My Corona Diary (Take XLIII): Earth To God/Satan, Your Latest Poll Numbers Look Wobbly

<"The Road To Hell (Blah, Blah, Blah...)":
The Reckoner>

<i.>

We've all been hearing a lot about poll numbers lately, which isn't a surprise, with the another Presidential donnybrook looming only five months from now. Amid the usual chatter about the usual suspects, and the usual subjects (Trump's numbers rising, despite indictments; DeSantis's standing continues to shrink; voters feeling dour about a Biden-Trump rematch), it seems that God and Satan might want to check their latest numbers, too.

At least, that's the conclusion of a Gallup poll of May 1,011 adults, conducted May 1-24, Yahoo reports. Seventy-four and 69 percent of adults believe in God and Heaven, respectively. However, belief in Hell and the Devil clocked in lower, at 59 and 58 percent, respectively.

Across the board, Gallup continues to record decreasing belief in God and Heaven (16 points), Hell (12 points), and the Devil, and angels (10 percent), since the venerable pollster began tracking the issue in 1944. Lower income and less educated Americans are more likely to believe in a higher power; so are older people, Republicans, women, and those who already attend church. Belief runs lower among Democrats and independents, making all those Republican jibes against "godless liberals" seem less stereotypical than you'd think.

Overall, about 17 percent of us pooh-pooh any connection to the Almighty, the lowest such percentage recorded. That's a big change from the 98 percent who declared belief in God, which held until 2011, when it dipped below 90 percent of the time -- and this year, when it fell to 81 percent.

What accounts for these changes? You could chalk it up some of it to weariness over the constant barrage of historic events we're being forced to witness, over and over and over, like some horrible "Saturday Night Live" sketch from the show's direst season. The COVID-19 bomb, I suspect, prompted similar outcries to those caught on the wrong end of events like World War II.

"If God can intervene, 

why doesn't he do it? 

Where is he? 

What's taking so long?"

<"God's Not In Right Now, So..."/The Reckoner>

<ii.>

Somehow, though, I don't think that's the whole story, honestly. Personal trauma, or failure to navigate it, does play a role in loss of belief, or a switch to one that seemingly squares better with the arbitrary logic of whatever current events we're experiencing.

But I've also come to believe that how people experience their faith has some bearing on when and where they part company with it. We've all seen this movie before, at churches that we've previously attended. You know the scenes by heart, like the cheeky, chirpy young woman who rushed to welcome you, hot coffee in hand, at that first worship service.

There's also the low-key, graying, fifty- or sixtysomething longtimer who serves on all the committees that matter, and those that don't, amid dropping subtle hints about "opportunities for service" (because you haven't realized yet, with so many comings and goings, few stick around to serve for long).

Let's not forget the endless stream of soccer moms, with herds of children to supervise, and well-heeled Boomer men, who tell you more about their investment and landscaping priorities than you could ever imagine, or want to hear again.

But you smile and shrug roll your eyes on your own time, because you want to make connections, right? You go along to get along, and all that.

As the weeks and months of services, committee meetings, movie nights, and other assorted events unfolds, you get used to seeing these new faces, till they're practically part of the furniture, until...one day...they're gone... and you don't see them anymore. They disappear into some twilight area, and are usually not mentioned again.

"What happened?" you ask yourself. "Where they did go, exactly?" Sometimes, you hear the whole story -- so-and-so got divorced, followed a new job, or just moved away -- but more often not, you're left to fill in the blanks yourself

I remember three women in our congregation, who decided to celebrate Women's Month by filming a video, singing some popular song whose name escapes me now. By the time we actually got to see it, they were all long gone. 

<"Satan's Not In Right Now, So..."/The Reckoner>

<iii.>

Such news amounts to a humorous footnote, but it makes for a slightly concerning one, too. When I sorted out what had happened, I found myself thinking, "What brought on that development? Did we scare them off, somehow?"

I'm seeing these divides in my own household, as The Squawker finds our congregation's progressive posture increasingly at odds with more traditional Christian beliefs that have lain dormant for five or six years. On the other hand, I may end up staying, simply because I like most of the people. They've treated us well.

The interactive aspects of our church remain a major draw for me, too. Our services are lay led, meaning the congregation plays a role in planning them, and members can give brief talks (myself included). Our minister shortens his own sermon, one that seldom breaks the 10- or 15-minute mark, or even skips it, if we're running short on time, since we still do hybrid services (in-person and Zoom).

That's a sea change from more traditional (read: stodgier) churches I've experienced, where the minister drones for 45 minutes at a stretch, and rarely allows anyone to get a word in edgewise during other activities, like Bible studies. 

I don't want to endure that situation again, and The Squawker has promised not to take me back there, if I end up leaving later.

On the flipside, we owe some $600 in pledges from last year. Between the usual bills, and all the greedflation that we're seeing -- those $4.50 cartons of milk here, $7 mayo jars there -- I have no idea how we're going to make it up, since I have a contract job that ends Friday. 

Did we bite off more than we could chew, pledging X amount of dollars a week? Maybe. Possibly. I guess. But like so many others, I never saw those $7 mayo jars coming. 

At the same time, it's a strangely familiar experience. It reminds me of a telling conversation that I had with a previous minister, the kind who often intoned, "If you don't work, you don't eat," even as he promoted a 10 percent tithe that I couldn't afford, and the sort of Republican politics that I couldn't stand. 

Whenever those awkward subjects came up, I typically responded, "The sad fact is, you can work your damnedest, and hardest, and still starve, through no fault of your own."

Or, as I told other gung ho evangelicals I'd encounter in my travels: "I have no doubt that God will provide. Whether I can work on his budget, or his schedule, is an altogether different matter entirely." Apparently, Gallup has drawn similar conclusions, judging by their summary paragraph:

"And while belief in God has declined in recent years, Gallup has documented steeper drops in church attendance, church membership and confidence in organized religion, suggesting that the practice of religious faith may be changing more than basic faith in God."

In short, the same advice still goes whether it's giving an old favorite's latest, greatest recorded masterpiece one more chance, or sticking with a church that you somehow still love, or have merely come to tolerate -- let your heart be your guide, and sometimes, your gut. That's all you can do these days. --The Reckoner

Links To Go (And Now, For Some Suitable
Soundtrack Music For You Swinging Non-Believers):

Gallup: Belief In God Dips
To 81% In US, A New Low:
https://news.gallup.com/poll/393737/belief-god-dips-new-low.aspx

Ian Hunter: God (Take I) (with lyrics!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBRMFKfWK_E

The Livingroom Busker: isgodaman (Cover Version!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIJfWkRJBSY

The Snivelling Shits: isgodaman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndd3xV-zJdQ

The Snivelling Shits: Lyrics: isgodaman:
https://able2know.org/topic/48778-1