There are two primary ways for religions to shrink. The first is through death without replacement. When older members die, the tradition gets smaller unless young people are raised up in the church to offset those losses. The other way a tradition decreases in size is through defection. That means people leave the religion in which they were raised for another faith group. The General Social Survey asks respondents about the denomination in which they were raised as well as their current denomination.
For instance, if everyone who was raised evangelical stayed in that tradition, how large would it be? In , about 20 percent of Americans were currently evangelicals, while another 4 percent were former evangelicals. In essence, defection was basically the same. For mainliners in , 28 percent were current adherents while another 7 percent had left the tradition. In , only 11 percent were currently mainline Protestants but another 6 percent had grown up mainline and left.
In the most recent data, for every two mainline Protestants, there was another that had left. Nearly half the people left the mainline ended up being religiously unaffiliated, while another significant portion became evangelical.
For evangelicals, retention is much higher at 70 percent, but the same basic pattern of religious switching exists. A significant portion of evangelical defectors go on to claim no religious affiliation. The second most likely landing spot for people leaving the evangelical tradition is the mainline. In raw numbers, for every two evangelicals who became a mainline Protestant, about three mainline Protestants became evangelical.
But that seems to be happening a bit asymmetrically. Evangelicalism is undoubtedly down from its peak in the early s. The decline of the mainline has also slowed somewhat recently. However, there are plenty of reasons to conclude that their numbers will dip again. As they continue to fight defections from the tradition, the average age of the membership increases , and traditional denominations hemorrhage members , it seems apparent that there are more causes for concern among mainline Protestants than evangelicals.
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By choosing I Accept , you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. Reddit Pocket Flipboard Email. The National Cathedral — once a bastion of mainline Protestant tradition — was recently the site of a fiery speech by Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson during the interring of Matthew Shephard. Photo by Aaron P. Tara Isabella Burton So, for starters, what exactly is mainline Protestantism, and why was it such a potent culture force in America before the s?
James Hudnut-Beumler Mainline Protestantism comes from the Protestants who first came to the United States, plus those early 19th century American groups like Methodists and Disciples of Christ, Congregations, Episcopalians, Presbyterians and reform groups who came from Europe who were the only initial Protestants.
Mark Silk There seemed to be a kind of pan-Protestant leadership at the national level in the 20th century, through the establishment of organizations like the Federal Council of Churches, now known as the National Council of Churches.
Tara Isabella Burton When did that change? James Hudnut-Beumler When it began to come apart for mainline Protestants, it was partly with the rise of the evangelicals, but before that, it began to come apart when they stopped having as many children. James Hudnut-Beumler Mainline Protestants have been getting together with other Protestants since with the formation of the Federal Council of Churches in the age of the social gospel, calling for things like reform to child labor, laws against lynching.
Mark Silk Much of the important public role of the mainline churches is at a local, subnational level. James Hudnut-Beumler The thing I told a recent group of mainline Christians was, particularly here in the South, everybody is a values voter. Tara Isabella Burton What about voting, particularly in the upcoming midterms?
Tara Isabella Burton What about more broadly? Next Up In Explainers. Delivered Fridays. Thanks for signing up! Check your inbox for a welcome email. Email required. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Notice and European users agree to the data transfer policy. For more newsletters, check out our newsletters page. The Latest. Why Biden has disappointed on immigration By German Lopez.
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