State of Organized Religion in the United States

There is usually a back and forth in the general trend in general, but my friend Kingtycoon shared an interesting article on the current state which indicates a decline in organized religion in the United States.

If any religion ceases to match human social needs, it ceases to be relevant.  Nevertheless, there are still other contributing factors to church attendance: the increasing isolation of the nuclear family, the formulation of other social communities, and, well, let's face it: church is boring.

All that aside, that crisis is for the churches to resolve.  They can no longer hold folks hostage with social or emotional blackmail, when perfectly acceptable social outlets exist elsewhere.  Openly advocating creationism or intelligent design, for instance, has put some sects at odds with science that has existed for over a hundred and fifty years.  Corruption, child molestation, and inequality within the clerical structure have caused divisions from within.  It should be no wonder that the younger generation looks elsewhere for spiritual guidance.

Again, I want to reiterate my own ethics here: I do not advocate against or in favor of any particular set of personal spiritual beliefs or deity.  However, I do want ethical progress to improve from both within and without organized religion.