Hopping toward commitment

Afew days ago, as I was thinking ahead to Easter, a memory nearly two decades old popped up unbidden. Perhaps it was subconscious word association — Easter, bunnies, belief — and there it was, a disquieting comment from a longago sermon.

A major news item may have churnedit up, too: For the first time in the Gallup Poll’s history, membership in America’s houses of worship has fallen below 50%. After hovering around 70% from the late 1930s to the late ’90s, membership plummeted in the new millennium and now stands at 47%, according to a poll released Monday.

A study published in late January by Pew Research Center, however, shows that 3 in 10 Americans report their faith growing stronger during the pandemic and sense their friends’ and colleagues’ faith strengthening, too.

This weekend, as so many of us celebrate Easter or Passover, how exactly are these trends intersecting in our lives?

For a year or two in the early aughts, I played piano at a burgeoning new church in a Pittsburgh suburb. I loved nearly everything about it — that we met in a school, that the occasional old hymn popped up in the excellent band’s mix, that the sermons were smart and relevant.

One Sunday, though, a pastor expressed frustration with “bunny believers” — people who hop from church to church but won’t settle on one. His words struck a nerve, because I’d just left an urban congregation due to an embittering and hypocritical affront. He himself had launched this ministry after a significant falling-out withco-leaders at his former post.

All these conflicts unfolded, to my knowledge, the way they’re supposed to: openly addressed, with the parties either resolving the matter or peaceably moving on. But with or without conflict, Americans are always on the go. We change jobs and residences much more often than people in almost any nation on earth, and when that happens, other affiliations are disrupted, too.

Additionally, social scientists have been studying our growing disinclination toward group activities for years now. Remember “Bowling Alone”? Published in 2000, it was Robert Putnam’s in-depth look at how our “social capital” — our sense of and commitment to community — had declined since the 1950s.

So when we participate in a church or temple without joining, or “hop” from one to the next, is it commitment-phobia? An ongoing effort to sort out what we believe? A desire to keep people and obligations at arms’ length to make the inevitable moving on less painful?

The new Gallup poll found that much of the decline in membership reflects a significant growth in the number of Americans, particularly the young, who report no preference in their faith. Not joining a particular institution makes sense, then. It’s honest.

Gallop leaves the impression of waning faith, but that’s simplistic. In “The Myth of the Dying Church,” Glenn T. Stanton explores similar research more broadly and deeply, with unexpected insights and conclusions.

Within Christianity, yes, “mainline” Protestant churches have declined precipitously, but those with a more traditional Jesus-oriented message are robust. Overall, the number of people who pray often and attend services at least weekly is actually rising. Religion isn’t waning so much as it’s shifting.

Regardless of affiliation, people still have an overwhelmingly positive view of religion’s societal role. They should: Vibrant faith communities make a huge economic impact. One major study’s mid-range estimate put it at $1.2 trillion annually.

Houses of worship also provide critical social services. U.S. congregations of all types offer 120,000 unemployment programs, 130,000 substance-abuse recovery programs and 26,000 HIV/AIDS ministries. But it requires commitment to sustain these contributions. “Bunny believers” make that pretty difficult.

As we begin to emerge from COVID’s isolation, many of us are struck by how much we need to be together. Even when standing 6 feet apart and bumping elbows instead of grasping hands, simply being in the same space is thrilling.

There’s work and love to be shared and joy to be gained. This Easter, why not stop hopping?