Good and Bad News: Religious Needs Are Unmet

Rabbi Ari Lamm

Americans' participation in organized religion has never been lower, but Rabbi Ari Lamm believes that

The Prospects of American Religion Have Never Been Higher

A recent Gallup poll included some grim news: Less than 50% of Americans belong to a religious community such as a church or a synagogue, the lowest since the organization began asking the question in 1937. As an Orthodox rabbi, I might feel gloomy about the future of my profession. But the prospects of American religion have never been brighter....

This isn’t news for those of us who have dedicated our lives to the rabbinate or priesthood. The reasons for the decline in synagogue and church attendance range from the changing nature of cities to competition with digital communication. Congregating with others in a physical space is a cornerstone of most faiths—I happily do it three times daily—but there’s much more to religion than sitting quietly on a wooden bench and listening to a sermon.

Seen this way, the new Gallup survey should be read not as an obituary but an opportunity. Religion is ripe for disruption, to borrow a term from Silicon Valley: Plenty of Americans still love the product—just not its current platform.

For centuries critics have claimed that organized religion diverts attention from the fundamental teachings of faith. Churches and synagogues had placed their priorities on soul-numbing procedures, meetings, fund-raising, and socializing.

Lately the emphasis has been on social justice, global warming, systemic racism, and other issues, which, however important, make churches just another political advocacy group. That's not what most people want from their religion.

People attend religious services because they want a spot of religion. Yet worshipers hear too much about climate change, systemic racism and transgender rights and not enough about Abraham, Sarah and Isaac or Luke, Matthew and John. Treating religion like the Academy Awards or the National Basketball Association—which also don’t draw the same attention they used to—has left Americans suspicious about traditional faith. This can be rectified by focusing on what business-school types call the core offering.

Your humble blogger has posted frequently on how the Episcopal Church seems to pursue social justice over spreading the Word in its public pronouncements. Since I composed the above in 2012, it has only become more involved in partisan politics.

COVID-19 upended worship-as-usual and caused churches to initiate or improve virtual services. It offers them a chance to reset. Will my church and other religions seize the opportunity to turn away from the path they were on and go back to basics? Rabbi Lamm is hopeful.

Father Mike Schmitz’s “Bible in a Year” became one of the most downloaded shows in Apple’s podcast app. Tens of thousands of Jews who hadn’t been to a shul in years now tune in weekly to listen to “Unorthodox,” the world’s most popular Jewish podcast. This is as an invitation to every rabbi, priest and minister in America to do as good spiritual shepherds have always done and come meet their flock where they graze...

Services offered during the pandemic were just that—religious services. They were not, as so many felt compelled to offer before the pandemic struck, social gatherings with thin religious veneers. For decades houses of worship had flourished with the American suburb, serving as a focal point of communal life. In Jewish circles, this is known as “a shul with a pool,” suggesting that congregants should see the synagogue as the destination for everything, from Sunday school to a quick swim. This model is fading, and organizations that focus on the heart of the matter—the prayers and rituals and rites—are likely to reap the rewards.

Church conventions that I've attended have always been more about politics than the spiritual needs of the members. Perhaps some of the passion has dissipated now that the Federal and State governments are controlled by politicians whom the church agrees with. So I'm hopeful.