Friday, July 31, 2026
Tuesday, September 3, 2024
Millions leave organized religion, weak, believe-what-you-want communities blow up, end up offering refuge to DOZENS lol
As millions leave organized religion, spiritual and secular communities offer refuge
Vinings Lake Church ― Mableton, Georgia:
When Deese invited a member of the Muslim faith to address the congregation about Islamophobia, people walked out. Others did the same when he brought in a blacksmith to make art from melted-down reclaimed firearms acquired from the local sheriff’s office.
But the real exodus, Deese said, took place when he attempted to address the topic of Christian nationalism.
“Bottom line is, if you need to know how to shrink a church, I’m your guy,” Deese said wryly.
A congregation of 800 plummeted to 100. The budget shrunk by $1 million. Some staff members had to be released.
Awakenings – Houston:
The community has about 40 core members, and while the Bible is the text most often referenced, Awakenings attracts people of all faith traditions, Norman said.
Aldea Spiritual Community – Tucson, Arizona:
A typical Sunday gathering features talk, music and meditation and draws half of the community’s membership of about 150, nearly all of whom are people who have left traditional organized religion, Haber said. [150/2 = 75 lol]
Heartway Church – Davie, Florida:
“We lost a lot of people in the process,” Prada said, blaming much of that on his own zeal, immaturity and antagonistic approach to the faith he was shedding. “I felt like it was my duty to prove that way of Christianity was wrong and this one was right. Even now, a lot of people can’t go where we continue to go, and they fall by the wayside.” ...
Attendance averages between 120 and 140 on any given Sunday, he said – a showing he considers respectable given the church’s location in conservative South Florida. It includes individuals who consider themselves spiritual but not religious as well as nones, those who don’t affiliate with any particular religion.
C3 Spiritual Community – Grand Haven, Michigan:
Sunday gatherings average around 90 attendees and are built around a topic presented by a group or guest teacher bookended by community discussions.
The community began as a Reformed Church in America, part of a network of mainline Reformed Protestant churches. Its separation from the RCA began in the 1990s after the church let a gay organization conduct meetings in a church office.
As the community went through its theological transformation – the name C3 refers to its former identity as Christ Community Church – many members fell by the wayside; it now meets at a community center but has seen recent growth among younger generations, executive director Shannon McMaster said.
Tuesday, July 30, 2024
Wednesday, September 6, 2023
Wednesday, May 24, 2023
The rise of The Nones will plateau because . . .
Atheists Just Don't Have Many Kids:
. . . look at the change in the atheist/agnostic share of the adult population in recent years. In 2013, it was 10%. In 2016, it was 12%. In November of 2022, it was still 12%. ... It’s harder for a “religion” to grow if it has to achieve that growth largely through conversion.
Monday, August 9, 2021
When it comes to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy by religion, nones are the most hesitant, not Evangelicals
In fact, I find that those without any religious affiliation were the least likely to have received at least one dose of any COVID-19 vaccine. ... By May, 70% of non-evangelical Protestants had gotten at least one dose. Sixty-two percent of both evangelical Protestants and Catholics reported the same. However, it was the “nones” (no religious affiliation) who were lagging farther behind. By May 11, only 47% of nones had reported receiving at least one dose.
One can observe the hesitancy phenomenon among the young (who are the majority of the nones) without screening for religion from the CDC data by comparing the percent 18-49 who get flu vaccination on average with the percent getting full COVID-19 vaccination. On average over the last ten years 32.25% of those aged 18-49 get flu vaccines every year compared to just 25.48% getting full COVID-19 vaccination through May 22 (10.047 million aged 18-29 + 25.177 million aged 30-49 = 35.224 million out of 138.216 million).
People aged 50-64 get full COVID-19 vaccination at almost the same rate they get flu vaccine on average, and those aged 65+ get full COVID-19 vaccination at a much higher rate than flu vax, which one would expect given that it kills that population in the highest numbers, and that the media whips up the hysteria about it 24/7 despite the fact that in the first year of the outbreak barely 3% of confirmed cases across all age groups were ever hospitalized and only 1.8% of confirmed cases died.
We shouldn't blame young people for not getting vaccinated, however, given that myocarditis among the young is a known side-effect of COVID-19 vaccination. Word gets around.
It's one of the few instances where the young may be wiser than their elders.










