US religious marketplace is volatile

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The U.S. religious marketplace is extremely volatile, with nearly half of American adults leaving the faith tradition of their upbringing to either switch allegiances or abandon religious affiliation altogether.

"The American religious economy is like a marketplace — very dynamic, very competitive," said Luis Lugo, director of the Pew Forum. "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 vibrant."

More than one-quarter of American adults have left the faith of their childhood for another religion or no religion at all, the survey found. Factoring in moves from one stream or denomination of Protestantism to another, the number rises to 44 percent.

The Roman Catholic Church has lost more members than any faith tradition because of affiliation swapping. While nearly one in three Americans were raised Catholic, fewer than one in four say they're Catholic today. That means roughly 10 percent of all Americans are ex-Catholics. Baptist and Methodist traditions are also showing net losses.

Although evangelical churches strive to win new Christian believers from the "unchurched," most converts to evangelical churches were raised Protestant.

Jews accounted for 1.7 percent of the overall population.

Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life: http://pewforum.org

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"The fact that 40 percent of Americans have switched their religious affiliation since childhood is a sign of health. As A Baptist who believes in soul liberty, absolute freedom of conscience, and the priesthood of every person of faith, I can only be encouraged that so many Americans, experiencing dissatisfaction with the religious tradition into which they were born, would feel the freedom and have the courage to change their personal religious allegiance to one they find more satisfying to their hearts and souls."

Richard Land, President, Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission

Surely, it is a purpose of religion to define good and evil. But religious definitions become affiliations. Strong definitions cannot be flexible. Strong definitions need power and control to keep from being undermined by flexibility. Weak definitions become individual pro-choice anarchries just encouraging an individual to do what seems right. There are always a good number of people comfortable with one or the other.

Is it that if the worship of our youth provided the nurture or control that we found comforting, we continue that tradition? I wander looking for, and often find nurture, but there is either too much control or too little substance hiding behind the nurture.

The early Desert Fathers in the Church as well as later monastics, were John the Baptst types that went into the wilderness alone to find God. Churches and synagogues seem both good and evil. They were in Jesus' times and they probably are in ours. They can be busy and confusing places where the answers to our questions must be short and succinct, but not always complete.

I feel like someone walking alone on a seashore. On one side is a deep, dark, endless unknown. On the other side are affiliations. Some with strong, high walls which one could never escape, and others with crumbling walls that provide little protection from an evil attack. Sometimes I am buffeted by strong winds and cold rains that seem endless. But at other times, I discover the most exquistie seashell or witness a glorious sunset or a peaceful, calm moon rising, and hope that I am on the right path.