Christianity on decline: South Baptists lose half a million members in 2022

[Hydra009]

Once a denomination of 16.3 million, the SBC has declined by 1.5 million members since 2018, and by more than 3 million members since 2006. The COVID-19 pandemic played a role in the downturn, as did the reality that as older members die off, there are fewer young people to replace them.

The Southern Baptist Convention is the largest Protestant denomination in the US.  It should be gaining members purely from population growth, albeit slowly (US population grew +0.4% in 2022)

Years ago when I got into the demographics of Christianity in the US (2008ish?) , Evangelical groups were growing quickly, mainly through absorbing mainline Protestants.  But obviously, this growth was misleading and temporary - more the result of cannibalizing other Christian groups than attracting non-Christians.  In fact, I'd say that the whole evangelical approach kinda runs into a brick wall when you get to the point that there is basically no one in the world who hasn't been preached at.

In fact, Christianity across the world has grown mainly by shifting from Europe and North America to South America, Africa, and Asia from 1900 to 2000:

In 1900, 80 percent of the world's Christians lived in Europe and North America. A century later, nearly 70 percent of the world's Christians live in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Source

It should be noted that the Global South is generally much less wealthy and educated than the Global North, but the South is more fecund, so this shift has some implications...

Imo, the Global South will likely undergo a similar demographic transition as the Global North and experience similar secularizing trends and then well, they say all good things come to an end.  I suppose bad things do, too.

[ferdmonger]

Good.  I see no reason to promote the absurd.

[Cassia]

Just read what the author says in this para, and then what the conclusion is. What a moron.

The average Christian in the world today, historian Dana Robert reminds us, is a woman from Africa or Latin America. Her family has little money. Her husband farms, and he scrounges up short-term cash jobs when he can. She tries to sell a few things at the market. The children haven't had their shots, and they get sick. She struggles to keep them in school, where there are no textbooks. The political situation is fragile, and the national government doesn't get much done, while local officials demand bribes. Our sister reads her Bible, and its accounts of famine, plagues, poverty, displacement and exile, tyranny, cronyism, and corruption — which seem distant to most of us in the global North and West — are immediately relevant to her. The Bible is her book.

We tend to think of the Christianity of the global South and East as being quite fragile, and still dependent on us for help. But the time has come for North Americans to listen and to learn from our Christian brothers and sisters, who have much to teach us

[Gawdzilla Sama]

If she can read, that is.

[Hydra009]

Just read what the author says in this para, and then what the conclusion is. What a moron.

Yeah, I don't understand what sort of lesson I'm supposed to be learning from people in the Global South enduring hardships and being highly religious.

Seems to me like the real lesson is in the Global North largely moving away from religion and living in relative peace and prosperity (while a causal connection is difficult to determine, there does seem to be a broad correlation between secularism and better living conditions)

[Blackleaf]

Well, it definitely helps when a society doesn't trust 2,000+-year-old myths over science. It's good that Baptists are losing numbers, but it's not quick enough. I'm confident the human species will leave religion behind eventually, but we're going to be long gone by then.