Americans Increasingly Distrustful of Organized Religion

[SLD]

Are Americans Especially Distrustful Of Religion?

(ANALYSIS) Trust in American institutions has eroded significantly over the last several decades — things like major companies , the federal government , and the scientific community . But given the name of this newsletter, I bet you can guess which institution I want to focus on today: organize

religionunplugged.com

I suppose it’s a hopeful sign, but from the garbage I see constantly spewed online and in tv I’m not particularly hopeful.

 

[Ruth Harris]

Interesting article, and I agree with its premise for the most part - but I would be particularly interested to see data from 2020 to the present. I suspect there was another steep drop in trust of organized religion due to the pandemic. I know it had a big impact on my trust for organized religion; not my faith, but the local congregation to which I used to belong.

Most of our local churches equated following public health guidelines to "losing faith" when it was nothing of the kind. I was basically ghosted by my church when I told them I would not return to active service since they completely ignored common sense precautions advised during the active phase of the pandemic. A good percentage of the congregation (including both pastors and their wives!) were infected; some members died, and others were permanently disabled. Yet they still congregated as usual with no precautions.

I will probably never attend a church in real life again. I now utilize online services from an older brother's church (they actually followed public health guidelines but are not in my area). My trust that the local church has compassion for others has been completely destroyed. Organized religion has become nothing more than a business grasping for power and money in the vast majority of churches.

Ruth

 

[Politesse]

True. I've only been inside a physical church once since the pandemic, and that was because my partner's parents were visiting.

 

[southernhybrid]

Interesting article, and I agree with its premise for the most part - but I would be particularly interested to see data from 2020 to the present. I suspect there was another steep drop in trust of organized religion due to the pandemic. I know it had a big impact on my trust for organized religion; not my faith, but the local congregation to which I used to belong.

Most of our local churches equated following public health guidelines to "losing faith" when it was nothing of the kind. I was basically ghosted by my church when I told them I would not return to active service since they completely ignored common sense precautions advised during the active phase of the pandemic. A good percentage of the congregation (including both pastors and their wives!) were infected; some members died, and others were permanently disabled. Yet they still congregated as usual with no precautions.

I will probably never attend a church in real life again. I now utilize online services from an older brother's church (they actually followed public health guidelines but are not in my area). My trust that the local church has compassion for others has been completely destroyed. Organized religion has become nothing more than a business grasping for power and money in the vast majority of churches.

Ruth

I understand. I have several friends and a neighbor who are what I'd call Non practicing Christians. They never go to church, but maintain their beliefs, although one told us that as fas as he is concerned there is no one true religion. He even told us that it was hard for him to identify as a Christian after Trump won the election.