1.0Church Answershttps://churchanswers.comrich600338<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="BjjjvT0vvH"><a href="https://churchanswers.com/blog/evangelicals-are-losing-more-people-than-gaining-for-the-first-time-in-100-years/">Evangelicals Are Losing More People than Gaining for the First Time in 100 Years</a></blockquote><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://churchanswers.com/blog/evangelicals-are-losing-more-people-than-gaining-for-the-first-time-in-100-years/embed/#?secret=BjjjvT0vvH" width="600" height="338" title="“Evangelicals Are Losing More People than Gaining for the First Time in 100 Years” — Church Answers" data-secret="BjjjvT0vvH" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe><script type="text/javascript"> /* <![CDATA[ */ /*! This file is auto-generated */ !function(d,l){"use strict";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&"undefined"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),c=new RegExp("^https?:$","i"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display="none";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute("style"),"height"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):"link"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute("src")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener("message",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll("iframe.wp-embedded-content"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute("data-secret"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+="#?secret="+t,e.setAttribute("data-secret",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:"ready",secret:t},"*")},!1)))}(window,document); //# sourceURL=https://churchanswers.com/wp-includes/js/wp-embed.min.js /* ]]> */ </script> https://churchanswers.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Paywall_Ryan_052324.png1200628The strongest predictor of your current religion is the religion in which you were raised. Simply put, most people don’t change religions over the course of their lives. Many people do not have a deep desire to explore another way to live. A recent survey found that about 30% of people still live in their hometown. Even among those who moved, the median distance from their place of birth was only thirty miles.This desire to stay put makes sense. People find comfort in the environment of their upbringing. They grow accustomed to the routines, the rituals, and the culture of their childhood homes. Religion can be a big part of this pull. Most holidays have religious undertones, and major milestones like baptisms, bar/bat mitzvahs, and marriages are often deeply intertwined with the religious faith of the family. Finding a new house of worship in a new city is hard. It’s much simpler to stay in the same faith tradition.However, those decisions to stay (or leave) a faith group can profoundly impact the religious landscape as a whole. More leavers than converts point toward a future decline for a religious group—one that is nearly impossible to turn around in any meaningful way. That’s what I wanted to take a close look at today: the inflow and outflow among American evangelicals over the last five decades. The General Social Survey (GSS) asks people to list the religion in which they were raised and then asks them to indicate their current religious affiliation. This survey question gives us a tremendous amount of insight into how these inflows and outflows have changed over time.