Rural Blog has a piece by a minister on the many reasons for the decline of religion in the U.S. Ross Douthat has a piece on the same subject in the Times, focusing mostly on how the intelligentsia are divorced from religion.
Given my religious ancestors and my own atheism I'm interested. I've watched from the outside as my sister was heavily involved with her Presbyterian church. The other day I came across a newspaper report of a lecture my grandfather gave in 1902, describing his (and his wife) visit to Jerusalem. The newspaper found this noteworthy, presumably because grandfather was prominent in the West Pittston-Wilkes Barre area, the subject was somewhat exotic, and the lecture drew a good audience.
How often today, even before the decline of local city newspapers, did the media pay attention to clergy as authoritative figures? It seems most media stories deal with political/cultural/religious controversies. Back in 1902 churches/ministers filled a need for entertainment and instruction, a need 20 years later to be filled by radio, 45 years later by television, and today by the internet.
I grew up before McDonalds had spread to New York, so church suppers were an occasion. But church suppers can't compete with McDonalds, nor can slide shows/travelogues which I remember compete with TV.
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