{"id":1417365,"date":"2022-04-04T07:30:28","date_gmt":"2022-04-04T11:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1417365"},"modified":"2022-04-04T07:30:32","modified_gmt":"2022-04-04T11:30:32","slug":"if-you-want-america-to-come-back-to-life-get-yourself-and-your-friends-back-to-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/if-you-want-america-to-come-back-to-life-get-yourself-and-your-friends-back-to-church\/","title":{"rendered":"If You Want America To Come Back To Life, Get Yourself And Your Friends Back To Church"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">34<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fif-you-want-america-to-come-back-to-life-get-yourself-and-your-friends-back-to-church%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1417365&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"row justify-content-center\">\n<div class=\"col-12\">\n<figure class=\"article-thumbnail mb-30 mb-sm-60\">\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Several years ago Dan Edmunds, a diplomate of the American Psychotherapy Association, said, \u201cOne of the most destructive problems is the breakdown of community, and it is this breakdown that has often led to the breakdown of persons. Though we may put many around us, we are alone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For decades, a major source of community for many Americans was their local house of worship. While those attending may have had varying degrees of commitment to living out their faith, they would gather to enjoy fellowship with each other as they passed through the stages of life \u2014 from childhood all the way to life\u2019s eventual end.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, fewer Americans are enjoying that community these days, and we are worse off for it as a nation. While there may be a lot of people coming in and out of our lives, fewer have the deep, abiding ties that are developed within a religious body. As a result, Americans are more alone than ever.<\/p>\n<h2>Shunning Services<\/h2>\n<p>A few weeks ago, a new Marist <a href=\"https:\/\/media.deseret.com\/media\/misc\/pdf\/faith-in-america\/Faith-in-America-Survey-Summary-Report.pdf\">poll<\/a> found that while 54 percent of Americans still believe in the \u201cGod of the Bible,\u201d they increasingly shun religious services \u2014 and the numbers are even worse for younger generations.<\/p>\n<p>This is the result of the trickle-down as religious attendance declined with each passing generation. As Daniel Cox, director of the Survey Center on American Life, writes, \u201cThe parents of millennials and Generation Z did less to encourage regular participation in formal worship services and model religious behaviors in their children than had previous generations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As it has been said, values are caught and not taught, and millennials and Generation Zers are seeing the lack of commitment from those older than them and are following their example. As a result, the rising generation is feeling increasingly isolated.<\/p>\n<p>While a slim majority still say they believe in the God of the Bible, their lack of connection with a local religious body has profound consequences not only for themselves but also for our society as a whole.<\/p>\n<p>Compared to those who either infrequently attend religious services or do not attend at all, regular attenders are more actively involved in their communities and have stronger social ties with others. Is it any wonder that the unraveling of civility and our social fabric started to occur when attending weekly services became a kind of cafeteria option rather than a priority?<\/p>\n<h2>Lockdowns Killed People\u2019s Connections<\/h2>\n<p>This has been exacerbated by Covid-19, as many houses of worship chose to video stream their services online. This means many could try to worship and watch the sermon in solitude yet never have to connect with others as part of a church body. While video streaming may have provided a new avenue for people to receive religious instruction, it also created an attendant and unstated religious isolation.<\/p>\n<p>Without a rock such as a local religious body to stand upon, we have witnessed more people becoming morally, emotionally, and physically adrift \u2014 something we see played out daily across the country. In addition, with the loss of commitment to a religious body comes a loss of a vital institution that has always been a source of connection with others.<\/p>\n<p>America was built on civic groups and other associations, like attending religious services. It was these associations that Alexis de Tocqueville observed \u201cform a society,\u201d and in their absence, society disintegrates into individualism, moral confusion, and silos of separatism.<\/p>\n<h2>Worshipping Alone Becomes Not Worshipping<\/h2>\n<p>But on the bright side, Michael Conte, a Marist poll researcher, said, \u201c[Americans] continue to consider their religious affiliation to be a key component of their personal identity.\u201d Many Americans still see their families, religious teachings, and religious leaders as primary sources of moral guidance \u2014 in fact, 7 in 10 respondents in the poll said America would be better off if we prayed more. <\/p>\n<p>The famous sociologist Robert Putnam famously observed we were \u201cbowling alone\u201d more often in America as civic association began to decline. Worshipping alone would be a sad corollary.<\/p>\n<p>If we are going to restore community in America, one of the first places to start is to get people back to houses of worship, instead of watching sermons on TV or not attending. Such a community changes the shape and form of our social priorities and focus \u2014 from self to selfless \u2014 as we become connected with others in the common bond of faith.<\/p>\n<p> Such a vibrant and renewed community will bring restoration to our current fragmented state and bring us back together again for the common good \u2014 for us and society. This would be soulcraft at its most important, and the kind of regeneration our country deeply needs.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Tim Goeglein is the Vice President of Government and External Relations at Focus on the Family in Washington DC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Several years ago Dan Edmunds, a diplomate of the American Psychotherapy Association, said, \u201cOne of the most destructive problems is the breakdown of community,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":594,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1417365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1417365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/594"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1417365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1417365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1417365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1417365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1417365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}