Half of Evangelicals Say Their Churches Have Reopened with No COVID Restrictions By Tré Goins-Phillips for Faith Wire
GNN Note – Our church is growing. We have had 8 new members in the last two weeks. We are not a “megachurch” or even a large church, but are not declining. / END
Just shy of half of evangelical Christians — 49% — are now attending worship services in person and without any COVID-related restrictions, according to a new survey.
Among the respondents who claim to “typically attend services at least once or twice a month,” a clear majority of 64% said they have gone to church in person in the past month, according to the Pew Research Center, which conducted the poll.
New survey finds that among US adults who normally attend religious services at least monthly, 64% say they have attended in-person services in last month. That’s a big jump from earlier in pandemic (33% in July 2020, 42% in March 2021).https://t.co/g9M6IDOkVT pic.twitter.com/HcYGqEaeey
— Greg Smith (@GregSmith_Polls) October 15, 2021
“Among religious attenders, evangelical Protestants, White (non-Hispanic) Americans and Republicans are considerably more inclined than others to say their congregations should be open without pandemic-related restrictions,” stated Pew’s report on the study.
Only 6% of respondents said their places of worship are still entirely shuttered, which is down from 31% in July of last year and 17% earlier this year.
While a great deal of media attention has been paid to vaccine hesitancy among evangelical Christians, an NBC News survey from July found that 59% of white evangelicals had been fully inoculated against COVID-19.
Only 4% of evangelical Protestants told Pew “their clergy have discouraged” vaccination.
In total, 64% of Protestants in black traditions, 42% of Catholics and mainline Protestants and 21% of evangelical Protestants said their clergy are actively encouraging people to take the shots.
“More than half of U.S. congregants (54%) and nearly three-quarters of evangelical churchgoers (73%) say their clergy have not said much about COVID-19 vaccinations either way,” the report stated.
