Newsweek has quite an article on the current upurge in spirituality in America:
A major poll, commissioned jointly with Beliefnet.com, reveals a breadth of tolerance and curiosity virtually across the religious spectrum. And everywhere we looked, a flowering of spirituality: in the hollering, swooning, foot-stomping services of the new wave of Pentecostals; in Catholic churches where worshipers pass the small hours of the night alone contemplating the eucharist, and among Jews who are seeking God in the mystical thickets of Kabbalah. Also, in the rebirth of Pagan religions that look for God in the wonders of the natural world; in Zen and innumerable other threads of Buddhism, whose followers seek enlightenment through meditation and prayer, and in the efforts of American Muslims to achieve a more God-centered Islam. And, for that matter, at the Church of the Holy Communion, described by the Rev. Gary Jones as "a proper Episcopal church in one of the wealthiest parts of Memphis," where increasingly "personal experience is at the heart of much of what we do…"
The NEWSWEEK/Beliefnet Poll found that more Americans, especially those younger than 60, described themselves as "spiritual" (79 percent) than "religious" (64 percent). Almost two thirds of Americans say they pray every day, and nearly a third meditate.
But, guess what? Big surprise! This does not mean that more people are attending church:
Whatever is going on here, it’s not an explosion of people going to church. The great public manifestations of religiosity in America today—the megachurches seating 8,000 worshipers at one service, the emergence of evangelical preachers as political power brokers—haven’t been reflected in increased attendance at services. Of 1,004 respondents to the NEWSWEEK/Beliefnet Poll, 45 percent said they attend worship services weekly, virtually identical to the figure (44 percent) in a Gallup poll cited by Time in 1966. Then as now, however, there is probably a fair amount of wishful thinking in those figures; researchers who have done actual head counts in churches think the figure is probably more like 20 percent.
The article goes on to say that "the impulse to seek communion with the Divine, is thriving…" People are hungry for God…
Comments
3 responses to “Newsweek: Increase in Spirituality But Not Church Attendance”
I guess it shouldn’t surprise us that people aren’t flocking to church. However, after returning from a vacation in the States and visiting two large churches – very large – and then reading of many other “success stories” of churches reaching the unchurched, maybe I should be surprised.
At the same time, it shouldn’t surprise us either that people are interested in religion and spirituality. We see it all the time in the Bible. But I don’t think it means they are interested in the living God, does it? So it is today. It seems like people are opting for a more smorgasbord kind of spirituality. I sense that real hope lies only in concerted and united seeking of God. But as Tozer (I think) said, “You won’t get much of a crowd when God is the only attraction.”
Hm, I have to say that I do not agree with this last comment.
I believe God is all people want, but the understanding of it is missing. They are searching, and for what, if not for the Creator and Father who longs for their hearts? It is then up to us christians to prove the faith in the Father to be more than it has been shown to be these last hundred years.
Maybe God is not what they consiously look for or strive to find, but their spirits actively stretch out for Him, I believe. It may then be that alternative forms of sprituality offers quicker fixes and faster, if temporary, satisfaction than an active discipleship to Jesus.
Well well. May God lead us.
Increase of spirituality in America? Yes
I found out from House Church Blog that Newsweek ran an article (it happened to be on the front cover, actually) that said they recently ran a poll which indicated that increasing numbers of Americans are turning to spiritualism of many different kinds…