"While the number of churches that succumb to their financial strain each year is hard to pinpoint, they have been closing rapidly as religious practice fades among Americans. Last year, a minority of the population belonged to a house of worship for the first time since Gallup began tracking in 1937. Christians comprised 63 percent of people in the United States, down from 75 percent a decade ago."
Religion is intellectual cancer. A pacifier for the gullible. Sadly most religious people are decent people being fleeced by theocratic shepherds. I would suggest we settle on certain humanistic themed rather than religious based "education".
After you satisfy what it means to be a decent human you can work on any hi flying celestial day dreams on your own time and money.
Maybe so but in my area church and religion has grown. A large auto repair business closed the doors and became a church. Now they are building on and becoming bigger. The pandemic caused some of this as people try to explain the pandemic. The ignorant think it gives them the answers and the bible had the answers the whole time. This is fear motivation. Some are drawn back to a childhood religion and others talk a similar thing because it is "the new world order." Yes, it is Biden and the new world order but they forget that Bush Sr. often spoke of the new world order. We live in times where ignorant people allow their thinking to run amuck. The current mindset is distraction and confusion.
I would be interested in knowing the the statistical differences in urban vs rural populations.
@MizJ Just as Denno said, here too. If the old buildings aren't getting repurposed for a church, there are many brand new ones being built all over my semi rural area. Some quite impressive with the pond and fountain.
In my little burg, One church here was turned into an antique shop, another looks abandoned. Those seem to be the exception