Churches Losing the Daughters of Eve

Brandon Triola
Published On: 12/ 2/2008

 Women are leaving church. Not skipping out of the last hymn during service, but leaving…for good, this according to a report by sociologist Dr. Kristin Aune of Derby University.

In her report, she states that churches in England have lost about 50,000 women parishioners every year since 1989. The role of women in the church is not a new controversy. Since the ‘60s women have been either leaving the church at a faster rate, or pushing for bigger positions within the church, usually clergy positions.

While women have become more active in the roles of leadership in the church, the church faces the new problem of women abandoning the pews. Along with women leaving church congregations, the English Church Census found that teenage boys are outnumbering girls in attendance.

Why the loss of the daughters of Eve? While there is no one definite answer, Dr. Aune’s report says that younger women, inspired by the empowerment of women on television shows, have turned to the nature-based pagan religion of Wicca.

Wicca, popularized in 1954 by Gerald Gardner, is a pagan religion and a form of witchcraft, focusing on practices of nature worship and sorcery. The role of women is very important to Wicca, and this may be the attraction that lures women.

Dr. Aune also says that as women are pursuing careers, now more than ever, they have less time to attend church because they are juggling raising their children as well as their jobs. She believes they don’t have time to visit “church coffee mornings and… toddler groups”.

Well, that’s in Europe, but are churches in the United States experiencing women leaving their congregations? Is this just a concern within the Anglican faith? Father Jim Deering, the pastor of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Gardendale believes that the trend stems from broken homes. “The Pope has reported a major loss of faith throughout Europe, in Italy particular. The church leaders see this happening because of the breakdown in family togetherness.”

Although there is some outcry from women in the nunnery to become ordained, Father Deering doesn’t see women leaving his pews at any faster rate than men. “I see people leaving the pews in general, not just women.”

Father Deering does however speculate that the Anglican Church might be suffering loss due to its approval of birth control, the Anglicans being the first church to approve contraceptives in the 1930s. “Sometimes our poor judgment can bring about God’s disapproval.”

Father Deering continues in saying this is just his feeling, and could never know for sure if this is God’s temporal punishment. “It is ironic though that the birth control was approved to keep women in the church, but they are leaving none the less.”