Is the lack of church attended...?

Question

feminism's fault?

People are becoming less and less religious as time goes by, as we have blamed all social changes on feminism why not this one. Especially considering in the west the catholic church is to blame for sexism and racism.

Answer 1

The lack of church attendances has lots of causes, including the modern western time pressure ~ with less available time, people try to fit more in, so many secualr activities are scheduled for Sundays, a time which was traditionally left for attending church (for most people).

People who might once have been in church are now ferrying their children to sports, attending business meetings and shopping at the malls. Also, Sunday has become a day for visiting friends and family.

Feminism probably has helped this process, but so has the 30 year long saga of child abuse scandals within the institutional churches (catholic and protestant both). Every time there's a big new scandal, the numbers of those who attend church decline, and who would wonder. Want to put your kids in the hands of someone suspect? Of course not.

As regards feminism, women are usually the backbone of many religious traditions, and rarely accepted as leaders or even equals within. Feminism made no bones about this, and some women saw truth in that view. Church stopped being appealing for many, and for others reforming the church became the target.

Also, improved education and scientific advances, along with the common acceptance of scientific standards of proof in the community meant that people were not so ready to unquestioningly accept the doctrines and creeds which had satisfied their forebears for so long.

Once people started asking 'why' it soon became obvious church was not where they were going to get answers, unless they wanted to be told what and how to think.

There are many reasons religion generally and church attendance particularly have fallen out of favour in the western world, including feminism among them.

Cheers :-)

Answer 2

churches, temples, - all the 'shops' where religion is sold, have always depended on s*x as a means of marketing their custom. Women dressed to kill attracted men to flirt with in churches; in temples in India, it is the prospect of ogling women and jostling them that attracts the boys, and the men. In India, godmen thrive by attracting the women who attract the men. there is no doubt about it - s*x is the strongest selling agency for religion.

don't blame he catholic church selectively, though it used the institution of confession and remission of sins as a key hole into the psyche of women worshippers.

Answer 3

A Son of a Black minister a couple of years ago addressed this question. Feminists have been waging a war with the Christian Church and its dogma for better than 4 decades now. Groups like Christians For Biblical Equality are filled with Gender Feminists. Who are attempting to change Christian Dogma. And in Christian Churches the Church has turned decidely hostile towards Men. There are accountability Groups for Men. And none for Women.

Feminists openly attacked Promise Keepers several years ago. Claiming it was a Sexist organization. Groups like God Men have recently sprung up trying to win men back to the Christian Faith. Blogs by Christian Men like Scripturally Single explain why Christian Men are dissatisfied with US Christian Women. Divorce is higher in some Evangelical Christian groups than the populace in general.

This is a repudiation by Women of their Christian beliefs. And the Son of the Black Minister stated openly that the Aging Black Women control the Black Churches and who the Pastor is. He caters to the Women who control the money. Men are leaving Churches that are embracing Feminism.

Christianity Today a leading Christian publication has addressed this issue. Sorry but those who say there is no connection are either misinformed or deliberately misleading folks.

Answer 4

No it's secularism's fault.

Answer 5

No, it's their own fault for having no meaning, for people.

Answer 6

Woah, I would not put the blame of sexist and racism on the Catholic church alone.  Sexism and racism has been around a lot longer than Christianity (well, racism was a bit different but whatever).

As for the drop in attendance, I read a few qualitative studies that suggested that women tended to attend church more often than men and more often associated themselves as "spiritual".  If there is a drop in church attendance, perhaps it is because there is a drop in female attendance?

However, I wouldn't even argue that case.  There have been surges and drops in religion for hundreds of years.  Early America was having this same problem in attendance before the first and second Great Awakening (1700s)

Answer 7

i think people just dont like talking about what the believe in anymore. Since to many Holy wars have gone about that. so people just keep the religion in there homes

Answer 8

Correlation is not causation.

Answer 9

I really hope you aren't blaming feminism for this in seriousness.

The decline in religiosity can be attributed to the fact that nobody feels that they need to be religious anymore. And let's face it: they don't.

Answer 10

Not necessarily, the US is becoming more like western Europe in terms of religious activity. It is becoming something more culturally private than culturally public in my humble opinion.

Answer 11

I'm sure many women stopped attending because they were sick of being blamed for all of human society's woes, especially when all societies were controlled by men, and by proxy, run into the gorund by... well... men.

One of my friends when I was growing up a Catholic in Boston reported to the archdiocese that she was sexually assaulted by a guy who was from a prominent Boston Catholic family.  He was ordered to do the rosary however many times and do community service.

She recieved the same punishment.

This was in the year 1999.

Sickening, isn't it?

In any case, I was angered by the way that s*x ed in school (back when they had that) made me feel as though I was a ticking time bomb of rape and sexual oppression waiting to go off, even though I'm about as benign as a human gets.  I can't imagine it'd be any different for a woman who grew up hearing that she was a vile temptress whose innate immorality would corrupt any innocent, pure man she encountered in the wrong circumstance.  Who wants to hear that they're sick, evil and twisted day in and day out?  Who wants to follow a religion that states or insinuates that?  I wouldn't go either.

Oh wait, I don't go... nevermind.