Religion Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Religion - Assignment Example Cinemas, sport, Shops, among others were only available from Monday to Saturday. In the same period, many Churches were built in the mushrooming post-war suburbs and established urban ministries were renewed. The post-war years’ economic prosperity turned going to church into a badge of upward mobility or something of a status symbol. To many affluent working class families aspiring to the ranks of the middle class, churchgoing was a product and a symbol of American affluence. A survey by Lyle Schaller, a church growth expert, indicated that during that time, of the American population, the attendance of adults in mainline churches was 47 percent male and 53 percent female. The fact that male started involving themselves with church activities at a high level made the church grow. Previously, hardly any man could go to church. This shortage was due in part to the industrial revolution that brought new working conditions. Men started working long hours at mines and factories some of which operated on Sundays. Others left town in search for jobs, which took them away from home and their familiar parishes leaving the churches to children, aged men, and women (Murrow, 2005). Therefore, we can attribute people’s returning to church to social, theological and spiritual reasons among others. In this period of the 1950s, Protestantism became extensive and through the Protestants’ vigorous proselytization, approximately 20 percent of the population was Protestant by the late 1950s. The methods that Protestant churches used included focusing their appeal on the lower classes. They took their Churches and clergy in smaller villages where the Roman Catholics had not reached and rather than using French, their clergy used Creole. They also built clinics and schools that provided the much-needed services. They also encouraged marriages and baptisms and performed them free of charge. Up to date, these methods still have an impact