Evil exists in our world. Don’t believe it, simply refer to the deaths of 15 people on a New Orleans street in the wee hours of New Year’s Day, plowed over by someone intent on doing harm.

And, alongside evil exists decaying morals, a broken barrier of gray lines that blur the compass which has often guided us away from evil and its counterparts greed, self-centeredness and hatred.

Correlate those statements, if you will, to a disturbing, yet eye-opening Dec. 28 ABC News report which detailed the battle many houses of worship across the country are waging just to keep their doors open because of a steadily declining attendance.

In that report, it notes some staggering statistics: in the late 1940s, nearly 80 percent of Americans said they belonged to a church, synagogue, mosque or temple. Today, just 45 percent say the same, according to Gallup, an analytics company. And, only 32 percent say they worship God in a house of prayer once a week.

Hear that again, only 32 percent of Americans say they worship God in church once a week!

While the report goes on to discuss the number of churches closing their doors, with many of them now converted to condominiums, nightclubs and bars (yet another disturbing reality), it is the mouth-dropping few who actually say they worship in church once a week that draws us back to the evil surrounding us and the moral decay ripping the very fabric of this nation.

While we don’t often talk about faith on these pages — though we believe it is high time journalists do more of it — these numbers are screaming for our attention.

It is a wake-up call, we believe, to every person of faith, no matter the religion they practice.

If we don’t allow God back into our lives and put ourselves back into His house, where are we, really?

At every turn, we make God and faith take a backseat, only pulling them out when it is convenient for us or when something dire happens to us or those we are closest, too.

Like the manger scenes we relegate to a closet after Christmas, we put Jesus and his tenets of salvation on the top shelf, pulling them out only when we absolutely need them.

We live our lives as we want, make decisions as we feel led, follow only the rules that fit into our lifestyle and interpret the Bible in the way that best suits our needs.

And, we justify, justify and justify some more until we can feel good about ourselves.

For those of us who were taken to church as youngsters but opted out of regular attendance as adults, we still understand the principles though we choose not to follow them.

And for others, who haven’t been as fortunate to grow up in a church atmosphere or in a faith-based community, God and his son, Jesus, are strangers, the church just another building.

And with far less than half of us in church even once a week, the teachings so important to how we live our lives, treat others and find salvation are not reaching the hearts and souls of our friends and neighbors.

Crime is up, broken homes are rapidly becoming the majority of homes in the country and hatred is at an all-time high, along with systemic problems of drug and alcohol abuse, sex trafficking and deep disrespect.

Listen to those around you while you’re pumping gas, for example. Hear the foul, hateful language being spewed, seemingly in fun, watch the disrespectful behavior.

See the evil that comes out of nowhere and descends upon a downtown street. Hear it ring out in a school along with shots fired at innocent children and faculty. Feel it in our midst as people walk past a church but never enter its doors.

It is within our power to turn the tide, but we cannot do it from the sidelines. It may not be comfortable, easy or politically correct. But it has to be done.

Maybe it should start with the question: if only 32 percent of Americans are in church once a week, what are the rest of us doing? How many claim to be Christians or follow some other similar faith?

We do not believe it is a coincidence that evil is growing and morality declining at the same time church attendance wanes.

Only we, individually and collectively, can change the course we are setting. Putting God first, worshipping regularly and putting into practice what the Bible really teaches us can help.

It’s time we became the change we want to see, and that change starts by returning to our faith.