Is Religion Dying Out in America?
Dear friends,
In the past, believing in God was almost a cultural trend in America and other Western countries; it was just what most people did. But as society becomes increasingly modernised, people are less inclined to lean in this direction.
With the tremendous amount of information and knowledge that is freely available today, people automatically have more questions and doubts in what others or even they themselves believe in. Therefore when they are unable to understand something, most of them choose to not believe in anything instead.
I find this piece of research quite interesting, I hope you will enjoy it and do let me know your thoughts in the comments section.
Tsem Rinpoche
Religion is Dying Out in America: Just 18% of People 60 and Younger Attend Church and Less Than 50% Believe in God
By CHEYENNE MACDONALD FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 21:58 GMT, 17 March 2016 | UPDATED: 23:07 GMT, 17 March 2016
- Religious affiliation and belief in God has dropped in developed countries
- It was thought that US was an exception, but data reveals this isn’t the case
- New study shows each generation is less religious than the one before it
Around the world, people are beginning to turn their backs on religion.
For some time, researchers have observed this trend as it ripples through developed countries, with the United States standing out as the exception.
Now, a new study reveals this is no longer the case; with each passing generation, Americans too are steadily becoming less religious.
For some time, researchers have observed this trend as it ripples through developed countries, with the United States standing out as the exception. Now, a new study reveals this is no longer the case; with each passing generation, Americans too are steadily becoming less religious.
As religious belief declines in much of the Western world, it’s largely been thought that the United States had resisted the trend.
Research from Duke University and University College London (UCL) challenges this idea, revealing that the number of people in the US who claim religious affiliations or attend Church has dropped.
And, the belief in God is dropping as well.
The study published in the American Journal of Sociology examined US data from the General Social Survey, which is conducted every two years.
Comparisons with data from Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand revealed an overall drop in religious belief over time.
In the United States, this drop has been very gradual, making it difficult for scientists to detect due to lack of data.
The decline, they found, has occurred generationally.
‘None of these declines is happening fast, but the signs are now unmistakable,’ said David Voas, a social scientist with UCL and co-author of the study.
‘It has become clear that American religiosity has been declining for decades, and the decline is driven by the same dynamic – generational differences – that has driven religious decline across the developed world.’
The number of people in the US who claim religious affiliations or attend Church have dropped. And, the belief in God is dropping as well. The decline, they found, has occurred generationally. The researchers say the data remains consistent over time, reflecting the trend seen elsewhere in the world.
Researchers found each generation is subsequently less religious than the one before.
In one example, the team found that 41 percent of people aged 70 and older reported they attend church services at least once a month.
For people just under that age bracket, 60 and younger, only 18 percent attend church at this frequency.
And, just 45 percent of people aged 18-30 reported they have ‘no doubt God exists,’ compared with 68 percent of those 65 and older who said the same.
‘The US has long been considered an exception to the modern claim that religion is declining,’ said Mark Chaves, the study’s other co-author, and a professor of sociology, divinity, and religion at Duke.
‘But if you look at the trajectory, and the generational dynamic that is producing the trajectory, we may not be an exception after all.’
The researchers say the data remains consistent over time, reflecting the trend seen elsewhere in the world.
‘If you break it down over five-year chunks,’ Chaves said, ‘each age group is a little less religious than the one before it.’
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3497755/Religion-dying-New-study-finds-just-18-percent-people-60-younger-attend-church-50-believe-God.html
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Religion is not dying out in America, but could be showing a sign of slowing down due to the following reasons: Materalism and wealth form the important source of the “American Dream” in survivalship in modern U.S.A of today. In a materialism developed environment, especially in a country like the U.S., everything needs “quick-fixes” and “physical gratification” centred on proofs too. At many a time, this is also even required in the practice of spirituality, though sometimes it may be difficult to prove out what is “Empirical”. In a similar research done sometime ago, it was revealed that more people nowadays are attracted to practices that can induce control over a practitioner’s future destiny instantaneously, rather than to await for the mercy of the “Almighty”. A system logically based on the “wait and see” situation, or attitude of a faith-based merciful feeling of God is not what many people seem eager for today. As said, people are today not so obsessed with the sense world, they so blinded by attachment, and under control of funfamental cause of all problems, and thus become ignorant of the true nature of their mind, making them lose interest in Religion, and thus lose out in the end!
