Looking back, we can see that the lockdowns did so much damage. They greatly affected our mental health, the economy, and even the education of our children. But one thing that is not talked about a lot is the impact that the lockdowns had on church attendance in America. In 1958, a Gallup survey found that 49 percent of Americans had attended church within the past 7 days. That number started to decline during the ensuing years, and by 1972 only 40 percent of Americans said that they had attended church within the past 7 days. From 1972 all the way until 2012, church attendance within the past 7 days hovered right around that 40 percent figure. Unfortunately, over the past decade it has started to fall once again. Just prior to the pandemic, a Gallup survey found that 34 percent of Americans had been to church within the past 7 days, and now a new survey has discovered that it is down to just 31 percent…
In the four years before the pandemic, 2016 through 2019, an average of 34% of U.S. adults said they had attended church, synagogue, mosque or temple in the past seven days. From 2020 to the present, the average has been 30%, including a 31% reading in a May 1-24 survey.
The recent church attendance levels are about 10 percentage points lower than what Gallup measured in 2012 and most prior years.
When the lockdowns began, most Americans were forced to attend church services virtually.
Today, most Americans that attend church do so in person, but overall attendance is still significantly lower than it was before the pandemic…
The pandemic had a profound effect on U.S. society, and it continues to have an impact in some ways. Americans have been less likely to attend religious services over the past three years, and at this point, it does not appear that church attendance will revert to pre-pandemic levels. These recent trends have added to the longer-term decline in religious participation that Gallup has documented over the past two decades.
Over the past few years, we have also seen a lot more violence directed at churches.
In fact, the Family Research Council just released a report that found “a nearly 300% increase in acts of hostility in the first quarter of 2023”…
A report from the Family Research Council (FRC), released earlier this month, is highlighting the sharp rise in acts of hostility against the church in the United States.
The report documented a nearly 300% increase in acts of hostility in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the same time frame in 2022. If the trend continues, the report underscored that “2023 will have the highest number of incidents of the six years FRC has tracked.”
The acts of hostility contained in the report include “vandalism, arson, gun-related incidents, bomb threats, and more.”
We have witnessed such a dramatic shift in our culture.
Church attendance is in decline, attacks on churches are becoming increasingly common, and more churches are permanently shutting down with each passing week.
Needless to say, this is taking a toll on the mental and emotional health of America’s pastors…
Pastors who reported that their mental and emotional health was below average spiked from 3% in 2015 to 10% in 2022, and those who said they were in excellent mental and emotional health cratered from 39% in 2015 to 11% last year.
Pastors also noted that recent years have taken a toll on their physical health, with 22% describing their physical well-being as poor or below average in 2022, compared to only 7% in 2015. While 24% said their physical health was excellent eight years ago, only 9% said the same last year.
The study also revealed that more pastors are suffering from loneliness, with 7% saying last year they are poor when it comes to having true friends, compared to only 2% in 2015. In 2022, 20% of them ranked themselves as below average with regard to friendship while 10% said the same in 2015.
Meanwhile, those on the other side of the culture war appear to be thriving.
Millions of Americans have turned out for the pride parades that have been happening all over North America this month.
And in some cases, those attending these events are getting more of a show than they anticipated.
As I mentioned yesterday, fully naked men were openly riding down the street during the pride parade in Seattle…
In Seattle, the explicit footage posted by a Post Millennial staffer showed naked men with pride flags painted on their bodies riding down the street and waving to crowds of people, including many children.
Children and their parents can be seen on the sidelines, clapping and cheering for the naked gang.
And in Toronto, there were fully naked men “standing around and riding bicycles in clear view of children”…
Bud Light is serving as an official sponsor of the Toronto Pride parade, where video footage shows naked men standing around and riding bicycles in clear view of children attending the event.
The footage, captured by Beth Baisch of the Post Millennial, shows dozens of attendees riding past a large cheering crowd. The fully naked bikers, some covered in paint or tattoos, wave back at the crowd. One naked man high-fives an onlooker while another peddles a recumbent bike with a gold blow-up swan adorned around his neck.
A second video shows a group of naked men with hats standing in a circle amidst the crowd. Several children walk past the group of men with their families.
Since when did it become legal to expose yourself in front of children? Why wasn’t anyone arrested? I don’t expect to get an answer to either of those questions.
At this point, we are what we are. And nobody can deny it.
If we stay on this path, there is no future for the United States. So I hope that the country will wake up very soon.
Making the right choices leads to positive consequences, and making the wrong choices leads to negative consequences.
Choose wisely America.
Coffee the Christian way: Promised Grounds
Michael’s new book entitled “End Times” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.
Article cross-posted from End of the American Dream.
Independent Journalism Is Dying
Ever since President Trump’s miraculous victory, we’ve heard an incessant drumbeat about how legacy media is dying. This is true. The people have awakened to the reality that they’re being lied to by the self-proclaimed “Arbiters of Truth” for the sake of political expediency, corporate self-protection, and globalist ambitions.
But even as independent journalism rises to fill the void left by legacy media, there is still a huge challenge. Those at the top of independent media like Joe Rogan, Dan Bongino, and Tucker Carlson are thriving and rightly so. They have earned their audience and the financial rewards that come from it. They’ve taken risks and worked hard to get to where they are.
For “the rest of us,” legacy media and their proxies are making it exceptionally difficult to survive, let alone thrive. They still have a stranglehold over the “fact checkers” who have a dramatic impact on readership and viewership. YouTube, Facebook, and Google still stifle us. The freer speech platforms like Rumble and 𝕏 can only reward so many of their popular content creators. For independent journalists on the outside looking in, our only recourse is to rely on affiliates and sponsors.
But even as it seems nearly impossible to make a living, there are blessings that should not be disregarded. By highlighting strong sponsors who share our America First worldview, we have been able to make lifelong connections and even a bit of revenue to help us along. This is why we enjoy symbiotic relationships with companies like MyPillow, Jase Medical, and Promised Grounds. We help them with our recommendations and they reward us with money when our audience buys from them.
The same can be said about our preparedness sponsor, Prepper All-Naturals. Their long-term storage beef has a 25-year shelf life and is made with one ingredient: All-American Beef.
Even our faith-driven precious metals sponsor helps us tremendously while also helping Americans protect their life’s savings. We are blessed to work with them.
Independent media is the future. In many ways, that future is already here. While the phrase, “the more the merrier,” does not apply to this business because there are still some bad actors in the independent media field, there are many great ones that do not get nearly enough attention. We hope to change that one content creator at a time.
Thank you and God Bless,
JD Rucker
