The April edition of Newsweek declared that Christianity was dying in America. This was based on a survey done by two professors at Trinity College titled "American Religious Identification Survey 2008". Among the findings were the fact that the percentage of people who identified themselves as "Christian, either Evangelical/Born Again or Non-Denominational" had dropped in the last 18 years from 86.2% to 76.7%. Based on this drop, Newsweek titled the article "The Decline and FALL of Christian America." Obviously this begs many questions.
The first is, when did 76.7% of anything constitute a FALL? If a political candidate has a 76% approval rating, and if their ideology aligned with that of Newsweek, we would see article after article of the overwhelming support of this political candidate. If a business had 76% of the market, it would be considered a monopoly and there would be calls for diversifying the market. This is just to show the media bias and the spiritual warfare that is going on all around us.
Secondly, do you really believe that 76% of Americans are Christians? Or do you believe that 18 years ago America was a land where 86% of its citizens where Christians? I don't find any comfort in so many who aren't true believers identifying themselves as Christians. When Christianity is being defined in cultural terms (I'm an American, so I am a Christian), or on the basis of church attendance, it loses its true meaning. A Christian is a Christ-follower. One who daily seeks God's will for their life, who dies to self and lives for God. I know people who deeply love the Lord, live for Him, attend church every week and serve God by serving others, but no longer call themselves Christians because of the damage the "label" has taken by the actions of so-called Christians.
When you have groups like the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas that protest during the funerals of our military men and women and whose web site banner reads "God Hates Fags" and they do this under the banner of Christianity, you begin to understand why the cultural understanding of Christians has been marred. Or when you have pastors who equate Christianity with a certain political party it redefines the word Christian. For this and many other examples, I know people who now just call themselves "Christ Followers" but no longer want to have to defend the label Christian.
If America was a Christian nation where 76% of Americans were true Christians, then 4,000 babies wouldn't be aborted every day, the 10 Commandments would still hang in our courthouses and schools, and much of what passes as entertainment wouldn't make it to our movie theaters or on prime time television. What is the real number of Christians in America? Only God knows, but when we who are Christians understand that this is a nation founded on Christian values and truth, but has lost it's way, then maybe we will get serious about boldly living out our faith in a culture that needs to not only hear the good news, but see it lived out in the lives of Christ followers.
Yes, I also want to be identified with the positive people and actions of being a Christ-follower. Media companies will always slant toward what "sells", especially around spiritual holidays. Hopefully I/we can embody your last sentence, "... living out our faith in a culture that needs not only to HEAR the good news, but SEE it"!
ReplyDeleteWhen you think about the first colonists who arrived here, when 100% of them were Christians, and then go four hundred years to the present, 76% isn't that bad of a decline. Great job, Chuck. You can tell you've had too much caffeine. You posted this at 5:11 am. Troy
ReplyDeleteI think that "the decline of Christian America" is much worse news for America than it is for Christianity. If America continues to forsake her Christian heritage in favor of post-modern, post-Christian nonsense, it will be catastrophic for the country. But it will have no bearing on the strength of Christianity as a religion at all. Zero. Just because adherence to Christian norms and worldviews is declining in the states does not mean it is declining globally. God is moving- to Africa, South America, and Asia. As far as American Christianity is concerned, it is probably better for the vitality of the movement if it isn't so connected with a nationalistic, civil-religion impulse. Thats just my take, though.
ReplyDeletejust wanted you to know that i found and have read you first of many bloggs to come. more power to churches in Kansas! jk i look foward seeing and hearing more of you great insight!
ReplyDeleteGreat blog post Chuck. Just like your sermons, I find my self saying "YES", and then going "OHHH - that hurt". Thanks for forcing us to search through scripture and struggle with tough concepts.
ReplyDeleteThis post goes back to a sermon from 2007 title something like "Don't Blame the Culture."