PERSPECTIVES: The Decline of Organized Religion in Western Civilization

Polls of representative samples show that organized religion has declined greatly in many Western nations. The fall has been less severe in North America than in most Western European countries but proceeds nonetheless. Surveys of middle-aged Manitoba parents indicate apostasy grew more over time th...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Altemeyer, Bob 1940- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group 2004
In: The international journal for the psychology of religion
Year: 2004, Volume: 14, Issue: 2, Pages: 77-89
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:Polls of representative samples show that organized religion has declined greatly in many Western nations. The fall has been less severe in North America than in most Western European countries but proceeds nonetheless. Surveys of middle-aged Manitoba parents indicate apostasy grew more over time than any other religious category-many times more than fundamentalist religions increased, for example. Such parents endorsed many different explanations of their loss of faith but most commonly said it happened because they observed hypocrisy in members of their religion. Various examples were cited. Most of those who abandoned their religion have lived nearly all of their adult lives outside their faith and doubt they will ever return. As their children have largely been raised without religious training, the decline of organized religion seems likely to continue.
ISSN:1532-7582
Contains:Enthalten in: The international journal for the psychology of religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1207/s15327582ijpr1402_1