Truth Check: Are Gay-Friendly Churches in Decline?

Truth Check: Are Gay-Friendly Churches in Decline?

United States Information as well as Globe Report's Dan Gilgoff thinks about Episcopalians' relocate to bless gays and lesbians taking into account the membership troubles affecting mainline denominations:

One huge inquiry these adjustments increase is whether they'll impact the dramatic decline of subscription in mainline churches. The united state churches experiencing development now-- those in the evangelical, nondenominational, as well as Mormon practices-- condemn homosexuality.

That's true just if you aggregate mainliners vs. Evangelicals as well as others. Within the mainline, there's not virtually so much of a straight (erm) line connection.

The large losers among mainline denominations are United Methodists, who dropped nearly 20% of their participants between 1990 as well as 2008, according to the American Religious Recognition Survey (ARIS). The Methodists do not commission gays and also lesbians. Presbyterians and also Lutherans each shed concerning 5-6% of their participants. Episcopalians dropped 20% as well, but on a much reduced range than Methodists: in 1990, there were about 3 million Episcopalians in the United States. In 2008, there were around 2.4 million. Not chump change, to ensure, however absolutely nothing like the incredible 3 million Methodists that vanished in the exact same duration.

And as Gilgoff himself points out, Catholics-- barely one of the most gay-friendly of practices-- have actually been hit hard, a pattern that has been masked by Catholic immigrants from Latin America and somewhere else.

Meanwhile, my very own United Church of Christ actually grew in between 1990 and 2008. Real, we're still little according to ARIS, but it's a fad nevertheless. Also growing: \"New Religious Activities and also Various Other Faiths,\" a group that consists of Unitarian Universalists among other gay-friendly groups, and also those declaring no religious beliefs, which we understand from other research to be the most considerate to gays as well as lesbians. NRMs as well as the \"Nones,\" as they're called, more than increase their population, outpacing every other industry of the religious economic situation.

A much better means to put it, after that, might be: some churches open up to homosexuality are diminishing. Others are not. As well as individuals that actually are expanding are the ones who do not despise teh gay at all.

Daniel Schultz is a minister in the United Church of Christ. Write to him at: bear-magazine.com

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