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this article. I guess not only in the US that the people are less spiritual. I notice even in Malaysia especially the younger generation are less spiritual. To them being religious is not cool and choose not to pray or go to temples. Some even choose to be free thinker instead. Maybe it’s because the parents to these kids are also not religious and as a result did not teach their kids to pray. In the long term we will meet with many ignorant and angry people.
With folded palms,
Vivian
This is not surprising. Materialism is the mantra of today and life’s goal is fortune and fame. There is daily bombardment by the media that this should be everyone’s ultimate goal for a successful life and it would bring happiness. But when in the pursuit of those ideals, the happiness seems so elusive and problems crop in, only then do they turn to religion. But if the religion they so pin their hopes on do not seem to turn their fortunes around immediately they way they expect and they are not getting what they hoped to get from religion, they turn their backs on it.
For those who do practice some kind of religious practice, and life seems humming along and they become successful, they may also end up forsaking the religion because everything’s so smooth, why do they need religion? When you’re busy making money and enjoying yourself, you have no time to do any boring religious practice.
In both cases, there is nothing else but the sense of “I” “Me” and “Mine”. And the object of their worship should work at their beck and call.
When people practise without understanding what they are doing or have doubts and questions that the religion cannot answer, sooner or later, for the thinking society of today, it becomes totally meaningless to even practise anything. Therefore are the western religions sufficient to stimulate the thinking minds of today’s people?
All advanced countries, the people in such countries with probably a lot more disposable income and enjoy a greater standard of living than > 50% of the world’s population would realize that wealth and money is not everything. Human beings need nourishment not only in terms of satisfying baser desires, they need nourishment in terms of spirit as well.
This is probably where religion and philosophies come in. In the day and age whereby internet is accessed by so many and so much information is available to the masses. There is probably a tendency to check online and compare. With the advent of technology and people have greater capacity for discernment, people have a greater tendency to be more skeptical hence more questioning. Perhaps a new way has to be formulated to look at the religiosity of the Americans. Could it be that Americans are starting to look at other systems of beliefs that suit their level of education and exposure that gives them the freedom to explore their understanding and be able to comfortable use logic and reasoning which is more often than not; not found or practiced widely within the context of monotheistic faiths.
Religion is dying out in America that is very true due to a numbers of reason.Well as a developed country and more advance than any other .and the up bringing of people there is so much different from those many years back. So less younger generation are going to church and so on…do not quite believe in religion. there so many immigrants from so many countries settling down in America making religion less important as they think more of material wealth and surviving .
Thanks Rinpoche for sharing this post.
Dear Rinpoche,
In my opinion, the reasons for this phenomena in the US are as follow:
1) The main focus in the American culture is to amass material wealth so that they can buy their dream home, go for their dream vacations, have dream cars and so on. This is the “American Dream”! It is the Mecca for indulgence and egocentricity. There is not much room left for any spiritual pursuits.
2) Religions in the US are predominantly theistic. They are becoming less popular because Americans are well educated in general and are encouraged to think and question all the time. If their questions are not answered logically, they lose interest very quickly. There is too much daily distractions and they do not have the time and energy to explore. Hence, having faith alone is not good enough especially when prayers are not answered after a while.
3) Americans like quick fixes and see results. Theistic religions do not provide for this.
So unless these religious institutions change their methods and have better answers to the congregation’s questions, the decline will continue.
Regards,
JP
There are 2 research papers that indicate that the level of religious belief may partially stem from the style of our thinking. In 2011, Shenhav, Rand and Greene of Harvard University published a report, showing people who rely on their intuition are more likely to believe in God. Building on these findings, more recently, Gervais and Norenzayan of the University of British Columbia found that people who think analytically reduced their tendency to believe in God. The growing numbers of literate which encouraged analytical thinking could be the reason of the declining numbers of believer over the decades. This is actually a very good opportunity for religion preacher to redefine their approach from a dogmatic ritual to an intellectually stimulating philosophy of life. I am very much incline to quote Valentina “…Perhaps, this phenomenon is a new beginning that people need, that is taking religions not as traditions passed down by elders, but rather as a way of life that is meaningful to them personally.”
