Is Christianity on the Decline?

There have been a spate of articles recently on the apparent decline of Christianity in the United States. Probably the most significant of these is the Newsweek article, "The Decline and Fall of Christian America". These articles bring several questions to mind. First of all, What is actually meant by Christianity in these articles? How does one interpret the data that these articles reference? Is Christianity being used only to refer to the religious right? What, in fact, should a resurgent Christianity look like?

It is difficult to use any group or denomination of Christianity as representative of Christian thought. Christianity has always been a broad-based movement that has exemplified diversity since its inception. A quick look at New Testament Scriptures would highlight major differences between the Christian thought of the Pauline and Johannine biblical literature. Most Christians will remember how Peter and Paul fought over the inclusion of gentiles into their community in the Acts of the Apostles. The historical record includes many early Chruch heresies, the split with Eastern Christianity, and of course the Protestant reformation. Modern Christianity has shown a decline in adherence to mainline protestant denominations, but growth in pentecostals and evangelicals. How does one point to any one manifestation of Christianiy and speak of Christianity as being in decline?

Let's take a look at the data that is referenced in the Newsweek article. We are told that Americans professing no religious affiliation has jumped from 8 to 15% since 1990. Self identified Christians have fallen from 86 to 76%. Also, the number of individuals identifying themselves as atheists or agnostics has increased dramatically. These numbers are interesting and significant, but whether they warrant a headline like "The End of Christian America" is questionable.

It should also be noted that we have seen how events can move such numbers quickly in one direction or another. In 2004 gay marriage galvanized the religious right and helped reelect George Bush to a second term. Currently, there appears to be a conservative movement around taxes and guns that might create another surge in religious activism. Of course one might ask the question as to what taxes and guns have to do with religion. I don't know the answer to that question and have often asked it myself, but there does seem to be a correlation with core conservative issues that tends to move the religious right.

Back to the question of what is meant by Christianity, however. It is important to remember that the political influence of the religious right is a fairly recent phenomenon, essentially beginning in the 1970's. Many may have forgotten the religious influence of the 60's which came from Christianity as well, but it centered on the civil rights movement. The Christianity preached during those years was considerably different from what we have become accustomed to over these last 30 years. Will the real Christianity stand up? Of course all Christianity exists in tension between reconciliation and punishment, heaven and hell, compassion and judgement, etc. etc. I do think that reality, however, reminds us that we need to be careful about attributing a one sided approach to religious issues as being what Christianity is all about.

With some of these caveats in mind, what does appear to be happening with Christianity in our contry today? First, I think it may be possible that the aggressive political tactics of the Christian right may have just worn themselves out - at least for the time being. As the article points out some evangelicals have come to believe that tieing themselves to the Republican party may not have been such a great idea, and they feel that they have not gotten as much from the partnership as they expected. I think it is also true, that the movement managed for many years to generate more influence than their numbers actually warranted. I believe we are beginning to see this play out on the gay marriage issue. The majority of Americans are more tolerant than the message of the Christian right, and especially with George Bush no longer in the White House, their message is not resonating as much with Americans and politicians as it did in the past. Relatively little noise has been heard over gay marriage actions in Iowa and Vermont. Perhaps this may partly be because people recognize that the country hasn't collapsed because of gay marriages in Massachusetts and Connecticut. I repeat, however, that one never knows when an issue will catalyze the movement and precipitate a resurgence.

Finally I would like to consider the possibility that rather than the decline of Christianity we may be seeing the beginning of a new kind of Christianity rising on the scene. We may be talking about a kind of faith that more moderate Christians profess, maybe something akin to the Christianity of a President Obama. We are talking about a Christianity that recognizes its limitations in impacting public policy and that emphasizes an out reach of compassion for all people. Such a Christianity sees justice as being about fairness, and respects the rights and beliefs of all Americans. It seeks a return to celebrating our differences and our cultural diversity. This Christianity seeks to find common ground with all believers and even non-believers in building a better world, in lifting up the downtrodden, in feeding the hungry and responding to the traditional works of mercy, the beatitudes, and the sermon on the mount. This is the kind of Christianity I can champion, and one that if it pervades our country can be celebrated by all as not a decline but a resurgence of authentic Christianity and religion in general at its best. Perhaps believer and non-believer alike could herald such a Christianity as playing a pivotal and appropriate role in the sphere of political influence.