MEMPHIS, Tenn. — In Monday’s Ransom Note, in this week of celebrating Easter and Passover, a new poll shows a huge shift in how many of us are going to church, and it's not just due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
83 years ago, Gallup started asking Americans, are you a member of a church, synagogue, or mosque. For the first time, that number dropped below 50%. In 2020, it was 47%, in 1999 it was 70%, in 1937 it was 73%. So most of the decline has happened in the last decade or two.
According to Gallup, the biggest factor is more of us don't identify with any religion. After that, age plays a big role. Born before 1945, 66% are church-goers. Among Baby Boomers it falls to 58%. It’s 50% for Generation X and 36% among Millenials. The survey also found Catholics dropping as church members twice as fast as Protestants, Independents more than Democrats or Republicans, Westerners more than Southerners, but all categories are dropping and thousands of churches are closing every year.
People like to joke that in Memphis there's a church on every corner, but even in the Bible Belt, they're only as strong as their congregations.
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