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{"id":1941,"date":"2015-05-14T08:37:56","date_gmt":"2015-05-14T14:37:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=1941"},"modified":"2016-10-13T07:52:42","modified_gmt":"2016-10-13T13:52:42","slug":"everyones-talking-about-the-pew-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/05\/everyones-talking-about-the-pew-study.html","title":{"rendered":"Everyone’s talking about the Pew Study. . ."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

that is, the recently-released data that shows a substantial drop in the numbers of people identifying as Christians.<\/p>\n

What do you think?<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the study itself, from the Pew site<\/a>. \u00a0And everyone\u2019s got an opinion on this.<\/p>\n

Except me, it seems.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve read claims that the Pew data is bad, that religion is too prescriptive, not prescriptive enough, that the blame is to be laid at the feet of too-easily-divorcing parents, that this is really good news in disguise because the uncommitted Christians are leaving leaving a more solid core, etc. \u00a0The Wonkblog<\/a> looked at the birthrate data to say that agnostics and atheists aren\u2019t reproducing themselves (though the data\u2019s a bit suspect when the group with the highest-besides-the-Mormons birthrate, is identified as \u201cBlack Protestants.\u201d)<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know. \u00a0I feel as if I ought to read some of the dozens of pieces I\u2019m coming across and form some opinions. \u00a0It\u2019s a dramatic drop from 2007 to 2014 \u2014 the percent calling themselves Christian dropped from 78% to 71%, and among millenials, the drops were even more dramatic: \u00a0only 56% called themselves Christian (68% in 2007) and 16% said they were Catholic (was 22% in 2007). \u00a0These are huge changes \u2014 and the growth is in the \u201cunaffiliated\u201d category \u2014 from 25% to 35% for this age group.<\/p>\n

And this is only a 7 year period! \u00a0That is a major cultural shift. \u00a0What do you do with these numbers?<\/p>\n

This was something I was wrestling with before<\/a>, that in our group at church, parents of adult children lament that their kids have abandoned the faith. \u00a0I had said that I don\u2019t think it\u2019s as simple as the pat answer that \u201cwe\u2019re wealthy, so we don\u2019t need religion\u201d \u2014 if anything, the last seven years have been more troubled than the prior decade, so that certainly can\u2019t account for this trend.<\/p>\n

You got any answers?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"