Catholics, Protestants leave pews in search of new faith
Adelle M. Banks/Religion News Service
Issue date: 5/10/09 Section: Divine Intervention
For people who changed affiliations within Protestantism, the key reasons for departing their childhood religion are finding a religion they liked better (58 percent) or unmet spiritual needs (51 percent).
Michael Lindsay, a sociologist of religion at Rice University, said the findings show that people are making individualized decisions about their faith and are not driven by feelings of betrayal over a pastor's scandal, for example, or how their kids were treated in the church nursery.
"Both among Catholics and Protestants ... it's more about sort of personal decision-making as opposed to discontent with somebody else," he said.
Less than half of people who are now unaffiliated said that the reason for their withdrawal from faith was because they "just do not believe in God" or most religious teachings. Forty-two percent of former Catholics felt this way, as did 39 percent of former Protestants.
An even smaller percentage of former Catholics and Protestants - 32 percent - said "modern science proves religion is superstition" and about a quarter of them cited that as an important reason for their disaffiliation.
"I was struck in these data by the degree to which the reasons that people give for having changed religions are every bit as diverse as the religious landscape itself," said Smith. "You cannot point to a single reason."
For those who are now unaffiliated, though, three-quarters saw religious people as hypocritical, judgmental and insincere; slightly more than 50 percent cited that image as an important reason why they are no longer affiliated with a faith.
But one in three of the unaffiliated appear open to return to a faith in the future, saying they "just have not yet found the right religion for them."
Among ex-Catholics, 65 percent who are now unaffiliated said they "stopped believing" in church teaching," along with 50 percent of those who became Protestants. Asked about the Catholic Church's specific teachings on abortion and homosexuality, 56 percent of former Catholics who are now unaffiliated said it was an important reason for their departure, compared to 23 percent of former Catholics who are now Protestant.
Experts said the findings - which also indicated that many people change faith more than once in their lifetimes - may give hope, or at least guidance, to religious leaders, who often don't learn the specific reasons why worshippers leave their faith.
"It suggests there is a market out there," said Lindsay. "If you lose somebody, it doesn't necessarily mean you lose them for the rest of your career. If we're thinking of it like a religious marketplace, you might lose the customer for a year, but you might bring them back with a new product line."
Michael Lindsay, a sociologist of religion at Rice University, said the findings show that people are making individualized decisions about their faith and are not driven by feelings of betrayal over a pastor's scandal, for example, or how their kids were treated in the church nursery.
"Both among Catholics and Protestants ... it's more about sort of personal decision-making as opposed to discontent with somebody else," he said.
Less than half of people who are now unaffiliated said that the reason for their withdrawal from faith was because they "just do not believe in God" or most religious teachings. Forty-two percent of former Catholics felt this way, as did 39 percent of former Protestants.
An even smaller percentage of former Catholics and Protestants - 32 percent - said "modern science proves religion is superstition" and about a quarter of them cited that as an important reason for their disaffiliation.
"I was struck in these data by the degree to which the reasons that people give for having changed religions are every bit as diverse as the religious landscape itself," said Smith. "You cannot point to a single reason."
For those who are now unaffiliated, though, three-quarters saw religious people as hypocritical, judgmental and insincere; slightly more than 50 percent cited that image as an important reason why they are no longer affiliated with a faith.
But one in three of the unaffiliated appear open to return to a faith in the future, saying they "just have not yet found the right religion for them."
Among ex-Catholics, 65 percent who are now unaffiliated said they "stopped believing" in church teaching," along with 50 percent of those who became Protestants. Asked about the Catholic Church's specific teachings on abortion and homosexuality, 56 percent of former Catholics who are now unaffiliated said it was an important reason for their departure, compared to 23 percent of former Catholics who are now Protestant.
Experts said the findings - which also indicated that many people change faith more than once in their lifetimes - may give hope, or at least guidance, to religious leaders, who often don't learn the specific reasons why worshippers leave their faith.
"It suggests there is a market out there," said Lindsay. "If you lose somebody, it doesn't necessarily mean you lose them for the rest of your career. If we're thinking of it like a religious marketplace, you might lose the customer for a year, but you might bring them back with a new product line."
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