November 14, 2006

A recent headline in USA TODAY proudly proclaimed: “Mainline Pulls in Protestants” with a subhead stating, “Pews are Filling Up in Some Churches.” It wasn’t until the sixth paragraph of the article that the reporter acknowledged that the leading liberal or “Mainline” denominations – United Methodists, Presbyterian Church USA, Episcopal Church and others—have all been losing membership. They averaged declines of 7.4 percent in the last ten years! Meanwhile, more conservative denominations—like the Southern Baptists and Assemblies of God—have been growing rapidly: increasing membership by 11.4 percent in that same period.

“Just because a denomination looks like it’s dying doesn’t mean there actually is less mainline religion out there,” says one enigmatic professor quoted in the article. Actually, the USA Today piece represents an exercise in denial behavior from observers unwilling to face the obviously conservative direction of American religiosity.

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