Mainline rides the pine

The old Protestant denominations continue their decades-long decline 
 Timothy Dalrymple
posted March 18, 2011

When a leader in the National Council of Churches wrote in 1972 that the mainline churches were shrinking while conservative churches were growing, he was furiously criticized. Yet Dean Kelley's thesis has gone from controversial to confirmed in less than 40 years.

Witness the 2011 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches, which the National Council of Churches released in February. The yearbook presents information on 227 church bodies, on the basis of data collected and submitted (or estimated in the case of uncooperative groups) over the previous two years. The Catholic Church remains the largest religious body by far, with 68.5 million members, followed by the Southern Baptist Convention, with 16.2 million. Yet the most striking figures in the 2011 yearbook are the continued declines among mainline denominations. the rest

Verb: ride the pine:
1.(sports) To sit on the bench, to not be used in a game