| Sumario: | In an earlier paper published in this journal, Chaves (1989) found that the relative stability in Protestant church attendance in the United States results from the offsetting effects of secularization and revival. The secularization occurs across birth-cohorts, as successive cohorts are less inclined to attend church than were their forebears. The revival is a within-cohort phenomenon: Within birth-cohorts, attendance has increased over time. However, Chaves did not estimate the magnitude of the offsetting effects. For 1972-1989, cohort and period variation accounts for less than 1% of the variation in Protestant church attendance. Apparently cohort membership, has little effect on church attendance, recent popular and scholarly accounts notwithstanding. Moreover, offsetting within- and across-cohort trends could reflect life cycle effects rather than counteracting period "revival" and cohort "secularization" effects. We suggest - consistent with Hout and Greeley (1987) and Greeley (1989) - that the life cycle interpretation is more plausible.
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