Saturday, May 23, 1998

They know where they ought to be

By Bob Greene

LYNCHBURG, Va - Sunday morning in America - particularly this deeply religious part of America - makes you stop and think about how the bad news of the world always shoves aside the good. The front pages are constantly filled with stories about crime and warfare and human cruelty - but what about the people who quietly go to their houses of worship each Sunday. Why isn't that big news?

Uh, it sort of is. And not in the way you'd expect.

For years, public opinion polls have indicated about 40 percent of Americans attend church or synagogue every week. That's what people tell pollsters. A pretty impressive number: 40 percent. If four out of 10 Americans are going to a house of worship each weekend, just how bad off can the country really be?

Somewhat worse off than we believe, it turns out. At least that's the conclusion you can draw from a story in The Christian Century magazine.

The story - with the coverline "The Real Data on Church Attendance" - is written by C. Kirk Hadaway and Penny Long Marler. Hadaway is minister for research and evaluation at the United Church of Christ's Board for Homeland Ministries, and Marler is associate professor of religion and philosophy at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala. They have done research on how many Americans actually do go to church regularly.

And just as human nature leads many people to lie when they are asked if they have done something bad - leads them to say no - human nature apparently also leads many people to shade the truth when asked if they have done something good.

When Hadaway and Marler conducted their first study several years ago, they found that instead of 40 percent of Protestants attending church - the number they had been led to believe was true - the number was more like 20 percent. Instead of 50 percent of Catholics attending church - that's what the polls told them - they found 28 percent. "In other words, actual church attendance was about half the rate indicated by national public opinion polls."

Why is this?

If a person is asked by a pollster whether he or she regularly uses hard drugs, that person may say no, even if he or she is a drug user. Many drug addicts are not proud of what they do - they don't even like to admit it to themselves. If a person is asked whether he or she is a thief, even the thieves might say no. You may steal, but you don't necessarily want to tell the world - or to admit it to yourself.

And it seems this works the other way, too. If a pollster asks if you have gone to church in the last week, and you haven't, you just might say yes anyway. That's what Hadaway and Marler believe.

Which brings us to the most illuminating part of this:

There is actually good news to be found in the faulty church-attendance polls.

As the researchers report: "Active church members who did not happen to attend church last Saturday or Sunday are expected to say no in response to (a pollster's) question. But this creates problems for people who see themselves as committed church members and 'weekly attenders.'

"Many have an internal rule that says, 'I am a person who attends church every week.' Saying 'No, I did not attend church' violates that internal rule and identifies them, symbolically, as nonchurchgoers. On the other hand, saying 'Yes, I went' is consistent with their internal rule, counts them on the side of active churchgoers, is in line with their usual behavior (including what they hope to do next week) and affirms their support of the church."

So if the pessimistic view of this study is that not nearly as many people go to houses of worship each week as the polls show, then the optimistic view is this:

People want to be known as churchgoers. Not just by the polltakers - but by themselves. "Church attendance is less strong and stable than poll data show," Hadaway and Marler write. "Still, many Americans continue to hold the church in great esteem and define themselves in traditional religious terms."

When Americans look in the mirror, they want to see, looking back at them, people who attend houses of worship every week. Even if that's a not-entirely-accurate vision. We'll really be in trouble not when attendance at houses of worship drops - but when people stop caring enough to think it matters.

Chicago Tribune