Photo by Georgy Druzhinin
Young women are leaving the organized church in unprecedented numbers according to Daniel Cox and Kelsey Eyre Hammond, researchers for the Survey Center on American Life.
For the last fifty years or so, an ever-increasing number of people have moved away from organized religion. But in the past, it was men who had lower levels of religious engagement. That has reversed. Now more and more women are pushing back on the beliefs and practices of major faiths, particularly Christianity.
Why?
In an article in The New York Times Jessica Gross suggests it's because young women in ever-growing numbers support LGBTQ and reproductive rights and equal opportunities for women, while at the same time, some large Christian denominations are maintaining, or even increasing, their support for retrogressive ideas about women's rights and sexual orientation.
Many churches continue to promote the idea of complementarianism, the idea that men and women while equal are meant to play different roles in life and the church. This kind of thinking ignores the fact that women in their denominations are entering the workforce in ever greater numbers and embracing feminist ideas about the leadership roles women should play in all areas of life.
It also ignores the fact that a patriarchal power structure in the church has led to the widespread sexual abuse of women by men in church leadership positions, and this same patriarchal power structure has often been less than helpful when it comes to women in their congregation who are experiencing physical abuse by their husbands.
This growing decline in involvement by women is going to present a problem for churches since surveys show that in the past it is women who have contributed much more volunteer time than men to keep churches running and it is women who play an instrumental role in passing on religious faith to their children.
Jessica Gross believes that churches will need to evolve and accept more modern ideas about women's roles, reproductive rights and sexual orientation if they want to remain viable.
And they need to do so quickly because research shows that once people leave the church there is little chance they will come back.
Other posts...........
Abusive Relationships and the Church
Complementarianism
Women Leaders Are Out
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