Remember that mini-media blitz of 2008 stories saying hard times prompt people to attend a church, synagogue or mosque more often? A few booming churches were shown to present a case that recession had a spiritual silver lining.
The popular notion that more folks turn to church in hard times takes a hit with new statistics from Gallup showing attendance rises, rather than declines, with higher levels of confidence in the economy.
Whoops! A Gallup Survey released today finds,
... Instead of church attendance rising when economic times get bad, as some theorize, the opposite pattern may be occurring."
Americans' self-reported church attendance is up very slightly with 43.1% of Americans reporting weekly or almost weekly attendance at a church, synagogue or mosque while their sense of economic confidence is also on the rise, according to a Gallup Survey released today.
Gallup's Economic Confidence Index" for January-May 2010 was -26, a big jump up from the depths of the recession in 2008 when it was -50 and weekly or almost weekly church attendance was 42.1% that year.
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SOURCE: USA Today | Faith & Reason
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