The numbers are alarming for churches. This year, too, the Catholic Church and the Protestants (EKD) have lost tens of thousands of believers through resignations. This threatens them with a new negative record. And the remaining members are also thinking about saying goodbye.
The churches in Germany are having to contend with mass disertions again this year. In Munich alone, a total of 26 008 people left the Catholic and Protestant churches by December 15, according to a survey by the dpa news agency. That is almost 4 000 more than in 2021.
According to the Berlin civil courts, 18 018 believers in the federal capital turned their backs on the churches in the first three quarters of 2022 alone. That is around 4 000 more exits than in the same period last year.
In Hanover, too, the number of believers in the two major Christian denominations declined. By mid-December, 7 000 people had left the church. That’s more than all of 2021, when the number was around 6 600.
Last year, the Catholic Church had to cope with the departure of around 360 000 believers. That was a new negative record that could be surpassed in 2022. The Protestants lost around 280 000 members in 2021.
As early as mid-December, the Bertelsmann Foundation’s “Religion Monitor” showed that one in four church members in Germany was considering leaving . However, a majority of those who wanted to turn their backs on organized religion continued to see themselves as Christians.
Some 92 percent of those questioned with a specific desire to leave agreed with the statement that “one can also be a Christian without a church”. It appears that the woke, pro-migration agenda of these institutions have cost them dearly.
Worldwide trend
Church membership in the United States has also hit a new all-time low according to a poll from Gallup. Only 47 percent of Americans say they belonged to a church, synagogue, mosque or another place of worship last year.
Gallup’s survey showed a continuing decline in church membership for more than two decades – among believers of all ages. Experts therefore point out that these trends were not related to the pandemic.
According to another 2021 survey, 31 percent of Americans never attended church or a synagogue, compared to 22 percent of Americans who attend every week.