{"id":61246,"date":"2012-07-18T20:02:00","date_gmt":"2012-07-19T01:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=61246"},"modified":"2023-06-09T20:04:28","modified_gmt":"2023-06-10T01:04:28","slug":"confidence-in-religious-institutions-at-a-39-year-low","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/confidence-in-religious-institutions-at-a-39-year-low\/","title":{"rendered":"Confidence in Religious Institutions at a 39-Year Low"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

Source:\u00a0<\/strong>Christopher Burbach, “Are We Losing Faith in Religion?,” Omaha World-Herald, 18 July 2012.<\/p>\n

Gallup does a yearly survey called “Confidence in Institutions” since 1973. One question is whether those surveyed had confidence in the church or organized religion. What exactly constitutes a church or an organized religion is not defined. The peak response was back in 1975 at 68%. It has been declining ever since. Last year it was at 48% and this year it is down to a new low of 44%.<\/p>\n

“While organized religion sank, it fared better than many other institutions. Others, such as public schools, banks and television news hit all-tim lows. Only the military (75 percent), small business and the police commanded more reponses of ‘a great deal’ or ‘quite a lot’ of confidence. And many institutions inspired much less, with Congress pulling up the rear with 13 percent.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Gallup hasn’t sought out a cause for the decline, only recording the fall. Some note that earlier declines followed years when famous television evangelists got involved in scandals, such as Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart in the late 1980s. The recent decline could be caused by the sex scandals in the Roman Catholic church. “The survey did find that significantly fewer Catholics — 46 percent — expressed confidence in organized religion than did Protestants — 56 percent.” All others (not Protestant or Catholic) had only a 29 percent confidence in organized religion.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source:\u00a0Christopher Burbach, “Are We Losing Faith in Religion?,” Omaha World-Herald, 18 July 2012. Gallup does a yearly survey called “Confidence in Institutions” since 1973. One question is whether those surveyed had confidence in the church or organized religion. What exactly constitutes a church or an organized religion is not defined. The peak response was back…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[1514],"class_list":["post-61246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-issues","tag-religion"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":57405,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-problem-with-organized-religion\/","url_meta":{"origin":61246,"position":0},"title":"The Problem with Organized Religion","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Andy Sochor via\u00a0Unmasking Sophistry, January-March 2023 Many people today disparage \"organized religion.\" Instead, they simply desire a \"personal relationship\" with the Lord. However, this is not an \"either-or\" proposition. In our service to God, we have personal and corporate responsibilities. Notice what Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58521,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/orphan-institution-in-search-of-family-homes\/","url_meta":{"origin":61246,"position":1},"title":"Orphan Institution in Search of Family Homes","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 28, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dennis Carrow From the sponsoring church arrangement in the effort of evangelism, (i.e., the missionary society), grew the same carnal diversion from the divine pattern in the realm of benevolence. Brethren were not content with following the simple arrangement of the giver sending directly to the needy. The claim\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41369,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/spiritual-but-not-religious\/","url_meta":{"origin":61246,"position":2},"title":"Spiritual but not Religious","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Romans 10:1-3 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The paper had an article discussing how denominations were wrestling with a growing dissatisfaction with religion. In particular the focus was on people viewing Christmas as purely a secular holiday, but what caught my eye was this statement: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201c... many young people\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6721,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-friendly-letter-on-benevolence\/","url_meta":{"origin":61246,"position":3},"title":"A Friendly Letter on Benevolence","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 23, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 by Irven Lee (1914-1991) April 1, 1958 A good friend that I have known and appreciated a long time sent a letter of inquiry which prompted this answer. Since so many are wondering about the same problems, I am making a few copies of the letter [that I wrote\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69158,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-to-link-to-wvbs-or-gbn\/","url_meta":{"origin":61246,"position":4},"title":"Is it wrong to link to WVBS or GBN?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 9, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is it wrong for a church to link to WVBS or GBN on its website? I'm unsure if it's right or wrong, but I'd at least like your thoughts, if you don't mind. Thanks. Answers: World Video Bible School (WVBS) and Gospel Broadcasting Network (GBN) solicit funding from individuals\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29586,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/im-shocked-at-your-stance-regarding-501c3-churches\/","url_meta":{"origin":61246,"position":5},"title":"I’m shocked at your stance regarding 501(c)(3) churches","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 17, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The web site is excellent. Someone worked very hard on the design. My question is your church a 501c3 church or a free church? More and more I am finding many of the New Testament churches have signed up to be a corporation and be under the IRS rather\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61246\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}