Thank you very much, Rinpoche, for this thought provoking article.
This is an interesting and thought provoking piece. In my humble opinion, one of the factors that could have caused the decline is the advancement of information technology where information is readily available and everything can be Googled online. With mainstream religions which subscribe to theism, where a higher being is said to be the creator of everything, one needs to be able to accept whatever that is taught without questioning the whys and hows. One needs to just believe and leave one’s fate in the hands of that higher being.
For a people like me, I could not just accept facts and principles blindly, without being able to question. For many people, to be able to believe and accept would need a fair bit of understanding and to understand something, there will be the need to question.
In this age of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, there is a rather distorted view of happiness and many people will not turn to spirituality/religion to seek happiness as spirituality is the much harder road compared to fine dining, fabulous holidays and fast cars.
Thank you for sharing this post, Rinpoche.
In my opinion, it is not really surprising that less and less Americans are becoming less religious. This can be attributed to the younger generation being more materialistically motivated and would rather follow the latest fashion or technology trends compared to sitting in a church and learning about God.
People are now less spiritual and rather go looking for fun, partying and shopping. Another contributing factor is that the younger generation are now more tech savvy which has lead them to reject traditions.
This has been an interesting article to read, thank you Rinpoche for sharing.
Yes America is becoming less religious. This has to do with people becoming more educated on how the world actually operates and the general dissatisfaction that some religions persecute their own followers. We have emerged from the Middle Ages, and though people may not attend churches persay some people still believe in their religion. I think with religions they need to adapt with the times and the people, sure some teachings remain the same but others need to go. The inability to change is accelerating the decline. People are free independent thinkers, and having some organization condone that creates a lot of tension and dissatisfaction. People are not the same as they once were hundred, two hundred years ago or more. We simply can’t believe something, stick with that without investigating the truth behind it. The majority of religions have blind followers elsewhere in the world. People in America question, and that leads to a healthier understanding. Simply believing something without questioning it or investigating is not helpful to spiritual development, and having some relgions give answers that end in open ended questions without a logical/reasonable explination is unacceptable in this day and age. If religions wish to survive in places like America then they need to adapt, because their is still lots of wiggle room for that. The core teachings remain intact but some outward manifestations need to change.
Through the information that is being shared with us by Rinpoche, it shows that these day, the younger generation is not spiritual anymore. They are just people that are looking out at fun and parties.
I find this very true as when I speak to my peers at times, they give me this feeling that they are not interested at anything that is spiritual. What they are interested in is only the latest trends, who is in and who is not, what is going on in the entertainment industry. Even to see how the world is slowly being destroyed to us, they are not able to see that as they feel that what they focus on is more important compared to what is happening in the world. The saddest thing is that they actually do not care how they will make an impact in the world even if their acts are destroying their surroundings.
However, even though that this is the case for those that are aged 18-30 have thinking like that, but we see more and more children these days speaking up to the principles that they believe in. For an example of such believes includes to not kill other beings as their food. Once they know that the food on their plates are animals they cry and say that they will not consume anything that involves killing of animals. It is just sweet to see that the new young generation have a chance to speak up and be respected for their believes. Additionally, they are able to think in the manner they have voiced their thoughts.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this news with us. As the research show the new generation is less religious is a very true because if we look at the moral ethnic of the newer generation is getting worst otherwise why have so many crime that happen in the recent year mostly involve teenager that age as young as 13 years old, it is due to most family now the parents are not religious and most of these parent are very busy working parents that they have neglected their well being of their children.
Acccording to some experts, youngsters aged between 18 – 30 who grow up in an digitalised era filled with information, and raised up by Babyboomers parents, one of whose characteristics is rejection of traditional values and emphasizing to think for themselves instead by following whatever have been given or saying by the church. Thus they tend to checking on the conventional ideas of life including religious/spirtual path.
