Church attendance declining

Americans are ditching church in record numbers, and those who do attend are "church hopping" at a rising rate, according to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

In every city in America there are more people at home on Sunday than those in church.

The report, titled "U.S. Religious Landscape Survey," showed that of the 35,000 people sampled, 44 percent of adult Americans have either left the faith of their childhood to join another religion, switched denominations or have no religion.

But not all churches are experiencing mass exoduses.

The United Methodist Church of Houston has grown from nine members in 1992 to more than 9,000 members today, according to the Rev. Rudy Rasmus, church pastor. Of those members, 3,000 are either currently or formerly homeless.

Rasmus said of the shift in church attendance, "I believe this phenomenon occurred when religion theologians separated spiritual development from physical/ economic development . . . Subsequently, the church lost its influence to affect lasting community transformation and generations of potential churchgoers became untouchable."