Paul Prather is the pastor of Bethesda Church in Sterling, KY. He recently wrote an article for the Lexington Herald Leader in which he detailed the reasons he believes U.S. church membership is at a new low, and is continuing to fall. He noted that Gallup polling indicates that membership in churches has dropped below 50% of the population for the first time since they began polling on this question in 1937. Gallup noted that membership has declined across all religious, demographic, political, and geographic categories. Prather then went on to list why he believes this is happening.
1. The rise of the internet has made it easy for people to pick and choose beliefs from around the planet.
2. Younger Americans are distrustful of all types of institutions – including churches.
3. Skepticism and Atheism have become more acceptable.
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