churches grow fast, they also tend to lose members fairly fast too. Mainline denominations tend to have more loyalty. However, members of more conservative churches DO have a lot more kids.
Posted by: | Sunday, November 06, 2005 at 08:38 PM
Be careful how statistics can be misleading. An Example: The Catholic Church in America grew 27% during the time Pope John Paul II was in office. Sounds good, right? Well, the population grew 35% during that time.
About 80% of the people in my Evangelical church are former Catholics / Main Line Protestants.
Posted by: *Name Hidden* | Tuesday, November 08, 2005 at 12:34 PM
Be careful how statistics can be misleading. An Example: The Catholic Church in America grew 27% during the time Pope John Paul II was in office. Sounds good, right? Well, the population grew 35% during that time.
About 80% of the people in my Evangelical church are former Catholics / Main Line Protestants.
Posted by: *Name Hidden* | Tuesday, November 08, 2005 at 12:36 PM
Be careful how statistics can be misleading. An Example: The Catholic Church in America grew 27% during the time Pope John Paul II was in office. Sounds good, right? Well, the population grew 35% during that time.
About 80% of the people in my Evangelical church are former Catholics / Main Line Protestants.
Posted by: *Name Hidden* | Tuesday, November 08, 2005 at 12:40 PM