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tend to have many church units ,
they are small, often unattached to
any denomination, and are likely to
be dominated by extended family
groups rather than being truly rep–
resentative ofthe community.
The lnfluence of Geography
Obviously, isolation and terrain
have an effect on attendance at
church. The length of Appalachia,
rugged northern New England, the
Ozarks region, and the mountainous
and sparsely populated areas of
Montana, Wyoming, New Mexico,
Nevada, California, Oregon and
Washington, for example; are in the
lead for nonattendance, which helps
explain the fact that the highest rate
of unchurched is found in the
West-varying generally from 58 to
62
percent. By comparison, the
lower rate of nonattendance, the 30
to
32
percent bracket, comprises all
the South, the North Central and
New England States in general.
Teamed with terrain, there are re–
gional altitudes that influence
churchgoing. A typic'al North–
westerner, especially one from Ore–
gen, might say: "The ministers and
churches ... areoutoftheirsphereof
influence when they try to tell their
people what to think or do, or how to
behave or act. People here don't listen
to that kind ofthing."
It
is the voice of
the "common people" with "fierce
individualism," their " Oregon
spirit." (Don't fence me in!)
They also say: "People here don ' t
like hierarchies-they want the right
to fight among themselves and . .. to
splinter off into new groups." But as
a result of all that human nature on
the loose, no wonder another com–
plained: "The churches tend to de–
fine their doctrines so narrowly. that
the bulk of both the old-timers and
newcomers are automatically
screened out. Each group says, 'We
are the true believers.' "
Meanwhile, a citizen of Maine at
the opposite end of the country ex–
plained a related attitude: "Our an–
cestors carne here to worship as
y ou
please, or' not to worship as
1
please.'' Another said: Church is
"one thing 1 don't miss." He meant
when he
doesn 't
attend.
Other areas, like Boone County,
32
West Virginia, for example, exhibit
a high rate of persisten! poverty,
broken spirits and hopelessness.
"Proponents of the ' foxhole theory
of religion,' " says Hale, "would ar–
gue that such an area was ripe soil
for the Christian faith. Jt is, if the
tent-meeting reviva! conversions are
an index of the vitality of faith ... .
It is not unusual to find individuals
who have been 'born again' six or
eight times, with a baptism by im–
mersion to seal each rebirth. Few,
however, find their way into the
pews ofthe churches...."
In places like Marion County.
Alabama, there is a high percentage
of newcomers to the area, many of
them transient. They feel them–
selves to be outsiders, unwanted,
and associate little with tbe
churches, though a church is in
walking distance of most.
The Florida sunbelt and the Or–
ange County, California, sunbelt ex·
emplify yet another type of
religion- or lack of it. Here live
many retired persons, and many
thousands who have deserted their
former home areas for one reason or
another. They are enjoying the di–
mate, enjoying leisure perhaps for
the first time in their lives. They
have no time for church. Many of
those who do go, go early and then
hit the golf course, the fishing boat
or pier for the day. Churches stand
for roots; these people no longer
have any roots and want none.
But all of these things put to–
gether are insufficient to explain
why many people do not attend
church. The reasons are perhaps as
numerous as the nonattenders
themselves, and many of them
deeply personal. Acknowl.edging the
possibility of improvement on his
"initial attempt" to explain church
nonattendance, author Hale sought
to tentatively classify his inter–
viewees into twelve broad cate–
gories:
1)
The Anti-lnstitutionalists.
For
these people the institution's lead–
ership, or what were thought to be
its unwarranted demands, were a
stumbling block. "The pastors now,
they won't even pick up a broom
and sweep. Yet they want a big sal–
ary.... They don't do nothing ex-
cept preach." "The thing that
disenchantt<d me was the pastor in–
volved." "Tbey move them on and
bring someone else in. . . . They
haven't kept a minister long enough
for you to get acquai11ted." "1 think
that the ministers have lost their re–
ligion, and that may be the reason
there is not much religion left [in a
certain local area)." "They have no
education, get hooked on strange
doctrines and murder the King's
English. They simply have nothing
to say that makes any sense to the
guy who thinks."
Sorne, mostly younger people,
faulted the religious hierarchies for
not getting more involved in social
and política! causes. Other ministers
had espoused such causes and sorne
complained because they had.
2)
The Boxed-In.
The
Con–
strained,
the
Thwarted
and the
lnde–
pendent
are subtypes in this group.
The
Constrained
have felt mis–
treatment which they had to endure,
or have been offended by things
(apart from matters of moral behav–
ior) which were required by their
church, or things unnecessarily pro–
hibited. "Just negative in their
tea.ching. You can't get
a
high
school ring because the church
doesn' t believe in wearingjewelry."
Rules and interference led the
Constrained
inevitably to a break.
"Last time [the pastor] carne here,
1
suggested he turn around and leave.
He was upset about it, said it was
the first time he had ever been
thrown out of someone's house.
I
didn't throw him out.
1
just didn't
let him in.''
The
Thwarted
had found their so–
cial and intellectual growth stymied.
"The environment wasn' t accepting
at all. So
I
went to outside people,
outside of the church. And
1
found
much more acceptance, much more
affirmation of me as a human
being.... When
1
stepped outside of
the church,
J
learned to resolve (a
lot ofthings]. ... The church perpet–
uates irresponsibility, dependence, a
reliance on the authority of others."
Sorne seem just to have been born
lndependent.
"Nobody will push me
around. You see, I'm kind of re–
bellious in that I'm not really a fol–
lower. 1 don ' t march to a different
The
PLAIN TRUTH August 1978