Religion & Faith

Religion & Faith organizations in Washington County provide, and are connectors to, other community services such as food pantries, financial assistance, job training, homeless shelters, substance abuse, health care, mental health, foster care, grief counseling, senior centers, youth programs, and more.

Impact

• In 2020, 42.18% of Washington County reported to be part of a religion. This is down from the 49.8% in 2010. Individuals reporting as Catholic have decreased 4% since 2010, and those who identify as evangelical protestant have increased by 1.6%. - The Association of Religion Data Archives
• Christian Counseling Associates operates over 50 locations across Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. The Washington, PA location employs two licensed professional counselors, and two resident counselors. They provide faith-based counseling for addiction, family and marriage, anger management, depression, grief, and many others.
  
• There are many houses of worship in Washington County, including churches of various faiths and denominations.

Strengths

• Programming
• Faith-Based Counseling
• Diverse Organizations
• Collaboration

Challenges

Since the reopening of churches post pandemic, many Religion and Faith organizations have reported a decline in attendance. In Washington County, 42% of our survey respondents reported attending their place of worship weekly, while 23% reported never. Focus group members noted a decline in youth participation in local churches, partially due to sporting events interfering with worship times. Some churches have begun to livestream sermons to combat this decline, but 58% reported in our survey that they would be unlikely to attend these remote services.

This attendance decline has been matched by a large group of people changing religion over time or losing spirituality completely. In 2023, the Pew Research Center reported 83% of Americans held some type of spiritual belief system. This is down from 90% in 1999, and 87% in 2002. One challenge in this area examined by the focus group is a lack of passion and engagement, as they noted many are following faith as a way of keeping up with family tradition instead of as a means of maintaining a strong personal interest and belief system. In addition, concern regarding the current culture’s polarizing tension between differing opinions was cited as another reason individuals have been stepping away from the church in recent years.

While the decline in attendance and passion towards faith is a major concern, religious organizations are also witnessing a decrease in tithing. According to Giving USA, annual giving to churches has declined by 2.6% after accounting for inflation. However, giving to religion still remains the largest recipient category by far, with 27% of charitable giving dollars being received by religious organizations.