Battered by the Recession, Giving to Churches Declined

During the first full year of the deepest recession since the Great Depression, church giving in 2008 as a percentage of congregation members’ take-home pay sank to its lowest point in the past decade, according to a report released Monday. It declined to 2.43 percent, equal to the second-lowest drop since 1968, when the data were first tracked; 1992 had the lowest, with 2.41 percent.