A Pew Study or a pee-ewe study?

My two most favorite things of newspaper reading are: number one - the Sunday morning Vindicator. (I used to read the "funnies" first. Now I never read them. I read the Business section first, then the Technology section.) The second most favorite - the Saturday morning Vindicator - I read the Religion section religiously. I like to see the "take" the local Vindicator and the Associated Press present on whats happening in the area of spirituality. ( I know - I'm not "normal"; I'll also tell you this - I never read the Sports section.)

Well, this morning there was the recent findings of a interesting study of the Pew Forum of Religion and Public Life. The survey confirms the "no-brainer" hunch that denominational loyalty is fraying.

I found a very provocative comment in the article by the Rev. Eileen Lindner, a Presbyterian minister - "As with most things for Americans religion is a consumer product. So it's not brand loyalty you can rely on. It's marketing, location, and other things. Denominations have been slow to react to that."

Some interesting tidbits I found in the article:

• Many Americans don't want to be associated with with denominations even if they belong to one. (This would definitely include me. (I'll tell you this but don't tell anyone else - I'm a part of a Nazarene church!)
  

• 16% of Americans are not affiliated with any religious tradition - an increase from earlier surveys. Says Alan Wolfe - "What we've been witnessing is a shift from a fixed identity to a fluid identity."
  

• The research identified 20% of nondenominational churchgoers as mainline Protestants. (The mainline tag was applied to people who did not identify themselves as "born-again" or evangelical Christians and to those who said they attend "liberal nondenomiational" or "emergent" churches.)
  

• The nation is on the "cusp" of becoming minority Protestant.
  

In commenting on the findings of the survey Rev. Frank Page, president of the Southern Baptist Convention said, "It points to the shallowness in our society, where people don't care about what really matters. It's a consumer society. People look at what looks good on the surface - the bells and whistles. People are apt to ignore substantial issues they deem unimportant."

Ignoring substantial issues because I deem them unimportant... Is this what consumerism does to us?

That stinks. PU

Reacting to these findings by tweaking our marketing strategies? That really stinks.

As far as denominational loyalty and/or Protestantism shrinking - I think that smells pretty good.