Unpopular Opinion #1: The reason religion and the Church are in decline is that the Church does not do enough for its members or society in general.

The reason religion and the Church are in decline is that the Church does not do enough for its members or society in general.

I don’t mean impersonal donations to charities that may or may not help people thousands of miles away. I mean enacting real change in the community and helping people achieve the milestones of life: finding a marriage partner, affording a proper funeral for loved ones, securing good jobs, having the basic dignity of owning your own homes, assisting with medical emergencies, etc. Any moral organization worth its salt (and might I remind you, You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavour… it is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men) would not sit idly by or engage in shallow spiritual navel-gazing but instead rush to correct the material inability to achieve those milestones causing the psychological wounds that assail the people. Real, tangible action in the real world is what once tied people to the Church.

People rationally see no benefit in being part of organizations that are useless to them or to society, and thus their faith falters. It’s as simple as that. So-called rational arguments about the existence of God don’t sway people (because no one can definitively prove, without word games, whether there is a God or not—word games which only impress the too-clever-by-half who utter them); the truth about these organizations becomes clear the moment people come face-to-face with them.

Both atheists and religious people misunderstand the causes of religious decline. People have always been as rational as they are now—it’s just that religious organizations used to be useful. Proponents of religion accuse the general public of becoming more “materialistic,” which is merely a buzzword when it comes out of their mouths, or they desperately resort to accusing the non-religious of wanting to lead an easy life free from religious constraints. There is nothing about modern life, whether religious or not, that is easy, so of course this idiocy falls on deaf ears. Instead, they should look inward and ask: What have we done for others, both for our members and for society at large? Have we become an antisocial society rather than a prosocial one? What real, material service are we providing? These are the questions any organization losing relevance should ask itself. “You shall know them by their fruits”—and presumably, those fruits are real and tangible, not imaginary, metaphorical, hypothetical, literary, or rhetorical fruits.

Atheists are also mistaken when they claim religion is declining because governments (lol), markets (lmao, even), and technology now fulfill people’s wants, exposing the Church’s supposed lies. This view ignores the harsh realities many people face today. People are struggling to even own the roof above their heads, endure soul-sucking jobs, do humiliating work, die of horrible diseases like cancer (often exacerbated for industrial profit/production), and many still go hungry or perish in wars. And yet, they aren’t returning to religion en masse.

The only observable religious growth comes from higher birth rates among religious communities. But this is meaningless in the long term because even the irreligious population largely descends from religious families. Faith is not genetic—it’s a choice. If people find no reason to remain in the Church, they will continue leaving in ever-increasing numbers, rendering any fleeting demographic advantage null.

Besides, isn’t it shameful to suggest your group’s success depends solely on outbreeding others, like rabbits or rats or some invasive species? Is the plan to compensate for a lack of quality with sheer quantity? People, have some pride in yourselves!