Back to back today at Real Clear Religion:
Ryan Burge, Graphs About Religion
Frank Newport, Gallup
I don't think either story is conclusive about much of anything, and each one in its own way wears blinders.
Unbelievably the first one uses pandemic years 2020-2021 as the end point for its analysis, when Canada forcibly closed down churches all over the country, limited public gatherings to handfuls of people, and citizens generally were afraid to congregate, about which Burge says nothing, and for which he fails to control.
Nor does he mention the hysteria against the churches in Canada which developed in May 2021 over long past and unsubstantiated general mistreatment of indigenous tribes, which describes a present social environment where open church affiliation might be perceived as a liability by people who otherwise might have an inclination to affiliate but no longer do.
Apropos of which, neither does Burge mention that arson attacks against churches in Canada doubled in 2021 to 90 from 31-45 per year on average in the prior decade, and that attacks continue near these high levels through at least 2024.
Canada is recently very openly HOSTILE to religion. Do you think that might have something to do with your stupid facts?
The second story is typical Gallup. It never mentions that the decline in drinking is a dramatic phenomenon amongst Gen Z and Millennials, who also happen to spearhead the decline of religion and the popularity of weed. With which of these is the decline in drinking to be associated? Gallup wants you to think its the religion angle, when I say it is not even simply a phenomenon of drug replacement or of youth, but of youth generally expressing their rebellion against their parents, who still drink and go to church, the hypocrites. Can't you just feel the sneer?
BOOMER HATE is real.
"Or, maybe they just don't have the money to go to the bar."
-- Martin Luther probably
