{"id":1462,"date":"2013-04-22T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-04-22T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/04\/is-religion-really-declining-in-america.html"},"modified":"2013-04-22T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-04-22T08:00:00","slug":"is-religion-really-declining-in-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/04\/is-religion-really-declining-in-america.html","title":{"rendered":"Is Religion Really Declining in America?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>Everyone\u2019s talking about a recent Pew survey allegedly showing that nineteen percent of Americans say \u201cnone\u201d when asked about their religious affiliation.\u00a0\u00a0As a result, one news outlet declared that \u201creligion is declining\u201d in America. Another (headline) stated that the survey shows \u201cunbelief\u201d is growing. I question the interpretations of the survey (as I question those of most surveys\u2014especially about religion).<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There can be little doubt that \u201creligious affiliation\u201d with specific, nameable religious organizations is declining. We are in a trend away from highly visible, structured denominations. Many church goers do not know what \u201creligion\u201d their church is. In part that\u2019s because of confusion about the word \u201creligion.\u201d When confronted with the term, many people immediately imagine a specific denomination\u2014\u201cCatholic,\u201d \u201cOrthodox,\u201d \u201cLutheran,\u201d \u201cEpiscopal,\u201d etc. If they attend a church without such a highly visible denominational affiliation, as many do, they may answer \u201cnone\u201d to a question about their \u201creligious affiliation.\u201d They\u00a0mean<\/em>\u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t belong to any specific denomination.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I was raised with much confusion about religious terms and labels. Our little denomination was \u201cnot a denomination but a movement.\u201d Only much later did I come to realize that we\u00a0were<\/em>\u00a0a denomination. \u201cDenomination\u201d was sort of a bad word.\u00a0Other\u00a0<\/em>people belonged to denominations and had \u201creligious affiliation;\u201d we had fellowship energized by the Holy Spirit.<\/span><\/div>\n
Read the rest here<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Everyone\u2019s talking about a recent Pew survey allegedly showing that nineteen percent of Americans say \u201cnone\u201d when asked about their religious affiliation.\u00a0\u00a0As a result, one news outlet declared that \u201creligion is declining\u201d in America. Another (headline) stated that the survey shows \u201cunbelief\u201d is growing. I question the interpretations of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2251,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nIs Religion Really Declining in America?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"             Everyone\u2019s talking about a recent Pew survey allegedly showing that nineteen percent of Americans say\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/04\/is-religion-really-declining-in-america.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is Religion Really Declining in America?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"             Everyone\u2019s talking about a recent Pew survey allegedly showing that nineteen percent of Americans say\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/04\/is-religion-really-declining-in-america.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-04-22T08:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andre E. Johnson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Andre E. Johnson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/04\/is-religion-really-declining-in-america.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/04\/is-religion-really-declining-in-america.html\",\"name\":\"Is Religion Really Declining in America?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-04-22T08:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-04-22T08:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/892ad446aed3fd242a430151516a83fc\"},\"description\":\"             Everyone\u2019s talking about a recent Pew survey allegedly showing that nineteen percent of Americans say\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/04\/is-religion-really-declining-in-america.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/04\/is-religion-really-declining-in-america.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/04\/is-religion-really-declining-in-america.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Is Religion Really Declining in America?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/\",\"name\":\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/892ad446aed3fd242a430151516a83fc\",\"name\":\"Andre E. Johnson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8740442d3e2978d7a9dd204585be3ed0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8740442d3e2978d7a9dd204585be3ed0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Andre E. Johnson\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/author\/ajohnson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Is Religion Really Declining in America?","description":"             Everyone\u2019s talking about a recent Pew survey allegedly showing that nineteen percent of Americans say","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/04\/is-religion-really-declining-in-america.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Is Religion Really Declining in America?","og_description":"             Everyone\u2019s talking about a recent Pew survey allegedly showing that nineteen percent of Americans say","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/04\/is-religion-really-declining-in-america.html","og_site_name":"Rhetoric Race and Religion","article_published_time":"2013-04-22T08:00:00+00:00","author":"Andre E. Johnson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Andre E. Johnson","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/04\/is-religion-really-declining-in-america.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/04\/is-religion-really-declining-in-america.html","name":"Is Religion Really Declining in America?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-04-22T08:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2013-04-22T08:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/892ad446aed3fd242a430151516a83fc"},"description":"             Everyone\u2019s talking about a recent Pew survey allegedly showing that nineteen percent of Americans say","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/04\/is-religion-really-declining-in-america.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/04\/is-religion-really-declining-in-america.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/04\/is-religion-really-declining-in-america.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Is Religion Really Declining in America?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/","name":"Rhetoric Race and Religion","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/892ad446aed3fd242a430151516a83fc","name":"Andre E. Johnson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8740442d3e2978d7a9dd204585be3ed0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8740442d3e2978d7a9dd204585be3ed0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Andre E. Johnson"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/author\/ajohnson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2251"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1462\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}