ABSTRACT
Once upon a time, it was common knowledge among social scientists that people in North America were becoming less religious, less inclined toward their various gods, rituals, and religious institutions. They were secularizing, choosing the rational explanations and dubious comforts of modernity over the traditional consolations offered by religious belief and practice. As worship attendance became less of a priority for many of their parishioners, Christian churches that once boasted thousands of active members were suddenly struggling to meet their annual budgets. Rather than successful venues for religious socialization, Sunday schools seemed to turn into brightly decorated storerooms designed to keep children out of the sanctuary so their parents could worship in peace. And as those children grew up, many of them opted out of the sanctuary for good. Toward the end of the 1960s and into the 1970s, as membership decline in mainline Protestant denominations became more obvious, scholars explained this phenomenon as a “secularization” of society, a
gradual drift away from the need for religion as a social force, a cultural resource, and a personal wellspring of strength and inspiration.
