Most black churches are actually quite conservative in all sorts of ways, albeit, sure, they're more likely to look at the world from a black community perspective. Not sure where you got the notion that they're "primarily left-leaning", unless by "left-leaning" you mean opposition to racism and political activism in that regard. That's certainly true for Black Protestant churches, it's an important theme...but 'family values' are a very big deal. Those churches are having challenges too with younger people, if I understand correctly. That said, much higher attendance and affiliation rates than White Americans.cradleandshoot wrote: ↑Wed Jul 24, 2024 1:53 pmDoes the insertion of primarily left leaning black churches figure into your equation or does that mean I hate black people for even mentioning it? Black or white they represent Christian values do they not?MDlaxfan76 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 24, 2024 11:49 amIMO, that's likely the chief reason, the so heavy insertion of politics with religion. We now see right wing politics superseding religious tenets. Downright idolatry of someone who so clearly violates key tenets of Christianity.jhu72 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 24, 2024 11:12 am35% and growing. We have conservative Christians to thank for that.molo wrote: ↑Tue Jul 23, 2024 8:21 pm I’ll be 75 later this summer. Maybe religion wasn’t always bs, but I can’t remember when it didn’t seem like utter bs to me. I think I believed what the nuns told me in the first couple years of school and maybe have a little credence to what I was taught as an Episcopalian, but I definitely stopped believing in the mythology before I exited middle school. As you age, you experience deaths of people you are close to. I happened to see my share of people die I my career. Never once has a religious belief given my comfort in confronting death and dying. For those like my grandmother, a devout Seventh Day Adventist who great solace from her faith, religion can provide a genuine comfort in viewing the world,
No public funds, in my view, should support religious organizations. Let those who believe pay the bills. Leave the rest big us, about 35% of the US population, alone.
https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/20 ... t-decades/
https://www.prri.org/spotlight/prri-202 ... nd-trends/
I also think that formal religion and religiosity have become associated, particularly in younger Americans' perceptions, with things that are very distasteful, eg sexual predation (and institutional coverup) and terrorism.
We see quite clear 'values' gaps between formal, 'conservative' religious demands and younger Americans' own ethical values. However, that's not really new, as folks like my dad left the Catholic Church because of their stance in the '50's and '60's towards contraception... a precursor move to what we've seen in later periods with regard to abortion, gender, female priests, etc. And then the shock of understanding how gross and deep the institutional coverup of sexual predators in the clergy had been.
Much the same has happened in other "conservative" denominations, same dynamics of values gap and shock over coverups, whether sexual or financial.
It's not as if most young people don't have strong or clear ethical values, it's that they don't look to formal religious institutions to tell them what they should be.
https://apnews.com/article/black-protes ... 220573455f#
Read those links and reports, this trend away from formal religion and religiosity isn't something I've made up because I feel like it.