Cephus
DP Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2007
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Do all of the 49 percent attend church weekly? Or is it a cultural label?
In New Zealand church attendance has never been particularly high, with the 1881 census indicating approximately 20% of the population attended church. In 1911 active membership in the Anglican and Catholic churches was about 12%. As they accounted for slightly more than half of church affiliation at that time it would indicate that attendance was still at around 20% for all churches combined. By the 1960s it was probably still at a similar level, but by the end of the century had declined to about 10%. The United States has presented a somewhat different picture with an increase in attendance from about 40% in 1860 to 58% in 1958. However by 1972 this had declined to about 40% a figure which has since remained relatively stable. What is common across all western countries though is that since the middle of the 1960s the mainline Protestant denominations have seen significant declines in numbers involved.
Religion in a Postaquarian Age | Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand
In fact, I've started seeing churches go out of business relatively frequently of late. A couple of years ago, I was looking for some local real estate and found four churches in my small town alone that went bankrupt and closed the doors in just the month or so I was looking. These places can't keep butts in the pews. Religion is dying a sad and pathetic death and that's a good thing.