Losing The Faith In America?

Fox News put out an article today on a study by The Program on Public Values at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., that shows the Church in America is in decline. (Click here to read article) I'm posting this so you can see that I'm not just claiming the Church in America is in decline with no evidence or proof. Now the question is, can it be stopped?
The answer is yes, but you're not going to like the change that makes it happen.
Paul says in Romans 5: 3-4 ..."we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope." I believe one of the problems the Church has is that it has lost it's "proven character". According to Paul the reason would logically be because the Church has not experienced any "affliction" lately. (endurance is in short supply too.) Looking back through history we see that the church has always grown and flourished when it has been under persecution. Remember when terrorists struck the Twin Towers on 9-11 the churches across America were full for about two weeks. Then the shock wore off and things returned to normal.
Could this economic upheaval that we are now experiencing be the "affliction" that will bring the church back to God?