Christianity Has Become, Maybe Always has been, a Religion of Class

In a blog here recently I discussed the interesting data (at least I found it interesting, maybe no one else did) showing that Christian church membership is increasing among mid-career and upper middle-class people. I pointed out how logical this is because people enjoy the company of those most like themselves and some people's careers are helped by contacts who can make a difference. 

Social scientists try to measure how powerful is this desire to stay within one's own socio-economic circle. Someone studied recently how often people in the wealthiest classes encountered people who are in the lowest classes. The two seldom interact. One has to assume those in both groups feel uncomfortable crossing the lines.

The study involved restaurant chains. There only a few restaurant chains where people of both ends of the economic spectrum "rub elbows." These include Olive Garden, IHOP and a few others. For nearly all others, economic classes do not mix.

Having attended many different churches in my life I would wager separation of economic classes in churches mirrors precisely that in restaurants. Today, most every church has a website. On the website is always a tab, "What We Believe." Is what the church "believes" important to those who are members? Probably not as important as the socio-economic status of other members.

Catholics illustrate the fork in the road here. The church hierarchy is dead set against birth control and abortion. Polling shows most self-identifying Catholics are in favor or practice both. That is to say, the majority of Catholics are Catholics for some reason other than what their church preaches. 

Many churches, both Protestant and Catholic have perceived different ages have different tastes in church service. They hold contemporary-type services with different music and preaching style at different times. These do not touch class differences because churches do not want to get too near these. They have food drives, clothing drives, committees for working with lower income people but the membership remains upper middle class.