For this generation, they are said to be the generation being let down quite a lot by institutions thus they tend to have lack of trust in government, mass media and church. With more information coming their way – there will be pro and cons with so much information, one might getting more confused or getting more “smart” in their decision making or thinking process. However the younger generation who are armed with more information tend to make comparison, to check and think by themselves; compared to their previous generation who are more “obedient” and follow the old way. I agree with Rinpoche that there are those when they are ynable to understand some part of the religion, they tend to have doubt or reject all, and this is not limited to America, it happens in here and otehr parts of the world as well.
My thinking is going to church weekly doesn’t mean you are more religious, or you are a good follower of the God by applying the teachings in daily life. Just like any other religion, gping to temple or reciting some mantra, doing some rituals doesn’t equal to you are a more spiritual person or good follower of particular religion. However I find this research interesting, if it can link to the possible reasons link to the decline of people beleive in God or going to church and further survey about the values of American – are they more spiritual, more kind..even they are less frequent in going to church.. that would be more interesting.
Dear Rinpoche,
Thank you for sharing this interesting research article.
For all that America is known for (be it financial might, people power, or military might), the United States has it all.
As far as spirituality is concerned, I find that this data is not surprising. To me, this could be due to reasons such as the continuous emphasis on “ME” attitude, the social structure system where almost everyone demands proof or evidence for almost all matters, and the continuous pursuit of material gains, have mostly eroded the spiritual development of the younger generation in America.
The younger age group (no gender differences), i.e., groups between 18 to 40 year olds, are gradually but surely moving onto spiritual decline.
I think that another major reason why this gradual decline in spirituality is the emphasis the country’s leadership is placing on. Almost everyday, we hear the US Senate or President talking about the economy or political situation –> emphasizing very heavily on the secular matters rather than showing example or leadership demonstration to move onto spiritual development.
I personally think that America will slowly get “sucked” into secular ways and that their society will very gradually decline and one day, America may not be spiritual. I sincerely hope that this day will not happen.
Thank you
Lum Kok Luen
I am not surprised that faith-based religions are on the decline. The most significant difference between now and say a century ago is the level education and the percentage of educated people in the world.
Basically, education became common and information more accessible. And so people began to think for themselves and logic and common sense started to replace faith. That is not to say that faith is no longer relevant but more so that religion has not been able to [directly] respond to modern day issues and thinking thereby creating a vacuity between faith and the need to respond to today’s problems.
It was also more common for society’s influencers to be engaged in religion in the past and much less now.
I believe this to be true for theistic religions. I do not have stats for the increase or decrease in the the Buddhist faith but I would imagine that more people are attracted to Buddhism which teaches a philosophy that returns control over a person’s destiny to himself or herself. Buddhism is also more logic-based and this probably appeals more to a society that likes to be involved in a solution rather than wait for the mercy of a ‘god’.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing the article about the religion is dying out in most of the developed countries.
With the advancement of technology, people tend to have more time by getting to a place faster through airplanes or bullet train, having on-line shopping at home without much hassles and easily paying the bills on internet banking or through other web services. Instead of saving more time to balance up our lives with other activities such as engaging in spirituality or even spending more time in one’s religion, most of us tend to be pulled away by infotainment and entertainment which fill up the entire of our time, our energy as well as occupying our mind most of the time. The current technology has given us a perception that we are in control of many things in our life where religion is something not necessary or not being required at all because the end results of one’s religion practice cannot be recognized or realized by our fixated and deluded minds. I sincerely pray and hope that most of the people can go back to the basic human nature from the good old days where we emphasize more on the inner positive qualities that radiate out with positive actions and good motivation through one’s religion.
At this point of time, I sincerely want to thank Rinpoche for giving us the Dharma on this blessed blog, which benefit many people all the time. May the Dharma continue to grow and reach out to many sentient beings.
With folded hands,
kin hoe
I have no doubt that religion is dying out in America and elsewhere, especially in the developed world.
I feel this is driven by a few factors but not exclusively. Firstly, the developed world is more materialistic. Among the characters of a materialistic society are quick fixes and physical gratification that are contrary to spiritualism/religion. Instant gratification is the name of the game.
