If Christian and church holidays are not attended by parishioners, it doesn’t mean they are not religious. Holiday examples like Midnight Mass when the priest talks about the day Jesus was born, or Easter, the day Jesus was resurrected are usually mandatory church days. For those who don’t attend, it does not mean their beliefs are altered or their view of God is different from someone who never misses church.

People who do not attend church still pray and still want their children baptized, but might have other things to do on Sunday. In Jouranlnow.com, an article called “Study finds Attendance at Churches still Falling” states, “The percentage of Americans attending church on any given weekend keeps declining. In 1990, it was 20.4 percent. In 2000, it was 18.7. In 2007, it was 17
(<http://www2.journalnow.com/news/2009/feb/28/study-finds-attendance-at-churches-still-falling-ar 131644/>).

In an article on Churchleaders.com, called “7 Startling Facts” it states, “The most significant drop in attendance came at the expense of the Catholic Church, which experienced an 11 percent decrease in its attendance percentage from 2000 to 2004” (<http://www.churchleaders.com/pastors/pastor-articles/139575-7-startling-facts-an-up-close-look-at-church-attendance-in-america.html>).

The reasons can be personal or as simple as the person does not see any benefit in attending church. When it comes to holidays, some people host family members and or friends and do the preparations during the majority of church time. On “Christianity today.com” an article published on April 1, 2006, “Statistical Illusion,” stated, “118 million Americans or 40 percent of the population will attend church” (<http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/april/32.85.html>).

If people want to know stories about God, then they can choose to listen or read the Bible to learn on their own. Other people would rather take care of personal business.
God gave free will; and some people find it more soothing to follow their religion in solitude. God gave us time to spend on what we want to spend it on and how we choose to spend that time can be with other followers or by ourselves.

Being religious can mean having the Bible in your home, praying when a crisis comes, repeating a story from the Bible to give yourself strength, or saying a prayer before going to sleep. This is one way of practicing and believing in a personal religion.