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Wall Street Journal
Discovers Law Doesn't Make Christians
By, Rev. Jack Cascione
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The Wall Street Journal writes on 9/11/02, that even 9/11
isn't enough to scare people into being Christians. Before you read
the article from the Wall Street Journal, please read the following thesis
from Walther's "Law and Gospel."
"Thesis XXIII: In the nineteenth place, the Word of God is not
rightly divided when an attempt is made, by means of the demands or the
threats or the promises of the Law, to induce the unregenerate to put away
their sins and engage in good works and thus become godly; on the other
hand, when an endeavor is made, by means of the commands of the Law rather
than by the admonitions of the Gospel, to urge the regenerate to do
good." (page 381)
Walther explains that people cannot be coerced into faith and good works
by the preaching of the law. The law cannot create faith.
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The Religion Bubble: Churches Try to Recapture 9/11 Crowds
By Katy Mclaughlin
Staff Reporter of the Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/0,,SB1031681981556422835,00.html
Sept. 11 is often called a day that changed everything. But when it
comes to how Americans practice religion, it didn't change much of
anything.
Despite a brief surge - churches, synagogues and other spiritual centers
were packed with 25% more people immediately after last Sept. 11 --
attendance subsided within weeks. And now, a year after the fact, churches
from coast to coast report that their pews are back to normal occupancy,
and in some cases attendance has actually slipped. At St. Paul's
Episcopal Church in Dedham, Mass., attendance fell 10% to 15% this summer
from the same time last year. On the Sunday after Sept. 11, the Rev.
Edward Rice was thrilled when his congregation doubled in size. "But
I preached after Martin Luther King was assassinated, and after the 1987
stock-market crash," says Rev. Rice. "Judging by those
experiences, I figured that after Sept. 11 the crowds would thin pretty
quickly."
The Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., has seen its 44% surge in
attendance immediately after Sept. 11th dwindle sharply over the year. In
spite of holding special prayer services, a patriotic concert and handing
out red, white and blue lawn signs reading "God Bless America,"
three-quarters of the newcomers to the Southern Baptist congregation quit
coming.
Ann Madden, who attends Saint Vincent's, a Catholic church in
Philadelphia, says the parish was flooded with extra visitors last fall.
"It's a lot easier to get a seat now," she says. The
post-Sept. 11 spiritual "bubble" underscores what seems to be an
immutable fact of American life. Despite periodic peaks and dips, the
percentage of Americans who say they regularly attend church has remained
steady for decades. It is something like "the CNN effect" in
television. When calamity strikes, viewers tune in and ratings soar. Then
when the smoke clears, they click the remote and ratings tail off.
Nationwide, the proportion of churchgoers -- about half of all adults
flocked to religious services just after Sept. 11 -- has settled back to
about 40%, according to a study by Barna Research Group, which studies
religion. Indeed, according to many surveys over three decades, four in 10
Americans have consistently reported attending religious services.
That proportion may be inflated, however. Several other studies have found
that Americans tend to exaggerate their church attendance, and the
percentage of regular churchgoers may be closer to 20%.
Historically, religious attendance has peaked during times of national
crisis, just as individuals seek the church as a refuge when their lives
are shaken by divorce or a death in the family. And even a catastrophic
event like Sept. 11 apparently isn't enough to break an ingrained habit of
using religion as a short-term fix rather than a steady habit. Rev. Rice
of Massachusetts notes that the sex-abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic
church have contributed to broader skepticism toward organized religion.
Still, some religious communities have found that the September spikes in
attendance have held up. Niles Goldstein, rabbi of The New Shul, a
synagogue in New York City, says that he saw "members coming out of
the woodwork," right after the World Trade Center attacks. But
while attendance slacked off after the High Holidays, membership is still
up about 20%. Rabbi Goldstein partially credits the fact that his
congregation serves lower Manhattan, the neighborhood of the former World
Trade Center.
And some Islamic communities have experienced the opposite trajectory.
Immediately after Sept. 11, attendance at the Islamic Society of San Diego
mosque plunged about 50% for nearly a month. Spokesman Omaran Abdeen says
that several hate crimes, including a bomb scare and graffiti on the
mosque, scared away congregants. But after about a month, attendance
returned to normal, and throughout the year it has steadily climbed about
20%. "The Muslim community had a common negative experience,
and that always brings people together," says Mr. Abdeen. Adds Hodan
Hassan, a spokeswoman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations:
"Anecdotally, I can tell you that attendance is up at mosques around
the country,"
Given the difficulty of keeping the faithful in the fold, traumatic events
can be opportune times for organized religion. Many churches tried to
encourage newcomers with added programs after last fall's terrorist
attacks. St. Paul's in Massachusetts brought in Islamic scholars, for
example, and the nation's 520 Greek Orthodox Churches added special
services throughout the fall.
But Father Nektarios Morrow, a spokesman for the Greek Orthodox
Archdiocese, says that these efforts aren't the key to growing a religious
community. "You can't rely on a tragedy," to augment the
church's ranks, he says. "The clergymen have to cultivate those
relationships over time."
Write to Katy McLaughlin at katy.mclaughlin@wsj.com
Updated September 11, 2002
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September 11, 2002 |