Second, empirical science that has given all of our world’s modern conveniences also demands “proof” for everything. Since, spirituality cannot be proven in the empirical sense, this leads to the decline in the belief in religion.
Also, modern education are driven by the objectives of achieving secular skills like science, technology, the arts and sociology which does not support theological knowledge.
Lastly, since everyone is some busy in a modern society, who has the time??
This is what I think are the reasons that religion is dying out.
It’s not just the Western World, but the ‘malaise’ of a lost of faith and confidence in religion is creeping into every society.
In the past, there were less distractions. People found an outlet for happiness in simple pleasures. The family unit was cohesive.Religion was part of their way of life. Going to church on Sundays, saying prayers as a family before a meal, and even saying daily prayers were all acceptable – as a communion with the Divine.
However, as materialism kicked in, and scientific and technological advance has enhanced the stuff that entertainment and games are made of, people have become more and more easily discontented, and their wants and needs for material acquisitions and for fun , excitement and entertainment have become insatiable.
Spirituality and religion are now taking a back seat. Family units have disintegrated and people no longer just automatically or blindly follow in the footsteps of their parents and elders in regard to belief in religion or God . What they don’t understand or grasp, they discard.
Hence, I read with great excitement, and avidly follow news, on the endeavours of HH Dalai Lama with world-renowned social scientists and psychologists on a field which is called the Science of the Mind or Mind-Science.
Buddhism has long been engaged in this deep and profound study of the mind to understand it and , having understood it, to train it to attain a state of Inner Peace, which enables it to be an ‘oasis’ of calm in a turbulent sea of chaos – that is our existence in samsara. We have a road map -Lord Buddha’s teachings, and we have spiritual guides who have achieved this state of peace or ultimate happiness, and guides us on the path to achieve it.
Very importantly, the Dalai Lama has corroborated with psychologists and social scientists to come out with specific Maps of Emotions. There are also studies and researches on topics with new labels like “Emotional Intelligence”(Daniel Goleman) , which has to do with the importance of recognizing our emotions , understanding emotions -other people’s emotions and our own, and directing them from being disruptive towards more positive outcomes to benefit all.
All in all, Buddhist Psychology and Study of the Nature of Mind to help us understand our Mind and its workings, hold the key to our control of our mind and our directing it on the path of transformation to achieve ultimate peace and happiness. Hence spirituality in this age of many mental diseases and problems, should logically be following this direction too.
Thank you Rinpoche for the article.
Mankind created religions so their lives can have meaning. Unfortunately, religions or rather the blind faith to it may have caused more problems, such as religious wars and prejudices against people from different religions. Religions are supposed to be used as a way of life to reach higher spiritual level.
Perhaps, this phenomenon is a new beginning that people need, that is taking religions not as traditions passed down by elders, but rather as a way of life that is meaningful to them personally.
Val
I guess the decline would be applicable for all religion as the world become more and more materialised. More focus is put into gaining material possession and satisfying the need for excitement as boredom sets in fairly easily. People move on to the next interesting expecting satisfaction to be fulfilled but in reality it doesn’t. As such much time will be spent on this seeking of the illusive happiness in achievement of purchase, career, family, travel, games, etc. As the younger generations grow, watching their parents spend the time in material or career pursuit, they too emulate and with each succeeding generations, less interest in religion will occur. Even if they did attend, less time will be spent on actually studying the teachings. Without proper understanding the people won’t develop the faith and soon will start to be disenchanted until they doubt God’s existence.
At the same time, science has become a very much integral part the society today. Everything is needed to be proven by science, even the whole ghost-hunting thing are using gadgets invented to proof their existence. Only thing is science have not reached the stage of proving the existence of god unless through miracles and how often would that happen to create that faith in God? Even human existence are accorded to the Darwin theory of evolution.
Nowadays, Oh my God is used as an expression of joy, frustration, anger, etc whereas in yonder years, it was a commune with God. Unless the society start to change their value to a more spiritual one, this decline will surely continue. Thank you Rinpoche for this nugget of information.