The scholars say their studies found that religious people are three to four times more likely to be involved in their community. They are more apt than nonreligious Americans to work on community projects, belong to voluntary associations, attend public meetings, vote in local elections, attend protest demonstrations and political rallies, and donate time and money to causes — including secular ones.

At the same time, Putnam and Campbell say their data show that religious people are just “nicer”: they carry packages for people, don’t mind folks cutting ahead in line and give money to panhandlers.

The scholars say the link between religion and civic activism is causal, since they observed that people who hadn’t attended church became more engaged after they did. “These are huge effects,” Putnam said. (Source)

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Are Church Folks nicer?

For a good while many people have been commenting on how folks are less loyal to a denomination than they used to be.  The USA Today has an article up that puts some very interesting numbers to that trend.

Some Americans are more loyal to their toothpaste or toilet paper than to their religious denomination, making those consumers more choosy about Charmin or Colgate than they are about church, according to a new survey.

According to a Phoenix-based research firm, 16% of Protestants say they would consider only one denomination, while 22% of them would use only one brand of toothpaste and 19% would use just one brand of bathroom tissue. (Source)

The piece goes on to explain why that is and the challenges that come with denominations creating a “brand.”  (Not sure how I feel about the idea of denominations being a brand, but I understand what they mean.)

For the record, I like Colgate and am partial to the Evangelical Covenant Church.

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I can leave my church, but not my bathroom tissue

The poll has to do with how common sexual misconduct is in the church among staff members.  Here is a screen shot.

Here is my question…does this seem high, low, or just about right to you? Why do you say that? It seems high to me, but all I have is anecdotal experience to base it on.

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Sexual Misconduct Poll

Lifeway just published a study on why people leave the church.  The most interesting findings to me include…

Labeled as the “formerly churched,” 59 percent of those who left the church did so because of “changes in life situation.” This was the dominant reason found in the survey conducted to better understand why people leave the church.

More specifically, LifeWay Research Director Brad Waggoner pointed out two life-situation reasons why adults stop attending church. According to the study, 19 percent of the formerly churched “simply got too busy to attend church,” and 17 percent said “family/home responsibilities prevented church attendance.”

and

80 percent of the formerly churched do not have a strong belief in God, which the study indicated may account for their higher priorities of work and family over church. Also, among the top 10 reasons adults leave the church, only two were related to spiritual causes, the report highlighted, with 14 percent saying the church was not helping them develop spiritually and another 14 percent saying they stopped believing in organized religion.

You can read the rest of it here should you be so inclined.  http://www.christianpost.com/article/20061015/25250.htm

Thanks to http://christianmind.blogspot.com/ for the link.

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Why People Leave our Church