Today's news that Americans are prone to change their religious or denominational preference often in their lives comes as no surprise to me. I've long loathed "fast food churchgoing," where Christians flock to the "flavor of the day" or the style that tickles their fancy. CNN.com released a news article today about the finding of a new Pew Forum study. Here's an excerpt.
More than half of American adults have changed religion in their lives, a huge new survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found. And there is no discernible pattern to the change, just "a free for all," one of the lead researchers told CNN."You're seeing the free market at work," said Gregory Smith, a research fellow at the Pew Forum. "If people are dissatisfied, they will leave. And if they see something they like better, they will join it."
Many people switch because they move to a new community, and others because they marry someone of a different faith, he said.
Some don't like their ministers or pastors; some like the pastor at another church better.
Fast food churchgoing doesn't honor the Lord and it most certainly does not benefit the Church at large. It's happening in my part of the world right now. In fact, fast food churchgoing is partly responsible for a decline in church attendance at my fellowship. I'm reminded of this warning by the apostle Paul, nearly 2,000 years ago:
"For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear." (2 Timothy 4:3)
Enough commentary. What do you think? Is style a valid reason to change churches? Should the "free market" in America influence who attends church where?
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5 comments:
I'm confused by the wording of the article: "More than half of American adults have changed religion in their lives.. " But then it sites an example of an Episcopalian changing to Quaker. In my mind this isn't changing 'religion' as much as it is churches. If a Christian became Hindu, then that's changing religion.
I thought it is not a matter of fast food churchgoing. It is about one person's journey to find religion (church) that can help them grow spiritually.
If they don't find peace and spiritual growth in one place, then they will keep looking.
On the other side, some people do avoid coming out of their comfort zone. If the teaching is too hard, sometimes they quit.
let us remember that Jesus Christ did not die on the cross for religion but that he died so that we may come into a personal relationship with him. changing God, or making a God, to suit our ownselves violates the second commandment
Going from one Christian denomination to another isn't changing "religion" in any real way. Even Catholic to protestant denomination shouldn't count.
Swapping your religion would only matters if these people actually believed. Your standard C & E Christian (Christmas and Easter) has God as a secondary concern. Going to church and being seen at church is all that really matters. They just want to be a member of the more powerful gang so they can tell people what to do from a perceived moral high ground. They spend the week living with complete disregard for the teachings of the Lord and the welfare of their fellow man and hope that going to church on Sunday makes it all better. I have met lots of people claiming to be Christians, but few people actually walk the walk. For most people, religion is just a stick for striking down people of "inferior" morality and has nothing to do with an actual belief in God. Most people believe they can pick and choose the parts of a religion they must adhere to...and these "cosmetic" Christians are indeed the problem with religion today. Religion is dying because people only worry about God for one hour on Sunday...as if the Word did not apply to the rest of the week.
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