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.
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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.
