From the Christian Post, survey findings from George Barna.
Excerpt:
Pollster and researcher George Barna released a report on religious changes in America this week revealing some surprising results. Barna concludes that women have experienced a significant spiritual change in the past two decades.
Women today are attending church and Sunday school less, reading the Bible less, and consider their faith less important in their lives, according to the new survey.
The Barna report also shows that over the last two decades women have become less likely to hold traditional views of God as the all-knowing creator and ruler of the universe. Women today are less likely to see the devil as a real person, considering him more a “symbol of evil.”
“Women used to put men to shame in terms of their orthodoxy of belief and the breadth and consistency of their religious behavior. No more; the religious gender gap has substantially closed,” said George Barna in his report.
“We can posit that while tens of millions of Americans seem to be wrestling with their faith – what to believe and how to experience and express it – women have been more radically redefining their faith than men in the past two decades.”
Does anyone have a hypothesis to explain this? Is it because Christianity is no longer viewed by the majority of people as “nice”? Are women dropping out because of the social pressure to not make truth claims or moral judgments?
WINTERY KNIGHT 
One worldview: Feminism
One tool: The useful lie
See my blog post:
http://bravelass.blogspot.com/2011/08/religious-feminists-useful-lie.html
I have yet to read the full report, but speaking out of my own experience and the problem as I have studied it, women have largely gotten the church they demanded. It is less judgemental, more friendly to women
But who wants that when you can have your own Jesus without all the messiness of his church?
It’s a bit counterintuitive that the harder we have to work for something (say, Christian orthodoxy), the more we value it. But when the Church bows down before our demands, we respect it less.
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Kamilla, we agree. And the problem is that men are very important for communicating spiritual things to the children:
http://touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=16-05-024-v
Get rid of the men, and lose the next generation.
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There’s just going where the men lead.
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I disagree. I think Kamilla is right.
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And where are men leading?
Frankly, I don’t see men leading much of anywhere these days except in orthodox Christian churches. And yes, women are going there – but Barna points to a trend that women, as a whole, are becoming unchurched.
In fact, it is the only measure of religious activity which *increased* for women.
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I would suggest that it has a great deal to do with the traditionally submissive position women have been expected to assume in orthodox Christianity. The bulk of the bible focuses on male characters and issues, with women almost exclusively relegated to supporting roles. I believe that it is this intitutionalized inequality which is leading women to seek a more relevant spiritual experience elsewhere.
Cheers, Winston
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Probably.
Some orthodoxy has more to do with the traditions of men than what Jesus actually taught and some of it needs to be rejected by both men and women like Jesus rejected the teachings of the Pharisees.
Unfortunately, so much of Christianity has been taught by men who have said, “My way or the highway” thinking they represented God but really they represented teachings of men. And unfortunately women have left thinking that God favors men over women and that they need to find a more female friendly religion. Very sad and should not be happening. But it is.
I’m doing what I can to catch a few and turn them back to Jesus so their hearts can be healed by the only One who brings true healing. But it’s hard because a lot of damage has been done in the name of Christianity that has nothing to do with Jesus Christ, yet He still gets blamed.
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I would guess it is because the culture has been sliding this way for a long time. Scripture tells women, “If [you] desire to learn anything, let them ask [your] own husbands at home” (1 Cor 14:35). Modern culture, having released husbands from their role as responsible teacher at home and loosed women to be on their own, actually opposed to such ridiculous biblical teaching, their direction (driven as it is in opposition to Scripture) would need to be … against Scripture. Men, on the other hand, have willingly abdicated their roles, bearing their own blame. The church (especially in America) has moved away from orthodoxy and toward “felt needs”. A hypothesis? Yeah, but it’s pretty big. It’s all society driven by “the father of lies”.
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Likely the secularizing impacts of our media and our public education at all levels is reflected here.
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In the past women were allowed very limited roles outside the home so church with its associated volunteer activities played a large role in their lives. Now women can do or be anything and like the men they have decided there are so many other “more important or rewarding” priorities, activities, hobbies, ways to fulfillment, etc.
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There are vastly more women in church these days then men. WK, I’m sure you have a response for that. But let’s not forget who the majority of the congregants are.
And not all churches are lamenting the changes you identify. They may be specific to evangelical churches simply because your gender roles have always been more narrowly defined.
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I skimmed the link and noticed this statement: Church attendance has fallen “only” 6 percent for men over the period while it has fallen 11% for women. I believe the increasing secular nature of our culture is the primary cause of these changes in women. Because there is a greater percentage of women attending church, the effects of secularization would be higher. How the body of Christ responds to this secularization is an important topic. The media portrayal of Christians as morons, the government as well as many liberal groups active attempts to privatize all religion (or perhaps mainly Christianity), as well as the attractration of the hedonistic lifestyle all work toward less Biblical knowledge, church attendance and living a Christ-like life.
Unless and until a greater percentage of the body of Christ takes their faith seriously and become salt and light to the people of America, this trend will continue. I realize of course the the Spirit of God must work in the hearts and minds of people to change them, but the primary means to that end our Christians.
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