New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-01-14
abest families and gallant soldier who lost
his leg in the Confederate service"
CgURcH.GOING IN BROOKLYN.

| CHURCH.GOING IN BROOKLYN
Some religious statistics have recently been
printed respecting the churches and church,
eoers of Brooklyn. There would seem to be,
according to these figures only one church for
each 1000 of the population Of our nearest
neighbors and only $4,000 out of 565,OOO
Brooklynites 1t Is asserted, attend church. The
first fact is probably approximately correct !;
and it may be that Brooklyn has too few
churches. But before setting this down as a
plain fact, it will be we'll to take note of certain
things that do not appear in the tables. "A
large part of the persons counted in the United
States census are too young to attend churcn.
We believe it is not agreed at what age a chilu
should habitually attend preaching services ;
but it is probable that One-third OF the popuia-
ton Of Brooklyn are excused from church on
the ground of infancy and detention IN pris-
ons, hospitals or other institutions. Another
sixth may be assumed to be sick or employed In
the care of the sick, or absent from Brooklyn on
business or pleasure. Brooklyn has been de-
scrbed as city of commercial travellers; and
it is not nearly so healthy as the original Eden,
though it has good health record as cities go.
| On no Sunday, then, can We expect more IMAM
one-balt of the persons found by the census
man to be found in the churches.
This reduces the people to be dealt with to
about 100000. 1t is really an interesting
question what proportion of these Brookly nites
attend church, and how often they attend. For
several years a few usefully inquisitive persons
have been trying to answer tho first part of the
question without taking any account OF the lat
ter part. They have supposed 1t to be quite
enough to ascertain the average of one Sunday
congregation in each church and then mako
some simple additions. This gives US fact OF
no very great consequence that is, merely
the number Of people in church at some one
hour in q year. This number in Brooklyn is
probably correctly set down after careful
counting mt $4,000. If there be any error it
is probably too high figure. After we get
this estimate we remain, so far as this ilumines
us, about as ignorant as We were before we got
it. We still know nothing about the number
of Brooklyn church g0ers. TO Increase our
useful knowledge in that direction we must
learn how often each man and woman goes to
church; or, if we cannot learn that we must
guess at it from such data as our social knowl-
edge affords. II must not be overlooked that
there are usually three services a day In all
churches. 1t Ia well known that few per-
sons attend all these. The Sunday school
(Which we reckon tho third service) contains,
besides the infants already set aside, consld-
cradle number of persons who attend no other
service The evening congregations contain
largo number Of people who are not present In
the morning Ii Is entirely safe to add one
third TO the number OF an average service IN
order 10 arrive at the attendance for an aver
aye Sunday This would give about $50, 900
AS the average Sunday church going of Brook
lyn.
The difference between this number and the
2sO.OOO who might go must be distributed be-
tween two very different categories. One en-
braces those who never attend church, the
other those who attend less frequently than
every Sunday. The first cannot by any stretch
of the fancy swallow up the whole balance OF
10000. Everyone knows that many people
attend church rarely. The German Lutherans
have in Brooklyn a population OF perhaps
10000; but they have in church at an average
service only 1920. A Lutheran divine &C
counts to us for this great difference by Affirm
ing that large numbers of German Lutherans
attend church only from three to five times a
year. one Of which is always Christmas. Taking
the figures for attendance, and deducting the In
fants, etc, it looks as though the average IN
this denomina lion would be less than one SER
vice month for each adherent. We suggest
this case only for the sake Of calling attention
in detail to the difference between never
going to church and going irregularly or infre-
quently. The Methodist Episcopal statistics
have been highly commended for their &C
curacy. These set down nearly 10000 MEM
beers in Brooklyn. The tables give an average
attendance Of only $500. A fair estimate of
the Methodist population Is perhaps 10000
deduct infants, etc, and some 27,000
should be able to attend church any Sunday.
Now the logic of this mathematics is that
Methodsts in Notwithstanding all those who
more or less fraternize with that denomination
attend church about once every other Sun
day. That IL, this Is their average.
We make these calculations only for the pur-
pose of pointing out the real line of invcstiga-
cities, the non-church- going population is
smaller than IL commonly believedj but il
will also be found that the great majority OF
church-goe go infrequontly. And this habit
isprobably on tho increase. 1t will appear also
from this mode of regarding tho figures
that Brooklyn Is fairly we'll supplied with
churches, what is needed before more
churches is an increase OF regular church Ding
among the people OF course the general re-
hgious condition Of Brooklyn closely resem-
bes that of most other American cities.
"