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Among the habits of the heart that regular attendance at religious services cultivates is a generosity that goes beyond financial support for a particular church, temple or synagogue. So, as regular congregational worship declines, the scholars focused on philanthropy worry that—as religious participation declines—we will see a decline in philanthropic giving of all kinds.
That decline is upon us, though the backdrop of the pandemic we call COVID clouds the conclusion that weakening religious participation causes the decline. Noted researcher Karl Zinsmeister wrote for Philanthropy Roundtable in a 2019 (pre-COVID) article titled “Less God, Less Giving”:
“From its founding, the United States has been the most religious modern nation on earth. And that devotion has fueled many successes in character development, mutual aid, social reform, and national productivity. Yet right from the beginning, American religious activity has been cyclical—flowing and ebbing and flowing again. Historians have identified up to four ‘great awakenings’ in U.S. history where religious conviction surged. In between were periods of backsliding.
The scholars at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IUPUI capture the decline in stark numbers. “The share of Americans donating to charity fell from two-thirds in 2000 to half in 2018, according to a new study released in [July 2021] by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IUPUI. “Just 49.6% of U.S. households made a charitable contribution in 2018, the latest year for which comprehensive data is available. That is a drop of almost 17 percentage points from 2000, when 66.2% of American households gave charitable donations,” the study finds. The researchers do more than quantify the decline, however. They offer at least a partial explanation due to declining religiosity among Americans.
“The study shows that the percentage of U.S. households that donate to religious causes began to decline prior to the Great Recession of 2008-2009. Between 2000 and 2004, 46% of households gave to religious causes, but that steadily declined to 29% in 2018.”
They add: “After hovering between 55% and 57% from 2000 to 2008, the share of households donating to secular causes dropped from 52% in 2010 to a new low of 42% in 2018.”
Again, these are pre-COVID numbers and represent the latest conclusions. Church attendance further dropped during COVID, along with all public assemblies. Let us hope such spiritual deficits do not lead to additional deficits in America’s impulse to give.
And while we’re on the topic of religious observances, it appears the mantle of Indiana’s largest church (highest weekly attendance) has shifted from Hammond Baptist Church to Carmel’s Northview Church.
For decades, Hammond Baptist, a Hoosier church serving south Chicago and northwest Indiana, was our state’s largest congregation, with up to 50,000 worshippers on any given weekend. This was fueled by a bus ministry serving South Chicago youth. The church fell on hard times, and attendance declined but stabilized at around 20,000 pre-COVID. Meanwhile, Northview continued to grow, largely through so-called satellite campuses. At this writing, Northview (where I worship) has 14 locations, including at three prisons, a high school auditorium in rural Putnam County and the YMCA in Marion.
Attendance at Northview is regularly above 20,000, while Hammond Baptist is now below 20,000 post-COVID, as best we know.
Church attendance numbers are notoriously hard to quantify and confirm, but it does appear Northview is now Indiana’s most-attended church. Generosity at this church is also eye-popping, with the church in the middle of a campaign on track to raise $78 million in just two years.•
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Smith is chairman of the Indiana Family Institute and author of “Deicide: Why Eliminating The Deity is Destroying America.” Send comments to ibjedit@ibj.com.
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While religious observance and giving have certainly been affected by Covid, I think that changes in the tax code, particularly changes in the standard deduction, have arguably had a far greater impact on not-for-profit giving by all people. Surprised that it wasn’t mentioned above.
Fair comment. I do think modest exemptions of perhaps $600 were allowed the past two years for non-itemizers for federal taxes. But changes in the tax law certainly impact charitable giving, too.
Revelations talks about a great falling away, there is certainly little hope if your going to church for a tax deduction!