Church loyalty and religiosity are declining
According to a survey, church loyalty and religiosity are declining significantly in Germany. This is the conclusion of the sixth Church Membership Survey (SME) of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD). It was presented at the synod meeting of the EKD in Ulm on Tuesday. "The relationship to the church is increasingly determined by the individual", said Volker Jung, Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the EKD-KMU at the presentation.
According to the study, the group of non-denominational people is growing. At the time of the study, 43 percent of people in Germany were non-denominational. Protestant were 23 percent, Catholic 25 percent. According to the study, 9 percent belonged to other religious communities. If this trend continues, the number of non-denominational people is expected to exceed the 50 percent mark in 2027.
Nevertheless, the goal is not to become more, said Council President Annette Kurschus afterwards. The church must radiate hope and strength, then more people will feel attracted to it again.
According to the study, both church loyalty and religiosity are declining. In addition, the profiles of members of different denominations are converging. According to the study, they expect their church to change fundamentally. According to the study, 80 percent of Protestant and 96 percent of Catholic church members feel this way. In addition to religious communication, they also expect their church to comment on socio-political situations.
The church membership survey was coordinated by the Church Office of the EKD. More than 5,000 people were surveyed between October and December 2022. Data on the topic of church membership has been collected since 1972. What is new in the current survey is that the respondents included not only Protestant church members and non-denominational members, but also Catholics and members of other religious communities.
As the umbrella organization of 20 regional churches, the EKD represents 19.2 million Protestant Christians in Germany. The agenda for Tuesday also included a report from the Sexualized Violence Participation Forum.
Despite the decline in church loyalty and religiosity, some believe that radicalizing hope and strength can attract more people to the church. The survey also discovered that both Protestant and Catholic church members expect their churches to fundamentally change and comment on socio-political situations, not just focus on religious communication.
Source: www.dpa.com
