Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
These two stories are the same story

These two stories are the same story

Last updated on: September 18, 2023 at 5:46 pm by Fred Clark

0 Comments

These two stories are the same story 2023-09-18T17:46:16-04:00 Fred Clark

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Here are two recent headlines from Religion News Service:

Both of these stories are newsworthy, well-written, and responsibly reported. But both are also overly familiar. I haven’t read these particular iterations before, but I’ve read so many general iterations of them that they all begin to blur together.

Another set of authors have written another book about “why millions of Americans left church — and what might bring them back.” This isn’t the first such story about such a book. Nor is it the second, or even the tenth or the 20th. Maybe these new authors have found something new to say about this subject, but that seems unlikely. And the cautious verb in the headline — “explores” — isn’t particularly promising.

“America’s religious exodus” is a big story, but other than reminding us of that fact, I’m not sure this article tells us much beyond the “news” that the pile of books exploring that story has just gotten a bit taller.

The second story is also a very big story. Or, rather, it is one local facet of that very big story — one that confirms that larger story while adding more specific detail. It is the latest in a long, long list of similar stories limning the massive, global scope of the scandal of sexual abuse by clergy and the failures and struggles of churches all over the world to protect parishioners from these predatory pastors.

That second story reminds me of the ending of the Academy Award-winning film Spotlight, about the Boston Globe’s investigation of clergy sex abuse and the cover-up of it in that one city. The final moments of the film present a grim title card listing Catholic dioceses all across America where scandals like the one in Boston were subsequently revealed. It’s a long list, in two columns of small type, quickly replaced by a second page listing dozens more. And then comes the third page, and the fourth, listing dioceses from all over the world.

I don’t know if Switzerland was on that list back in 2015, but it belongs on that list now. And based on what has been investigated and uncovered in all of those other dioceses, I’d guess that 1,000 cases found in this recent “sweeping study” aren’t the half of it.

Again, both of these RNS stories are newsworthy and each is worth your time to click through and read. But I’m sure you’ve also already read these stories before, or stories so similar that these new variations of them will hardly seem like variations at all.

In every variation and iteration, of course, these two stories are related. “America’s religious exodus” is obviously and inextricably tied up with the massive, global, transdenominational scandal of clergy sex abuse and cover-up. How could it not be?

The trio behind The Great Dechurching acknowledge this, but also seem to minimize it by reducing this to a single category of former church-goer:

The researchers also sorted dechurched Americans into two major categories: the “casually dechurched,” who lost the habit of attending services because they moved or had scheduling conflicts; and “church casualties,” who stopped attending because of conflict or because they’d experienced harm.

Each of the five profiles had a wide range of reasons for leaving their churches and why they might be open to returning. For so-called cultural Christians, they left in part because their friends weren’t there (18%) and because attending was not convenient (18%) but also because of gender identity (16%) or church scandal (16%).

This research model suggests that only some of those departing churches are “casualties” who have experienced harm, and that “church scandal” was only a factor for 16% of those leaving, most of whom seem to have more “casual” reasons for their exit — matters of convenience or of “other priorities.”

One gets the sense that the authors regard these “casual” reasons as less legitimate and more shallow. That’s understandable. After all, those who stop attending church because they have been the direct victims of clergy abuse have an unassailable reason for their departure. But I have a hard time believing that this direct harm directly experienced by hundreds of thousands of former church-members is not also a factor in the choices being made by others who were not themselves directly harmed.

Ask someone if they left the church because they were personally a casualty of abuse or for some other reason and they’ll suppose they should tell you it’s because of some other reason. Present them with survey questions instructing them to “pick one” reason for their departure and they’re gonna pick just one. But the rape of thousands of children and women, silenced and covered up for years by church officials at the highest levels, is not something that determines the response of victims while having no influence on everyone else hearing about it. It’s too horrifying to be treated as a discrete category that stands apart from all the others.

Someone may “casually” tell researchers that they stopped going to church because they realized they preferred sleeping in on Sundays, and that may even be true. But it’s not the whole truth. And that person’s decision is almost never unrelated to or unaffected by the gargantuan, horrifying fact of that other very big story.

“Only 16% of the bank’s former customers said they left because they’d personally been the victims of life-altering fraud and embezzlement by the bank. The other 84% left for more casual reasons of convenience and personal preference.”

“Only 16% of the airline’s former passengers said they left because they’d personally experienced a crash due to negligence. The other 84% of former passengers simply drifted away for more casual reasons.”

Yeah, not buying that.

Uncategorized

church abuse

Previous Post

September 15, 2023

Recent reads (9.15.23)

Next Post

September 20, 2023 'Survey says ...'

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"My ongoing Costochondritis has entered the third month but it’s fading and may be gone ..."

This fellow right here

Playlists and pluralism

"https://uploads.disquscdn.c..."

Professor Rudolf Laschenkohl

Playlists and pluralism

"Wildwood is very good. That’s it. That’s the post."

Matticus

Playlists and pluralism

"Hmmm... I'd rather create some playlist by composer than artist. I know I could create ..."

Lsamaknight

Playlists and pluralism

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category class warfare evangelicals Iraq Left Behind Mammon music Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which prophet spoke God's judgment against Edom?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Jonah Obadiah Joel Ezekiel