>Those lbo-talkers who have been talking about religion and the Left should
>go to various places of worship--churches, mosques, temples,
>etc.--regularly and see the age of worshippers. Many of them are pretty
>old, especially in the mainline Protestant churches. (That's something many
>pastors are concerned about.)
>
>Yoshie
I suspect that church attendance is down, although comparing survey responses over decades is not necessarily a reliable way to measure change, since, as has been noted, question construction, sample variance, and other changes in methodology make those comparisons questionable.
I also agree that if you go to an urban Catholic, Presbyterian, or other mainline denominational church or Jewish synagogue, those attending will be observed to be disproportionately middle aged and older. If the examination stops there, however, we miss some important facts about the nature of religiosity in the U.S.
First: The fastest growing churches are not those just cited but the evangelical, pentacostal, and other charismatic bible-believing churches. (And if we are talking about the working class, spend some time in poor Latino and African American sections of most large urban centers and count the number of store-front as well as more established institutions out of these faith traditions. They are not frequented often by the bourgeois and petty bourgeois, privileged, professional, or other strata we may associate with mainstream denominations. Ditto for the South.)
Second: There is probably great variation in church attendance across nationality and ethnic groups; between urban, suburban, and small town/rural communities; and regionally (compare the South and Southeast to New England, for example).
Third: Actual attendance at church services may be one measure of religious devotion but should not be considered the only or even best measure of religiosity and the influence of religious ideologies.
Fourth: Many of the national community-organizing networks that are committed to social justice agendas are congregation-based. One may argue with their focus or tactics and strategies, but we ought not dismiss them as an insignificant component of any movement for social change.
Michael E. Whining but not yet sniveling.