National religion shift not affecting GCSU

     So far in the primary elections, Americans are looking for change in all aspects of their lives, including religion. Almost half of Americans have realigned themselves with another religious denomination or none at all, according to a study recently released by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.
     The largest shift has been away from Protestant groups; their population dropped from almost 75 percent to 51 percent with a steady decline since 1992.
     “The American religious economy is like a marketplace – very dynamic, very competitive,” Luis Lugo, director of the Pew Forum said to CNN. “Everyone is losing, everyone is gaining.    There are net winners and losers, but no one can stand still. Those groups that are losing significant numbers have to recoup them to stay alive.”
     The study goes on to say that a quarter of adults from 18 to 29 claim to have no religious affiliation. Bill Baker, director of the GCSU Wesley Foundation, disagrees with the studies findings.
     “I have not seen that trend reflected in the student population at GCSU,” Baker said. “Since I arrived in 1999, I have seen participation in all Christian campus ministries increase, which may be surprising considering the liberal arts mission of the University and the stereotype generally associated with that.”
     One Protestant group maintaining the same net number of attendees is the Evangelical sect. The Evangelicals seem to be tailoring their ministries to the youth by offering a more intimate setting of small groups inside the larger, professor Stephen Prothero, chairman of the religion department at Boston University, said to The New York Times.
     Marian Beasley, a senior psychology major, suggested the need to be a part of a group as a reason to join organizations such as these.
     “Among adults, college students are most susceptible to a cult-like religion; they are more likely to make the choice to join a cult,” Beasley said. “Everyone is looking for a cause; everyone is looking to join something. This is the age of being dramatic, and at this university, you are more likely to join a religious cult.”
     Another group seeing a change in their population is Catholics. Although remaining steady at 25 percent of the population, the numbers are no longer from native born Americans; they are from the growing Hispanic population.    Half of Catholic adults under 30 are Hispanic, the study said.
     There are many other trends to notice with this study. While Protestants and Catholics are losing their followers as they enter adulthood, Hindus retain nearly 84 percent of their youth. Jehovah’s Witnesses are the fastest growing religion, although their retention rate is low. Half of American Buddhists are white, and Jews account for 1.7 percent of the population.
     “While some Christian groups are certainly in decline, many more are experiencing exponential growth,” Baker said. “I think this can partially be explained by those groups abandoning their core beliefs in exchange for more ‘culturally relevant’ ones. People are fed up with many church organizations and organized religion in general. Who can blame them? Many of these groups are more committed to preserving the influence, finances and membership numbers of the organization more than the message and mission that built it.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Mar 7 2008. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry