A recent Pew research project indicates that the religious “landscape” in America shows a rather substantive decline in Christian affiliation, and that other faiths (Jewish, Muslim, Hindu) are gaining, though not as much as the atheists, agnostics, and “nones,” (i.e. those who claim no religious preference).
We evangelicals have not done as poorly as some other “traditional” American denominations, the study finds. “The number of evangelical Protestants dipped only slightly as a share of the population, by 1 percentage point, and actually increased in raw numbers.” (I hasten to say that it is unwise to take much comfort in merely treading water.)
My take on the entire matter:
(1) While Pew research enjoys a good reputation, only God knows who are His and who are not; we should all be braced for shocks at the final separation of wheat and tares, sheep and goats, which may demonstrate strikingly little correlation with “religious observance” in America or anywhere else.
(2) One of the most common prophecies in the New Testament is that Christians will be persecuted. “You shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake,” Jesus warned. (Matthew 10:22) “(A)ll that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” is the way St. Paul puts it (II Timothy 3:12), and then predicts a widespread “falling away” (II Thessalonians 2:3), i.e., an apostasy from the true faith, in the final days of human history. Fifty other such passages could be cited. To be surprised at the decline of true Christianity is itself the real surprise, especially since the persecution of Christians is growing markedly worldwide.
(3) One of the most serious difficulties the American church has been forced to live with is that, from the first days of the republic, we have been called on so seldom to suffer for our faith. We have lived (with rare exceptions) in a societal hot-house. That explains some of our spiritual funk, and the fervor of fellow Christians around the globe, especially those who are called on to suffer for their faith. We are asked to give up our parking space on Sundays while they must be prepared to give up their lives. No honest American will deny that it is easier to join most churches than the local Rotary Club. (A must read here is Philip Jenkins, “The Next Christendom,” Oxford University Press, 2002. Jenkins predicts “The Coming of Global Christianity” in the future, with the center of the faith being, not in America or the United Kingdom, but in the third world. He also reports on growing persecution of Christians around the globe.)
Several other facts explain much of the decline of the true Christian faith in America:
(4) Often, little of it is preached from the pulpit. Apostate pastors do not usually elicit a serious response to the “costly grace” of Jesus, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and all their spiritual kin. If Americans look to the pulpit for spiritual guidance—pray tell, where else would they go?—who can be surprised that they meander about in a spiritual fog?
(5) Our cultural context causes many church-goers equal shock at the faith being denied or seriously practiced. (Read that sentence again!) We want to touch the wire— but only if it is not” hot”! An English woman once said, “Yes, I am a Christian, but not offensively so!” A man said to me: “I have been visiting your church for a while and I want a little bit of what y’all have—but not as much as you have.” I explained to him that there is only one dose. That is decidedly not, however, to assert that any of us had reached the level of beatification.
(6) Many studies indicate the stunning fact that over 95% of Christians have never once shared their faith with another person—a fatal failure of the modern church. It is difficult to conjure much excitement for the battle when one is not on the battlefront, indeed, might not even know there is a battle going on. To be an evangelical is to know where the well is; to be evangelistic is to carry water to thirsty people.
(7) To be guilty of monstrous understatement, the modern media (include here Hollywood and the universities) does not energize modern Christians to stand up for their faith (or anything else but “tolerance,” which is the core value of America’s current zeitgeist.) No serious Christian believes such institutions should affirm our faith-walk, of course, but their anti-Christian rant weakens many who are already spiritually anorexic. Consider the coming television series, “Impastor,” in which a gay con man stumbles into the pastorate. Many will fail to get the humor.
(8) The real problem with people leaving Christianity is not that it has been tried and found to fail; it is that it has been tried, found to be difficult, and abandoned.
Since we’re on the subject: why did you leave?