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Church attendance can be loosely correlated with atheism, (I say loosely because there are certainly those of faith who do not attend church), but here is a state report from a few years ago. Note that some of the lowest church attendance is in New England.
Problem is, once it is re-posted it becomes new again. For example, I didn't even notice it was old until after I posted. If you click on "last page" there is no indication of how old it is or how long it was "dormant". (Although all that can be accessed if you look hard enough for it!)
Problem is, once it is re-posted it becomes new again. For example, I didn't even notice it was old until after I posted. If you click on "last page" there is no indication of how old it is or how long it was "dormant". (Although all that can be accessed if you look hard enough for it!)
Well, yeah that's true...but the first person to respond to this thread after it was dormant for 18 months should have been able to catch on that it wasn't active.
Church attendance can be loosely correlated with atheism, (I say loosely because there are certainly those of faith who do not attend church), but here is a state report from a few years ago. Note that some of the lowest church attendance is in New England.
The sex-abuse-scandal in the Catholic Church hit New England harder than much of the country. On the Protestant side New England Protestantism tended to be "mainline" and most of Mainline Protestantism is in severe decline. Lutheranism seems to be the only mainline denomination to retain a healthy majority of its members, Pew Research, but it is much more associated to the Midwest than New England.
The reason for the decline of Mainline Protestants is a matter of fairly robust discussion and I'm not sure what the main ideas on it are right now. In some cases mainline churches seem to have been more damaged by debates over homosexuality and abortion than more conservative churches who tend to clearly just say "no" to both. Or maybe also hurt worse than self-defined liberal churches who clearly stated a "yes" on both from the outset. The uncertainty and in-fighting maybe being the issue. Mainline churches are also traditionally less about "outreach" and trying to bring back lapsed members. New England Protestantism has become particularly known for keeping religion more private and non-evangelical.
When it comes to mainline churches I think membership has been hurt on both extremes. Some Catholics have drifted out of the church over their unwillingness to follow its moral teachings. On the other end of the spectrum, mainline protestant churches have drifted so heavily towards social liberalism and theological relativism they pretty much dissolved themsleves into the liberal secular background. The same could be said about the most liberal sectors within the Catholic Church.
When it comes to mainline churches I think membership has been hurt on both extremes. Some Catholics have drifted out of the church over their unwillingness to follow its moral teachings. On the other end of the spectrum, mainline protestant churches have drifted so heavily towards social liberalism and theological relativism they pretty much dissolved themselves into the liberal secular background. The same could be said about the most liberal sectors within the Catholic Church.
I was tempted to say that myself, but feared it would come out wrong.
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