The Unrivaled Community
For the past several months I’ve been reading opinion columnist Jessica Grose on why people are leaving religious institutions, be they churches, synagogues or mosques. She has written a number of articles on this subject, and her research into why people are turning away from houses of worship has stirred a variety of feelings within me, mostly grief, since I spent the greater part of my life immersed in a religious institution that I deeply love.
Polls have shown that over the past twenty years or so significant numbers of people have dropped out of church and other religious institutions. Moreover, people who profess to be atheists, agnostics or nones—those with no religious affiliation—have risen dramatically in our country. Grose writes that the two most frequent reasons given for why people leave places of worship are the institutions’ involvement in partisan politics and the rapid secularization of our country. Interestingly, the so-called dechurching of America has affected all denominations, whether conservative or more progressive.
Illustration Credit: New York Times
While every demographic group has grown less religious over the past 25 years, one group in particular surprised me: the less educated. Those without college background are abandoning church as rapidly as other groups.
According to Grose’s research, people who have not attended college often feel that the church caters to the more affluent and educated class. Since these people usually have higher incomes, and can contribute more to the church coffers, they are more highly valued than members without college degrees.
To support her claim, Grose cites a number of studies that show how religious institutions work better for people who fit into a particular model of American life—those with college pedigrees, those who live in a nuclear family (father, mother, children), those who are straight, and those who are gainfully employed. Religious life in America apparently targets the more prosperous and traditionally recognized members of society.
In their best-selling book, The Great Dechurching, authors Jim Davis and Michael Graham conclude that America’s churches “are not truly hospitable to the less fortunate . . .” They go on to write that the church favors a certain segment of the population and is less open to people who struggle with life, either financially, psychologically or socially.
I find these studies deeply troubling. Contrasted to Jesus, who reached out to the sick, the culturally unacceptable, and people on the margins, today’s church too often seems to care more for the well and well-connected. No wonder churches are hemorrhaging members—many churches have simply forgotten or ignored their marching orders. In both the Old and New Testaments, the purpose of a community of faith was to be a reflection of God’s grace and love. All social strata were to be welcomed, especially the weaker members of society, and no one was to be relegated to second-class status.
Over 7,000 people from all across America and from various religious backgrounds responded to Jessica Grose’s opinion pieces in the New York Times. Many of their stories on why they left the church are heart-wrenching. Some lost their confidence in a God who mattered after losing a loved one or suffering through catastrophic illness. Others moved away from church because the church became too rigid on certain social issues. Still others became disenchanted with religion when the church became involved in partisan politics. Some left because they were pulled away by the secular world.
While the reasons vary on why people have abandoned their places of worship, one aspect about religious institutions is universally missed—community. People who have left church miss the social interaction with other people, the meaningful relationships with those whom they shared common traditions that went back centuries, if not millennia, and the comfort and solace they experienced during times of grief or illness. These characteristics, so prevalent in places of worship, cannot be replaced by any other institution, and those who left their houses of worship lamented their loss.
The world needs healthy religious institutions today more than ever, not to cram doctrine down people’s throats or push political agendas, but to provide an alternative to a materialistic, consumeristic culture that is stealing our humanity away from us. The world needs the church because it is the one place where people can go and weep together, pray together, and seek God together. It is the one place where people from all walks of life can be accepted and loved, regardless of how far they have strayed from God’s path. It is the one place where social status falls by the wayside, and focus on God and not ourselves connects us to each other.
When Jesus called his first little band of followers, he invited people who were considered the riffraff of society—social outcasts, the poor, the emotionally disturbed, and the sick—the people who had little to offer in the way of prestige or wealth or influence. Jesus invited sinful and fallen people to join him, to learn of his ways, and experience the incomprehensible love of God. Jesus established a community that in the eyes of the rich, powerful, and religiously orthodox seemingly had little to offer—except unconditional love for one another. Only that kind of love has the power to reshape our culture and transform our lives. And it can only be found in a community of faith.
