Nearly One-Third Of Americans Don’t Attend Church

This week the Barna Group of Ventura, California released the results of a new survey conducted in January. George Barna, president of the Barna Research Group estimates that about 73 million adult American do not attend any kind of church. When children and teenagers are added to those figures, about 100 million of the US population does not attend church. Those are some very big numbers, big enough, in fact, that should those 100 million represent an independent nation, that nation would be the eleventh most populous on the earth. But why are so many Americans disconnecting themselves from church? According to other surveys, 59 percent of all Americans believe that religion is "very important". Barna offers a little bit of insight into this situation. He thinks that most Americans feel that since they have accomplished something in their lives, that they do not "believe that God, Jesus, religion, the Bible, faith or Christianity will help them overcome the struggles they face." Author and speaker Martin Zender says that most churches are no longer offering what people really need. "People are looking for comfort and answers," Mr. Zender told the Washington Times, "the reason people are leaving church now is they have serious questions…. Churches offer musical productions and food, but they are not answering the questions."