This is a busy and sacred time on many religious calendars.
Important observations are being made for Lent, Ramadan and Passover.
For loyal people, religion is the cornerstone of their lives, but their numbers are declining. Many places of worship have seen attendance at times dramatically.
In Westwood, a man told the Boston 25 News, “I think a lot of people have decided to seek what they want, whether it’s faith or spiritualism.”
The woman said, “People are far too dependent on their phones, their television, their lifestyles are different.”
According to a Pew Research Center poll, 26% of Massachusetts residents say their religion is extremely important to life today.
50% said they weren’t.
Compare it to 2007 when the numbers were just flipped over. At the time, 40% said religion was extremely important, while 24% said it wasn’t the case at all.
The man told us, “I am not living my life in religious ways, shapes, shapes, but I know no one.”
Another woman added, “I don’t think it’s necessarily a factor, and I think people probably don’t like talking about it.”
Images of Pew in the Sky tell the story relating to Dr. Ernest Coramaty, a professor of theology at Regis University in Weston.
“My biggest concern is that our young people need mooring as theologians who are concerned about family life and communicating our traditions.”
However, in 2024, only 14% said they regularly participate in religious services, while 63% said they were not.
Again, that’s when about a third of them said they were regulars since 2007, and another third said they weren’t.
“This individual’s commitment to the experience of a larger community was a decline in America,” explained Koramati. “Look at politics. How many local political structures are candidates pleading for moving forward?”
People retreating from religion are especially common around here.
“New England has the lowest rate of people identifying as highly religious, according to Pew Research. As for its value, our federation is tied to New Hampshire and the lowest.”
Locally, the biggest decline from 2007 to 2024 was one of Catholics, down 14%.
Protestants fell by 7%.
One woman said, “I am a Catholic and I was raised as a Catholic, but I was very concerned about the Catholic Church with all my sexual abuse.”
Collamati says the poll will send a clear message to all faith leaders.
“In a radically changed scenario, just doing exactly what I was doing in 1950, there’s no auger at all for the future.”
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