This article by Newsweek columnist Jon Meacham is really, really good and worth your time. It shares the results of a new survey reporting the percentage of Americans claiming no religious affiliation has risen from 8% to 15% since 1990, and talks about the implications of that change.It's funny, though, because the person who emailed it to me (and others) did so because they were alarmed and troubled by this indication that America is becoming (or is) "post-Christian."
"Post-Christian" by the way apparently means that the Christian worldview (and who exactly decides what that is?) is no longer the foundation for our country, politics, and culture.
Maybe it's just me but I don't have a problem with this. Evangelicals often bemoan this and regard it as a loss, believing the U.S. is headed (the horror!) for a head-on collision with secularism, like much of Europe.
But here's a news flash: there are still Christians in Europe. I know, I've been there. And with the backdrop of a secular state, one can actually tell who the Christians are! They stand out, like Clifford the big red dog in a heard of zebras.
It would be nice if evangelicals saw this as an opportunity. Not an opportunity necessarily to "convert" people, but an opportunity to simply focus on being the Church; living as that alternate society that stands in stark contrast to the culture around it. Perhaps as our country becomes more secular and divorced from the quasi-pseudo-cultural American Christianity that has defined it for decades, people might actually be attracted to its radical, countercultural message of God's love once again.
But wanting to hang on to a dying dream of some country and culture that is (or ever was) supposedly "Christian" makes no sense to me.
Let it die.
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6 comments:
Thanks for posting your thoughts Paul. I've seen so many different emails make the rounds about this article. I'm so tired of the Christian community responding and reacting out of fear. Isn't love the greatest in the rock, paper, scissors game of life, always putting an end to fear?
Yes, it's supposed to be, but the Church (in general) often doesn't act as if it is.
Also, reformed Christians are supposed to have a great trust in God's sovereignty too--in all things.
As long as the Church is really BEING the Church, I don't see what there is to fear.
Thanks, Paul. A few thoughts...
It seems to me that these surveys are being done the same way, year after year, without thinking about the evolution of language. I might answer that I am spiritual and not religious because I so want to distance myself from the Christian Right. Maybe people are finally tired of far reaching conservatives having so much power and they are responding differently to some of these questions because they just don't fit in the box. For example, "Born Again" is pretty specific and can be charged language, no?
Also, It's always interesting to me when the focus is on authority and not on relationship. I have no desire to be a part of focus issues that end up being about power and lose sight of people. I think I can believe in the sovereignty and authority of God without so much focus on continuing to feed the power of the priviledged.
And, in the end, I think that is what much of this is about. It isn't about people, it is about numbers. Otherwise, they wouldn't call it "post-christian"... that is just silly. That term is about people being afraid of losing their own power as their base and stats decrease. Blech.
I've always wondered about these numbers anyways. What does it mean when such a large group of people identify as Christian? Do they really have relationship with God or is it just a judeo-Christian culture most of us were born into?
And, speaking of numbers...
How fortunate I am that I have been the one lost sheep that often strays from the pack that is pursued. I'm not sure it's done much for God's stats, but I'm grateful.
"But here's a news flash: there are still Christians in Europe. I know, I've been there. And with the backdrop of a secular state, one can actually tell who the Christians are! They stand out, like Clifford the big red dog in a heard of zebras."
Amen! Dave and I discuss this a lot because of our current community's deep South, Bible Belt mentality. While I have my own hypocrisy and fall way short of Jesus' commandments, I struggle greatly with those who come to church once a month because they donated flowers for the altar, or people who care more about our stained glass windows than a church mission trip. These same people equate American patriotism with Godliness and Christianity with conservative politics.
I also read this Newsweek article and agree wholeheartedly that we need to put the notion of America as a "Christian" institution to rest, and start BEING the church in a more organic, grass roots kind of way.
Sarah and Diane, thanks for your thoughts. I'm always encouraged when folks in the pews see behind the curtain to the silliness of these issues.
Helps us pastors to not feel so alone...
"Never let 'em behind the curtain. Never let 'em see the little green man workin' the levers of the great and powerful Oz. They musn't see Will. They musn't see. They're all sistas Will."
"I'm gonna go check your freezer for severed heads."
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