THURSDAY. JANUARY 3, 1983
MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORO. OREGON
!: II..''
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Religion in America
End of Rapid Growth Era Noted
For American Churches in 1962
By LOUIS CASSELS
UPI Correspondent
For America's churches,
1962 marked the end of an
era.
It wa an era in which "re
ligion" achieved unprecedent
ed popularity, and church
membership rose at i spec
tacular rate.
Since 1B46, when the post
. war "religious revival" got
under way. American
churches have gained about
42 million new members.
For 15 consecutive years,
- the annual growth in church
-'membership substantially ex
ceeded population growth.
During this period, the pro
portion of Americans affiliat
ed with religious bodies in
creased from less than one
half to nearly tworthirds.
To make room for the in
flux of new members, church
es embarked on the biggest
building boom in their his
tory. Expenditures for church
construction, which had to
talled less than $200 million
in 1946, rose to a level of
$1 billion annually in the late
1950s.
Begins To Ebb
. The Yearbook of American
Churches, the : most authori
tative compilation of religious
statistics, gave clear warning
last year that the tid was
beginning to ebb. Its figures
showed that church member
ship gains were only slightly
greater than population
growth.
The new Yearbook of Amer
ican Churches was out last
week. It reports that church
membership gains, for the
first time since World War
II, have fallen below the rate
of population growth. To be
precise, church membership
rose 1.4 per cent, while the
national population was in
creasing by 1.6 per cent
This means that the pro
portion of church members
in the U.S. population actual
ly has declined - only a frac
tion of one percentage point
to be sure - -but enough to
mark the end of the era of
rapid and easy growth.
Just Beginning
Those who saw a "religious
revival" in the rosy statistics
of the 1950s may mourn its
passing.
But there are others who
believe that American church
es are only now beginning to
experience a genuine revival.
"The flocking of people to
the churches following World
War II was a type of crisis
religion, a shallow demon
stration of popular piety with-
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1962
out any real depth of con
cern," says the Rev. Dr. Ar
thur Vincent, a Missouri
Synod Lutheran leader.
"Today we find that reli
gion is not quite so popular
among the masses. B it in
stead, we are discovering a
tremendous growth of inter
est in Bible study among our
people."
'Clergymen of other de
nominations can offer similar
testimony. Throughout Amer
ica, there are signs - not eas
ily measured by statistics, but
unmistakable to any close
observer of church life - of
deepening faith and commit
ment. Become More Serious
It can be seen in such
things as the spontaneous de
velopment of small groups of
concerned laymen who meet
in private homes to wresile
seriously with the implica
tions of Christian doctrine; in
the active interest displayed
by adults in religion courses
which require them to do real
study; In the growing accept
ance of tithing as a minimum
standard for stewardship of
money; in the steady demand
registered at church libraries
and book stores for rood reli
gious books as opposed to the
tripe which often hit the best
seller lists in the days when
religion was being peddled to
the public as an easy out for
life's problems.
Teen-Agers Remain Active
It is also reflected In grow
ing attendance at week end
retreats; in the number of
teen-agers who remain active
in church lite after they are
too old to be "made" to go
to Sunday School; in the
searching curiosity of college
student: about authentic
Christianity; in the readiness
of young churchmen to risk
imprisonment or injury to
bear witness for the Christian
convictions on such social is
sues as race relations.
These manifestations of real
Christian commitment still
are confined to a creative
minority in the church. They
do not refute the observation
that a great many church
members remain lukewarm,
ill-informed and apathetic.
But they do provide better
evidence of real religious re
vival than could ever be
found In the soaring member
ship statistics of the postwar
era.
Not a penny lost
Since 19.1-1. when Congress established the Federal Savin?
and Loan Insurance Corporation, no one ha ever lust a
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$50,000 Added to
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