Another interesting trend, if this is so called true then there might be 'one' reason to go haha, in 2007 men were 40%, now men are 35% and women are 65%. I guess they'll be a lot of single women out there!
U.S. JWs: 36% White, 27% Black, 6% Asian, 32% Latino (PEW)
by Gayle 15 Replies latest jw friends
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EndofMysteries
And the racial trend, in 2007 whites were 48% now they are 36%, either many whites left or blacks and latino are getting new recruits.
And for income trends the higher incomes are leaving from 2007 to 2014, they lost 10% of those over 50k a year.
Marital status, this is interesting.....wonder how this was determined, in 2007 NONE were 'living with partner' now 5% living with partner??
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OneEyedJoe
And the racial trend, in 2007 whites were 48% now they are 36%, either many whites left or blacks and latino are getting new recruits.
I gave up looking for the official JW numbers to scale this properly, but regardless this definitely indicates that the cult is losing whites. For the demographics to shift this significantly, there would've had to been a 33% increase in cult membership in the US and all of that increase would've had to have come from non-whites. Obviously that didn't happen. More likely is that they lost a net of somewhere around 80k whites (I'm assuming a membership of roughly ~1million in the US) over that period of 7 years but made up for the loss with some growth in the black/latino groups.
I'd appreciate if someone where to check my math on that because it seems rather significant if they're losing over 10k a year from one race alone. It probably means that they're losing significant numbers in the other groups, but there's just more disadvantaged ones in the black/latino groups for the cult to take advantage of and replenish the flock. Even assuming that no blacks/latinos are leaving, this still represents some substantial churn.
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Billyblobber
I'm not really even sure that "black" would be growing. I'll use Detroit as an example.
Detroit was one of the main cities in which racial practices created a large black inner city low income population. Essentially, the businesses left the city to the suburbs, black people weren't allowed to move to the suburbs to follow them, and instead were forced to rent in the city or buy shrinking property value properties in the city. Due to a mix of outside and inside issues, including the decline of the auto market, the city gradually shrank over time and became more poor, while the suburbs flourished.
In the 70s, there was huge growth in Detroit among black Witnesses to coincide with this. Incomes were dropping, things were getting worse, and a message of a "paradise earth" were appealing to them. It peaked in the 80s. However, the suburban restrictions began lifting in the 80s, and city congregations started shrinking in the late 80s as black Witnesses with income were finally able to move to the suburbs, and the city itself further shrank.
Fast forward to now. Detroit bombed out completely right around the housing/auto crisis, and is now experiencing minor growth and a bit of a cultural upsurge. As businesses move back, people are moving back downtown (mostly white), while the outer edge neighborhoods that started suffering in the 60s on, and that were probably most hurt by the economic downturn are emptying even more. That means Detroit congregations are shrinking at an astronomical rate, as they are losing members from the neighborhoods, no one young is joining, and none of the new young influx of upper/middle class people are joining.
From what I hear, other majorly black cities that followed similar patterns are suffering basically the same fate. And I don't see where the growth would be coming from in Atlanta. Therefore, I cant' figure out where they would be "gaining black people" from; unless there have been smaller community pushes somewhere.
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Londo111
Where this poll and the Watchtower’s statistic intersect is impossible to say. Watchtower counts active JWs only. The Pew Poll will likely be these as well as those who identify as JWs in whatever way, inactive, even DFed, former unbaptized publishers, Bible Studies, raised in a JW household but never really made any sort of commitment. If counted, I suspect the number would likely be double than merely counting active JWs, as reflected by Memorial attendance.
Those who leave the JW identification (as reflected in the Pew poll) would likely come more from the nebulous group, than those active. However, to some degree, I’m sure the same proportion of dropouts are reflected in the active count as well.
There were 136167 more active publishers in 2014 than in 2007. Most of these were likely Spanish speaking.
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LongHairGal
The religion has lost a lot of people and I believe it is the aftermath of the 1995 changed teaching on "Generation". (Don't know the racial percentages, however.)
I am one such person who left over this.....Many probably woke up and realized they had better go out and get a better paying job or career. In many instances this means going to or back to college. People out working or educating themselves are not at home when the doorbell rings.
I have heard that in recent years the JWs have recruited homeless types or other people with serious "issues" to fill the empty seats in the halls...and I am glad I am not there to be introduced to any of them!!
I get the sense the religion is morphing in a way. They aren't bringing in many people by door to door. They also have the website.
This spells trouble, in my opinion, to the remaining responsible working people who are going to constantly be asked for money. It also spells trouble for single women - of all ages - who are going to be cornered to do favors of every sort or act as "caretakers". Oh, yeah? I'll do that for my own flesh and blood family, thank you very much.
That's why I'm glad I got the hell out.