Posted on 10/16/2012 7:19:54 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
This is clearly the implication of the media reports following the latest Pew Research, "Nones on the Rise," which shows a "steep decline" in the number of Americans who self-identify as Protestant, coupled with a "significant jump" in the number of those who now claim "no religion." The secular devotees in the media seem hardly able to constrain their delight over the prospect that Christianity is disappearing in America.
Trying to spin this in such a way that the Christian faith appears culturally vital in the U.S. is a little like putting lipstick on a pig; but concluding that Christianity is losing and secularism is winning isn't quite accurate either.
The Pew study asked 2973 adults nationwide: "What is your present religion, if any? Are you Protestant, Roman Catholic, Mormon, Orthodox such as Greek or Russian Orthodox, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, atheist, agnostic, something else, or nothing in particular?" The number of Americans who identified themselves as Protestant was 48 percent, down from 53 percent in 2007. (In 1960, two-thirds of American adults identified themselves as Protestant.) Catholics showed only a modest 1 percent drop, while Orthodox (Christian) and Mormons remained steady and those claiming "other faith" experienced a 2 percent increase.
As to the other side-the religiously unaffiliated or so-called "Nones"-the picture is not quite as clear as the headlines suggest. First, the study's category of "religiously unaffiliated" has in fact risen from 15.3 percent of U.S. adults in 2007 to 19.6 percent in 2012. This, when coupled with the apparent drop in the number of self-described Protestants, seems to suggest that apostasy is to blame. However, after carefully examining the research, I think the issue being identified has little to do with apostasy and more to do with religious ignorance and theological assimilation.
For starters and despite the media's inference, the Nones are not necessarily atheist. In fact, only 2.4 percent of Americans identify themselves as atheists (another 3.3 percent claim to be agnostic). The largest category (13.9 percent) of the religiously unaffiliated are those who say they are "nothing in particular." However, the report also makes clear that those in the nothing-in-particular category are by no means irreligious.
In fact, two-thirds of the unaffiliated say they believe in God and 55 percent describe themselves either as a "religious person" or as "spiritual but not religious." Other Pew Research surveys found that 76 percent of Americans say that prayer is "an important part of their daily life," a figure unchanged for the last twenty-five years.
The 2012 Pew study also points out that "The number of Americans who currently say religion is very important in their lives (58%) is little changed since 2007 (61%) and remains far higher than in Britain (17%), France (13%), Germany (21%) or Spain (22%)." Clearly, this growing category of those claiming "nothing in particular" when it comes to religion does not signal the triumph of secularism.
So what's really going on here? As I said earlier, I think the issue being identified may be more closely related to the religious ignorance of some Christians and the assimilation of popular pagan ideas into Christianity.
Because the question only presents the Christian religion in terms of its three main traditions-Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant-I think there are a significant number of Protestant Christians who wouldn't know (or choose) to identify themselves as such. For one, many conservative Christians would be uncomfortable with the term Protestant because they associate being Protestant with liberal mainline denominations. In other words, they're Protestant, they just don't know it. I see similar confusion among some Protestant congregations who actually reject the use of the Apostles' Creed because it includes the word catholic when referring to the universal church.
To put it simply, too many of our brothers and sisters lack the basic knowledge of church history to properly understand many of the critical terms relative to their own faith and practice.
Theological assimilation, however, may be the larger problem. Those who claim "nothing in particular" when it comes to religion seem to be rejecting historic orthodox Christianity and its accompanying authority structures for a religion of their own design. The vast majority of these-as I pointed out earlier-say they believe in God, pray each day, and claim religion is "very important" to them. Thus they largely remain "religious." However, one must ask: In what God do they believe, what religion are they practicing, and to whom are they praying if they don't identify with any religion?
What I believe this report reveals is the growing assimilation of pagan (new-age and deistic) ideas, sprinkled with therapeutic self-interest, finally mingled with a childhood Christian tradition. The result is a highly personalized and therapeutic form of Christian faith and practice, i.e., culturalized Christianity. This is especially true among those under thirty, whose theology sociologist Christian Smith described as "moralistic, therapeutic, deism." It is among this demographic the church is suffering its highest levels of defection.
While it may make us feel better to think that the church is losing ground due to assault by outside forces; it is likely that apathy and heresy are bigger threats to Christianity in America than secularism. We have got to do a better job of transmitting the faith from one generation to the next by once again offering a Christ-centered (rather than "me-centered") faith that is theologically robust, socially relevant, and culturally engaged if we want to arrest this trend.
__________________
S. Michael Craven is the President of Battle for TRUTH. Michael is also the author of Uncompromised Faith: Overcoming Our Culturalized Christianity (Navpress). Battle for TRUTH is committed to the reformation and renewal of the church through serious research, writing, speaking, and teaching. For more information on Battle for TRUTH, visit: www.battlefortruth.org. Michael lives in the Dallas area.
A lot of people would do well to consider something I recall from my USMC Boot Camp graduation.
"The cowards never tried and the weak dropped out a long time ago. That leaves us."
Given the number of Christians who never try to turn the tide or drop out and find a comfy spot to hide, Secularism in this country doesn't even know it's been in a heated argument much less a battle.
Nothing new here. It’s a normal cycle that will implode like Rome long ago. But what is unique about Islam is that it has all the evil built right in so it will flourish, whereas Christianity separates evil out.
