Catholics, Protestants leave pews in search of new faith
Adelle M. Banks/Religion News Service
Issue date: 5/10/09 Section: Divine Intervention
WASHINGTON -- Think former parishioners have left the pews because of sex scandals? Or because they no longer believe in God?
While some have departed for those reasons, the vast majority of former Catholics and former Protestants who are now unaffiliated with any faith have "just gradually drifted away," the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life reported last week.
The new analysis, called "Faith in Flux: Changes in Religious Affiliation in the U.S.," found that 71 percent of both former Catholics and former Protestants said their decision to leave happened over time, unprompted by any one-time event.
"For many people, religious change is not a decision that's reached at a particular point in time after careful deliberation of the pros and cons," said Greg Smith, research fellow at the Washington-based Pew Forum.
The new study is a follow-up to a wide-ranging Pew study of 35,000 Americans last year. The earlier study found, among other things, that 44 percent of Americans had moved away from the faith of their childhood, and one in 10 Americans are former Catholics. The new study tried to tease out the reasons behind those changes.
When former Catholics were asked specifically about clergy sex-abuse scandals, just 27 percent of those who are now unaffiliated, and 21 percent of Protestant converts, said it was an important reason for leaving the church. When asked an open-ended question, less than 3 percent of former Catholics cited pedophilia scandals as the main reason they left the church.
"The poster child of former Catholics is a disaffected teenager," said Catholic researcher Mark Gray, not a parade of angry parishioners storming out over sex abuse or teachings with which they disagree. "This is about youth coming of age and not feeling connected to their faith."
Catholic leaders have tried to respond, said Gray, of Georgetown University's Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, with initiatives like "Theology on Tap" sessions for 20-somethings at bars and the Vatican's YouTube channel.
While some have departed for those reasons, the vast majority of former Catholics and former Protestants who are now unaffiliated with any faith have "just gradually drifted away," the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life reported last week.
The new analysis, called "Faith in Flux: Changes in Religious Affiliation in the U.S.," found that 71 percent of both former Catholics and former Protestants said their decision to leave happened over time, unprompted by any one-time event.
"For many people, religious change is not a decision that's reached at a particular point in time after careful deliberation of the pros and cons," said Greg Smith, research fellow at the Washington-based Pew Forum.
The new study is a follow-up to a wide-ranging Pew study of 35,000 Americans last year. The earlier study found, among other things, that 44 percent of Americans had moved away from the faith of their childhood, and one in 10 Americans are former Catholics. The new study tried to tease out the reasons behind those changes.
When former Catholics were asked specifically about clergy sex-abuse scandals, just 27 percent of those who are now unaffiliated, and 21 percent of Protestant converts, said it was an important reason for leaving the church. When asked an open-ended question, less than 3 percent of former Catholics cited pedophilia scandals as the main reason they left the church.
"The poster child of former Catholics is a disaffected teenager," said Catholic researcher Mark Gray, not a parade of angry parishioners storming out over sex abuse or teachings with which they disagree. "This is about youth coming of age and not feeling connected to their faith."
Catholic leaders have tried to respond, said Gray, of Georgetown University's Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, with initiatives like "Theology on Tap" sessions for 20-somethings at bars and the Vatican's YouTube channel.
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