Religious institutions and faith-based organizations are central to the resiliency and strength of communities. From providing comfort in times of turmoil, to support in times of need, to guidance in times of uncertainty, such establishments have long been a pillar of life and society.
For example, in 1819, Jewish American Rebecca Gratz helped establish the Female Hebrew Benevolent Society to serve impoverished Jews in Philadelphia. Today, it is the United States’s oldest Jewish charitable organization in continuous existence. Or consider the YMCA, which was initially established as a safe haven and supportive community for young men to escape destructive influences in industrialized London. The first YMCA opened in the U.S. in 1851, and today, the Y across America serves more than 10,000 communities.
Religious institutions have also made important contributions to America’s healthcare and education systems. Nearly one in five hospitals in the U.S. is religiously affiliated, and in the pre-pandemic 2019-2020 school year, 3.5 million schoolchildren attended religious schools. Local churches are another cornerstone of communities that provide relief, services, and support.
Yet at the height of the Great Depression in the 1930s, the role of the church in providing social services decreased. The decline in charitable church activity occurred due to the rise in government spending under the New Deal, according to a study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The study’s authors concluded, “Our estimates suggest that church spending fell by 30% in response to the New Deal, and that government relief spending can explain virtually all of the decline in charitable church activity observed between 1933 and 1939.”
In the following decades, even as the “wall of separation between church and State” was heightened through the Everson v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision in 1947 and later, with the abolishing of school prayer in 1962, it became clear that the needs of local communities could not be met by government alone. Just consider the role that black churches played during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
Acknowledging the essential need for the active participation of faith-based organizations in meeting the needs of communities, former President George W. Bush established the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives in 2001, which has been reestablished in similar capacities by the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations. While serving as secretary of housing and urban development, I witnessed the amazing impact that faith leaders can have on their communities. We developed The Mustard Seed Series with faith-based organizations that had successfully created affordable housing, reduced homelessness, or used innovative housing models to help those in need. This was a series of virtual workshops for faith-based organizations to learn from others and adopt successful solutions to support families in their own communities.
Although there is bipartisan recognition of the importance of faith-based organizations and 81% of the public believes in God, which, although a majority, is a historic low, the decline in church membership, particularly among young people, raises concerns about the future ability of these institutions to serve their communities. Since the turn of the 21st century, church membership among adults has been dramatically declining. Church membership is at its lowest level, 47%, since the group began measuring the number of people belonging to a church, synagogue, or mosque in 1937, according to a 2020 Gallup poll.
Churches need the support, participation, and talents of their members to be able to assist those in need. From facilitating counseling services to providing immediate assistance through food pantries and donation drives to organizing volunteer opportunities with local tutoring and job training centers, churches are the connective tissue and the guiding star of faith-based initiatives throughout America.
Their mission is not just focused on building up their congregation but, rather, on building up their communities. As people of faith, we must take it upon ourselves to reverse the concerning decline in church membership and encourage each other to not just subscribe to religion but to live it.
Ben Carson is the founder and chairman of the American Cornerstone Institute and was the 17th secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.