Gallup poll shows church membership in America at all-time low

Churches throughout Southern Colorado may be filled with people for Easter Sunday. However, a new Gallup Poll released this past week shows that Americans may be a little more relaxed when it comes to observing their religion.

Since 2000, the percentage of Americans identifying as a member of a particular church has decreased from 70% to 50%.

Derrek Scott has been a priest for 18 years, less than one year at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Pueblo. Scott believes the membership problem is elsewhere, but not necessarily in Colorado.

“I don’t see that here in our part of the country,” said Scott. “It seems like every Sunday our churches are still pretty full.”

As for churchgoers, they don’t believe the numbers mean Americans are becoming any less religious. Diana Lembom was at Sacred Heart Cathedral for Easter Sunday mass and has spent many Sundays there for the past 20 years.

“There are people who believe they don’t have to be in a structure to pray,” said Lembom. “I myself need the structure, but there are a lot of people who don’t, and feel they can sit on their front porch and pray and be with God. If that works for them it works for them, but that’s not what works for me.”

Lembom believes more young people and young families are making their ways to church. However, the Gallup poll argues otherwise; numbers show Millenials born from 1980 to 2000 are less interested in being a member of a particular faith than any other generation before it.