By Randy Fitch
Belief in the Holy Death
I’ve learned there isn’t airtight data on the numbers of Holy Death followers in the U.S. Still, as I’ve mentioned, the worlds leading experts suggest ~ 2 million devotees or 0.6 % of the population as of around seven years ago. According to the same experts, open devotion to the Bony Lady only went public in around 2001 due to new more accepting leadership in Mexico. One can only guess at the numbers in 2023, but based on the writings of Dr. Kate Kingsbury and Dr. Andrew Chesnut, the belief in this folk saint, which appears to me more of a perceived goddess of death, is now the fastest growing new religious movement in the West. So one can easily interpolate the number now is likely much, much higher.
Belief in Wicca
Wicca, a form of paganism founded in England in the mid-twentieth century, who claims pre-Christian origins, is growing exponentially in the U.S.. According to studies run by Trinity College from 1990 to 2008, the belief in Wicca has grown tremendously in the U.S. from an estimated 8,000 in 1990 to 340,000 in 2008. Based on a Pew Research study in 2014, that number has increased to 1 to 1.5 million people or .4 % of Americans. If these numbers are accurate, the population of U.S. Wiccans, who typically identify as witches (brittannica.com), can be projected into 2023 at over four million.
All said, even at the low end, projected numbers of the combined followers of Holy Death and Wicca outnumber followers of Mormonism and Jehovah’s Witnesses combined.
And while paganism is booming, Christianity is waning.
Looking at the numbers from a generational point of view, 70% of Americans overall identify as Christian, while only 54% of those aged 18-29 do. In the overall group, 23% identify as unaffiliated, while in the 18-29 group, 36% do. And, in the overall group, 5% are in the non-Christian religion camp, while in the 18-29 group, there are 7%. (Public Religion Research Institute PRRI, The 2020 Census of American Religion, 07.08.2021)
These numbers agree with the growth in believers in the Holy Death and Wicca… Knowing this, we should ask ourselves what is next?
IMO - In My Opinion
The Christianity available to our kids and grandkids is changing. Churches seeking evangelization are slowly moving away from Bible-based teaching to grow closer to secular beliefs in an apparent effort to expand their ranks.
It appears to be backfiring, as per the 2020 PRRI studies, the congregations of evangelical Christian churches with topical feel good teachings that are more agreeable to secular beliefs are falling while the congregations of bible based churches are growing. I believe the move towards selective topical teachings, typically geared to more positive, feel-good topics, doesn’t feel believable while thinking adults are more receptive to an honest, educated interpretation of all the lessons given in the bible.
We live in a curious time where people of values and character based on Christian teaching are increasingly stigmatized as ignorant. To interpret any act as a sin is considered bigoted. It’s increasingly dangerous in our woke society to call out anything honestly. Even the act of pedophilia, something one would think any conscious human would condemn as evil, is being redefined in our country as acceptable.
And into this confused and morally unled society, the amoral death goddess slips through the shadows, growing her ranks. So it would seem out of step with our secular culture to say there is an exponential growth in the belief of demonic forces taking place under our noses.
In my next post, I’ll look at the magical practices of the followers of the Holy Death.
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