"Nothing" matters: 12.1% say their religious identity is "nothing in particular," outranking every denomination and tradition except Catholics (23.9%) and all groups of Baptists (17.2%).[...] Nearly 20% of all men and 13% of all women say they are unaffiliated. So are 25% of adults under age 30.[...] All the major Christian denominations are losing numbers fast. Only non-denominational Christian churches showed growth outpacing losses. "Two in three people who say they grew up as Jehovah's Witnesses have left the faith. Any one of 10 people you meet is a former Catholic," Lugo says.[...] "It will become increasingly difficult to find people who share a love for a distinct doctrine. [...] Green says he can already foresee implications in the public square as "firm beliefs and firm organizations are increasingly a thing of the past. In political life, when candidates go out to mobilize voters, they face a much more complicated picture.[...] Lugo predicts that as world religions such as Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism continue to grow in the USA through immigration and conversion, workplaces, schools and eventually the courts will face increasing challenges over religious accommodation.
USAToday, 25. February
"To illustrate this point, one need only look at the biggest gainer in this religious competition - the unaffiliated group. People moving into the unaffiliated category outnumber those moving out of the unaffiliated group by more than a three-to-one margin."
Pew Forum on religion
I was first a little dismayed to see that the numbers still were so low, but what's notable about this survey is how much things are changing, and that the losers in this game are traditional beliefs(catholic decline is only slowed down because of immigration), while the gainers are the unaffiliated.
It is also interesting that it will become much more difficult to use religion in politics, since you only end up gaining some and losing even more.
2 comments:
I am one of those 2 out of 3 Jehovah's Witnesses that left the WatchTower Cult, as have all but two members of our 5 JW generation family.
If interested in discovering the "real Jehovah's Witnesses" as revealed by the American Judicial System:
SUMMARIES OF NEARLY 1000 JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES LAWSUITS & COURT CASES
The following website summarizes 500 U.S. court cases and lawsuits affecting children of Jehovah's Witness Parents, including 350 cases where the JW Parents refused to consent to life-saving blood transfusions for their dying children:
DIVORCE, BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS, AND OTHER LEGAL ISSUES AFFECTING CHILDREN OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES
http://jwdivorces.bravehost.com
The following website summarizes nearly 500 lawsuits filed by Jehovah's Witnesses against their Employers, including JWs hurt on the job and who refused blood transfusions, etc.
EMPLOYMENT ISSUES UNIQUE TO JEHOVAH'S WITNESS EMPLOYEES
http://jwemployees.bravehost.com
Jehovah's Witnesses have largest turnover of recruits,have one of the highest attrition rates of all denominations.
Reports all over the news wires from TIME Magazine-""An even more extreme example of what might be called "masked churn" is the relatively tiny Jehovah's Witnesses, with a turnover rate of about two-thirds.
That means that two-thirds of the people who told Pew they were raised Jehovah's Witnesses no longer are — yet the group attracts roughly the same number of converts. Notes Lugo, "No wonder they have to keep on knocking on doors."
Jehovah's Witnesses claim of increased membership is suspect.
These reports are "SELF-REPORTING" stats tallied by the Watchtower society.They wouldn't cook the books would they?
There actually are now twice as many former Jehovah's Witnesses as there are active ones with thousands leaving every month.Baptisms at assemblies is often mostly family member children who have grown up JW.
Jehovah's Witnesses are LOSING members and are on the decline.Japan has lost over 600 congregations.Witnesses are shrinking in number in many Western countries as of the last few years, as the Internet facilitates the spread of information (much of it critical of the Witnesses).
Jehovah's Witnesses members are cautioned against creating JW-related websites, largely to prevent their members from discovering the history and dirty laundry of this organization on other websites. There are literally hundreds of former members pages in many languages
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Danny Haszard Jehovah's Witness X 33 years
http://www.freeminds.org
Jehovah's Witnesses leaders do not allow dissent they kick out (disfellowship) anyone who is not 'happy'.
Neat trick eh?
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