page_title: Church attendance
section_title: Demographics
hierarchical_section_title: Church attendance / Demographics
caption_attribution_description: English: Saint Lucy's Day (Lucia) procession. Sweden, 2007. Svenska: Luciatåg, Sverige, 2007.
context_page_description: Church attendance is a central religious practice for many Christians; some Christian denominations, such as the Catholic Church require church attendance on the Lord's Day; the Westminster Confession of Faith is held by the Reformed Churches and teaches first-day Sabbatarianism, thus proclaiming the duty of public worship in keeping with the Ten Commandments. Similarly, The General Rules of the Methodist Church also requires "attending upon all the ordinances of God" including "the public worship of God". Until 1791, the government of the United Kingdom required attendance at church services of the Church of England at least twice a year. To this end, all major branches of Christianity, however, encourage church attendance, with one Christian apostolate providing the following biblical imperatives:
  The Bible tells us we need to with other Christians so we can worship God with other believers and be taught His Word for our spiritual growth, but it does not specifically state we must meet in a particular structure.
context_section_description: Church attendance remains stronger among older demographics, and more common for women. There is evidence that links church attendance with health benefits. The Pew Research Center, which conducts the extensive research and information program Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, has linked regular church attendance with happiness. Several studies associated church attendance with decreased risk of Alzheimer's disease. Research by Rita W. Law and David A. Sbarra demonstrated that "church attendance was found to have a protective effect against the emergence of mood problems among older adults." Graham et al. discovered that "consistent pattern of lower systolic and diastolic blood pressures among frequent church attenders was found compared to that of infrequent attenders which was not due to the effects of age, obesity, cigarette smoking, or socioeconomic status." Oman D et al. found that "infrequent (never or less than weekly) attenders had significantly higher rates of circulatory, cancer, digestive, and respiratory mortality (p < 0.05), but not mortality due to external causes." With respect to students, Glanville et al. found "that religious attendance promotes higher intergenerational closure, friendship networks with higher educational resources and norms, and extracurricular participation." Research conducted at the Harvard School of Public Health found "that regularly attending church services together reduces a couple’s risk of divorce by a remarkable 47 percent".
  A 2018 sociological survey found that in the United States, "Donald Trump voters who attend church regularly are more likely than nonreligious Trump voters to have warmer feelings toward racial and religious minorities, to be more supportive of immigration and trade, and to be more concerned about poverty." A 2005 European Union survey found that religious belief increased with age and was higher among women, those who were leaning towards right-wing politics, and those reflecting more upon philosophical and ethical issues. In particular, the Iona Institute documented increasing church attendance in Ireland, despite sex-abuse scandals that plagued the Catholic Church. Some suggest the rise is due to the effects of the economic recession.
  Research shows that there is a correlation between church attendance and the level of education. For instance, in a Pew Research study from 1996, approximately 34% of high school dropouts went to church on a typical Sunday, while 44% of those with a college degree or higher did. 48% of married individuals attended church on a typical Sunday, compared with 29% of divorced and 31% of never-married individuals. While it is likely that the well-educated and married might over-report their church attendance more often, these findings nevertheless demonstrate that they have maintained a stronger church-going identity than other Americans. In the United Kingdom, research in 2018 demonstrated that "Students at Oxford, Cambridge and Durham are twice as likely to worship on a Sunday as the general population"—colleges at these universities maintain approximately fifty-six chapels for worship.
caption: A Swedish Christian girl leads a church procession on Saint Lucy's Day
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