Why do we still have religion? I think about it on occasion when I hear someone blathering about this-or-that about how god is going to do something-or-other, soon. You can tell I wasn’t paying that close attention or I would’ve heard the entire script. That’s right. Script. Because they (the profferers of religious dogma cannot think for themselves. They don’t want to think for themselves. Why? It cuts into the profit of the grift.

Now, not every religious leader out there (I’m thinking Christian protestant) live in mansions and fly around in personal (Church owned!) Gulstream jets. Most have humble pastoates with a few dozen to maybe a few hundred congregants. A lot of them today are not mainstream (Baptist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist, etc.), but still evangelical, and many are pentecostal. They add something different to the church experience. The atmosphere, including the music, tells the attendees that “we’re different!”, not your grandma’s church. But regular church attendance is still falling.

In 2000, 44% of Americans reported attending church on a weekly basis. In 2025 that number was 31%. With all the changes in church development and execution, why is the drop so profound in the last 25 years? In the previous 30 years to that, attendance wavered in the low 40’s%: 42% in 1970, 40 in 1975, and held in that range through 2000. It’s clear that interest in church is declining, and belief, or at least identification is as well, but not as quickly.

The question stands: when will religious belief disappear? My thought is probably never. If every current religion vanished over night, someone, somewhere, would create a new one and it would attract people. It’s a never ending cycle.