That's quite a leap you've made. You have no idea whatsoever to what extent I serve others.
And BTW, the church to which I belong stands against every evil you just listed.
Unfortunately, that is a distorted view of historical christianity, not practiced during the first 1500 years after the ascension.
cherry picking scripture versus outside of the historic practices of the apostles and their successors in the church, skews one’s viewpoint.
Good answer: I’ve often wondered if the polls aren’t at least somewhat skewed by the fact that some people won’t participate. I don’t; I’d like to know how many other refusniks there are out there.
The Catholic Church as an institution may have officially stood against the elements in your list, but so many Catholics individually have come to accept them that their general acceptance renders much of Church teaching meaningless.
Clearly, the Catholic priesthood has done a poor job of modeling a morality in their actions that mirrors their pronouncements. This fact is not lost on those who are desperate for true Godly guidance.
But we (should) not be primarily interested in historic tradition, lest we become like the Jews of old who Jesus said had negated the scripture through their tradition (Mark 7:13). We should be interested in getting back to God's Word and the truth of the Gospel of the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:24). The reality of the true gospel is what the world is really looking for and power of the gospel is the ONLY thing that will save them (1 Corinthians 1:18, 2:4-5). (Of course I'm interested in their salvation, not necessarily their going to church, which follows later.)
“First, the study’s category ofhas in fact risen from 15.3 percent of U.S. adults in 2007 to 19.6 percent in 2012.”
It may not be just a coincidence that the number of “religiously unaffiliated” has risen since 2007 as that was the very same year that Obama announced his candidacy.
And moreover, it is possible that Agents of Obama and George Soros have since 2007, taken measures not to increase the number of non believers but to decrease the number of Protestants by some sort of termination program.
Our culture/media has made the word religious a negative term, hence people do not want to admit they are religious. They may be quite Godly and a follower of Christ which seems a bit more pertinent.
I am more concerned about the zeal of the faithful in the US as opposed to whether to go to church or define themselves as religious. The passionate practice of the faith will advance the kingdom much more that just sitting in the pew on Sunday.
There are real problem in our churches right now:
- the social gospel (just do good and you will gain salvation)
- the lack of true Biblical teaching from the pulpit
- the unwillingness to confront/teach both Grace AND Judgement
- the lack of Jesus being taught/discussed
The feel-good mega-church with fancy facilities, good band, fun speakers, no harsh words that does not take the faith into the community is a real problem. And I attend one such church.
sschu
historical christianity has nothing to do with the ‘jews of old’, im talking as, i said, about the first 1500 years after Christ ascended to heaven. He didnt drop down a completed version of the kjv with a ‘let the holy spirit guide you from here on’....
he created a church from the apostles down through their successors as a teaching church, to guard, protect and pass on the Word, not some sort of me, my bible and Christ, is all i need teaching...that sort of theology, outside the historical events, has led precisely to what we see today....
that being said, i agree, the Gospel is the only thing that will save us, just make sure the gospels are taught correctly.....
And Ayn Rand and “Atlas” are helping on the “conservative” side!
Seculars shun reproduction.
But the anointing which ye have received of him abides in you, and you need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, you shall abide in him. 1 John 2:27.
papa, you are doing it again. you pick one line of the bible and think it negates all of church history.
you know as well as i do that isnt how christianity works.
you know as well as i do that you are ignoring the historical church that Christ said the very gates of hell would not prevail against.
the devil himself can quote the bible too, but that means little.
it comes down to what what done in the past when the apostles appointed their successors, who were these men, what did the do, what did they teach, and for whom did the teach?
if you wish to ignore that, and just quote another bible verse, then you are willfully missing the point, instead of discussing what im saying.
And THAT is why the church is losing. People are no longer interested in religion. They want (and need) the reality of a loving, grace-filled relationship with God through Jesus Christ. The church in many ways has stood in the way of those trying to find Him.
You have a problem quoting the Bible? How did Jesus deal with the Devil and the Pharisees? He quoted the Bible. You seem quite uninterested in discussing your ideas on the basis of scripture, only on the basis of historical tradition - again, just like the Jews of old.
That's certainly true in my experience. Of myself, my sister, and my closest friends (all of whom are secular), my sister has no children, and only one out of a half-dozen close friends has any children (two of them). I have no children myself, nor any desire to have any.
I'm a rather big fan of Ayn Rand & Atlas Shrugged, myself. Wish more people were...!
i have no problem quoting the bible, i just have a problem with folks cherry picking verses OUTSIDE of the history of the church at the time of the apostles, and their successors.
how do you think heresies started? by not following the proper authority given by Christ, to his apostles and their successors, but instead, picking and choosing verses of scripture that suits their particular theological viewpoint.
those heresies were each time, stomped out by the authoritatve teaching church, using its devinely appointed authority as his teaching church, in addition to the word, and sacred tradition, all historically verifiable.
“That’s certainly true in my experience. Of myself, my sister, and my closest friends (all of whom are secular), my sister has no children, and only one out of a half-dozen close friends has any children (two of them). I have no children myself, nor any desire to have any.”
This suggests a long term trend, even from a Darwinian perspective, in which secularism is bred out of the gene pool. Some children from religious families will turn to secularism, but they, in turn, won’t have many kids. This pattern has been emerging in Israel, with secular vs religious Jews, and, perhaps, in Europe, with secular Europeans vs Muslim newcomers.
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