Quote:Ah yeah?

Which part?

Every freaking word of this gibberish 

Catholic population in Germany drops below 20 million for the first time

The total number of Catholics in Germany is 19,769,237, of which only 6.6% — just over 1.3 million Catholics — practice their faith and regularly attend Mass on Sundays. Last year, there were 20,345,872 Catholics living in Germany.

With a population of 83.6 million, Catholics now make up less than a quarter of the population. Less than 2% of the population are attending Mass.

In 2024, the Church recorded more than 321,000 resignations (a formal process of leaving the Church by declaration after which the person pays no church tax and is provided a letter of excommunication), compared with only about 6,600 new members and readmissions. In addition, the DBK reported about 116,000 baptisms (the previous year there were more than 131,000) but also almost 213,000 burials.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/...first-time

Barna: America needs 'spiritual renewal' as fewer than half of Americans believe God exists

The research found that overall, 60% of Americans do not believe God exists or that He “affects lives.” Nearly half of self-identified Christians (47%) and a slightly smaller share of theologically identified born-again Christians (40%) said the same.

https://www.christianpost.com/news/less-...urvey.html

Good education, and expanding knowledge will always chip away at superstition, but if people are happy and content and have what they need, then this goes a long way to negating the need for those superstitions in the first place. There's a reason that religions are in decline in developed democracies, but increasing in the poorest regions of undeveloped countries.

Poverty, ignorance, and lack of opportunity, are all catnip to superstition.

(March 28, 2025 at 11:08 am)Sheldon Wrote: Good education, and expanding knowledge will always chip away at superstition, but if people are happy and content and have what they need, then this goes a long way to negating the need for those superstitions in the first place. There's a reason that religions are in decline in developed democracies, but increasing in the poorest regions of undeveloped countries.

Poverty, ignorance, and lack of opportunity, are all catnip to superstition.

And that's how we ended up with the Cult of Trump.

(March 28, 2025 at 11:08 am)Sheldon Wrote: Good education, and expanding knowledge will always chip away at superstition, but if people are happy and content and have what they need, then this goes a long way to negating the need for those superstitions in the first place. There's a reason that religions are in decline in developed democracies, but increasing in the poorest regions of undeveloped countries.

Poverty, ignorance, and lack of opportunity, are all catnip to superstition.

Given the statistical decline of Christianity in Britain the collapse projects back to a point in the late 1910s or early 1920s.
Looking at the period in more detail the principle thing in religion at the time was something called 'Revivalism'.
This looks likely to be the prime suspect for 'the thing that killed christianity'.

One of those cases where demography is destiny. From 1981 to 1996 we see the so called rise of the nones. Simultaneously, we see the rise of nominal christianity, and it's inevitable descent from there to the culture war.

Christians are demolishing Christianity in the US through their boy Trump.

Quote:America Could Lose 10 Million Christians to Mass Deportation

Roughly 1 in 12 Christians in the US are at risk of deportation or live with someone who is, according to a new study by the Center for the Study at Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. More than 1 in 18 of the country’s evangelicals could be impacted by mass deportations.

Taken to its full extent, that would entail rounding up and shipping off an estimated 14 million people—a population the size of Pennsylvania.

As of the end of 2024, more than 10 million US Christians were undocumented or otherwise had legal status the administration could revoke.

The president has already ended special programs that allowed more than three-quarters of a million migrants to live and work legally in the US.

The world’s migrants are disproportionately Christian, and demographers say they are helping stanch secularization in countries like the US and Canada.

Over the last two months, agents have arrested worship leaders and church planters. They have surprised undocumented immigrants leaving Sunday services.

Hispanic churches could be hit especially hard. Around 80 percent of unauthorized immigrants in the US are from Latin America. By some estimates, up to 1 in 4 Hispanic Protestant churches have pastors and members who could be deported.

“The administration’s mass deportation policies and congressional support of that would be in fact a church decline strategy,” said Walter Kim, president of the National Association of Evangelicals.

But deportation isn’t the only way congregants disappear. The prospect of being detained is keeping worshipers at home and away from church. It is also pushing some immigrants to leave the country voluntarily.

The Gordon-Conwell study warns that the administration’s immigration crackdown “may have devastating consequences for particular congregations. In some cases, if the pastor is deported, the congregation may be unable to find a new leader.”

https://www.christianitytoday.com/2025/0...ell-study/

Albany diocese may close up to one-third of its churches, schools and offices

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany may close up to one-third of its buildings, due to a “financial and maintenance crisis,” Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger said in a letter sent to the community Monday.

The diocese includes 126 parish churches, as well as some offices and schools.

The diocese is in bankruptcy and was in mediation for the last year on how to settle claims regarding priests who are alleged to have sexually abused children.

Hundreds of accusers have brought claims of child sexual abuse committed by priests and others employed by the Albany diocese or its affiliated entities. The diocese has insurance, but in other cases an insurance company has argued that they do not have to pay for deliberate, criminal acts.

Settlements for sexual abuse “have something to do with it, but that’s not the only reason for money being low,” spokeswoman Kathy Barrans said. “We don’t have enough money to pay for all of the buildings and we don’t have people filling all the buildings. There’s fewer people in the pews. Donations are down.”

The diocese already announced that it is closing two schools at the end of this school year: All Saints Catholic Academy, one of its three K-8 schools in Albany, and Sacred Heart School in Troy.

https://www.timesunion.com/education/art...264682.php

Do you think they'll be successful?

Quote:Initiative aims to boost Catholic priest vocations by shifting narrative on the priesthood

“By sharing stories of priestly heroism and compassion, we hope to inspire young men to recognize the priesthood as a profound and fulfilling vocation,” IIC President John M. Haas said in a statement.

An IIC news release notes that the number of active Catholic priests globally has dropped from about 60,000 to only 35,000 from 1970 to 2020, even though the number of Catholics has risen by 20 million people within that time frame.

“In the next 10 years, 20 years, we’re going to see a dramatic dropoff of priests who are able to remain active,” he said.

Our culture “is becoming more secular, just overall,” he noted, but the declining trend in priests is more severe.

“It’s not a 1:1 ratio that would explain the priesthood,” Haas said. He argued there is a negative perception about the priesthood among many young people rooted in Church scandals but that those scandals reflect a “very small group of people — bad actors.”

Haas added that a major part of the initiative is to “start changing perception” because there are “so many good priests doing noble, heroic … things.”

“We’re sharing all kinds of stories, but one of the things we want to make sure we’re doing is there’s going to be a wide representation,” he added.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/...priesthood