As you can see, several of the Mainline Protestant denominations have dropped steadily over the last 100 years. At the start of last century, a full 20% of American youth were raised as Methodists. Now it's about 3%. Protestants and Presbyterians have likewise dropped. Episcopalians, in contrast, have dropped a bit, but there weren't that many to begin with.
Baptists, however, have kept their numbers at 19% to 24% the whole time, though they have lost some of the gains they made in the mid 20th century.
3 comments:
I wonder if this result isn't a function socioeconomic status and fertility. Fertility rates drop as socioeconomic status rises.
Presbyterians and Episcopalians stared out much higher in status in 1910 than did the others. They were already having fewer children so little change in socioeconomic status meant little change in fertility.
Methodist socioeconomic status rose considerably over the past century and fertility fell.
Baptists have not risen in socioeconomic status, at least in the way the other denominations have, and fertility rates remain high.
Yes, I bet that's part of it, though it seems like there's too much change for that to explain everything.
I agree. I just suspect it is probably a significant contributing factor.
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