“[T]he old metrics of success—attendance and affiliation, or, more colloquially, “butts, budgets, and buildings”—may no longer capture the state of American religion.
Does attendance in conventional houses of worship accurately reflect the state of religious participation in America today? According to sociologist Wendy Cage and National Jewish Center Vice President Elan Babchuck, the decline of attendance in America’s churches, synagogues, and mosques does not necessarily spell the doom of religion in its entirety:
Although participation in traditional religious settings (churches, synagogues, mosques, schools, etc.) is in decline, signs of life are popping up elsewhere: in conversations with chaplains, in communities started online that end up forming in-person bonds as well, in social-justice groups rooted in shared faith.
If religion in the United States is not disappearing, where is it going? What are the other ways to gauge American religious life? How else are people expressing their religious faith?