Great follow and questions here: http://religionnews.com/2016/09/12/seven-follow-ups-on-ten-reasons-for-christian-decline/
Sent from my iPhone > On Sep 7, 2016, at 12:52, BILROJ via Centroids: The Center of the Radical > Centrist Community <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Religion News Service > > Why is Christianity declining? > By David Gushee | September 6, 2016 > > > The number of Christians and cultural strength of Christianity are both > declining in the United States. This decline is noticeable and is affecting > church life, culture, and politics. It is also deeply disturbing to most > Christians, including me. > > These descriptive claims are found in my new book, A Letter to My Anxious > Christian Friends, just out with Westminster John Knox Press. I will be > reflecting on themes from that new book in my blog posts over the next few > weeks. This is the first, exploring Christian decline in the United States. > > I could now spend several paragraphs inviting a debate over whether and in > what sense Christianity really can be said to be in decline in the U.S. But I > won’t. Suffice it to say that when one percent fewer Americans each year > claim a Christian affiliation, that marks decline. When most denominations > and congregations report declining membership and attendance, that marks > decline. When more and more congregations close their doors forever, that > marks decline. And when the youngest generation shows the greatest > disaffiliation trend, that marks a decline likely to have lasting impact. > > No, the more interesting question at this point is why. Why this > disaffiliation trend? What are its causes? > > An interesting problem in recent conversations about Christian decline is > that many who weigh in appear to be defending their side in internal > Christian conflicts and controversies. Undoubtedly there is some truth to > their respective claims, but their polemic purposes must be considered. > > For example, many conservative evangelicals have for a long time pinned > Christian decline on the mainline liberals, stating that if they had held > firmly to a more robust and orthodox Christianity, they would have done > better. > > On the other hand, many mainliners, not to mention disaffected evangelicals > and ex-evangelicals, have made quite the opposite claim. For them, Christian > decline is due to the excesses and rigidities of conservative religion. > > Having experienced both kinds of churches, I have witnessed both kinds of > disaffiliation: ex-mainliners leaving because their churches were so insipid, > and ex-evangelicals leaving because they could not reconcile conservative > faith with science, critical thinking, or the contemporary world. > > So let’s count both of those as reasons why some are disaffiliating. Here is > my very tentative proposal for eight other reasons: > > –Prosperity and affluence distract people from regular church attendance and > reduce a strong sense of need to be in church, gradually eroding not just > church attendance but Christian identity. > > –The pre-modern claims of traditional Christian faith appear increasingly > incredible to postmodern Americans. It has been a very long time since a > majority of cultural elites found Christianity’s supernatural claims, for > example, to be credible. These elites dominate our culture. > > –Hypocrisies and conflicts in church, when they (inevitably) erupt, don’t > just drive people to other churches, as in the past, but sometimes take them > out of Christianity altogether. > > –The fading of cultural Christianity means that fewer and fewer Americans > feel any cultural or familial expectation to be in church or practice > Christianity. “It was good enough for grandpa” just doesn’t cut it anymore. > > –American Christianity is not producing many compelling leaders, and thus the > average church (as well as the Church writ large) is not especially inspiring > or visionary. Many ministers play it safe in order to keep their jobs, or are > simply not that talented. > > –The collapse of any protection of Sunday from recreation and work, together > with the gig economy, means many people are working or otherwise engaged on > Sunday. > > –It is harder for parents to pass the faith onto their children in a wired > world in which parental influence is in decline. > > –Evangelism is dead. No one really knows how to “share the Christian faith” > any more in a way that connects with people, and many Christians have stopped > trying. > > So that’s ten proposed reasons why Christianity is declining in the United > States. I invite you to add your own reasons for this significant trend. In a > later post I will reflect on what might be done to redress the problems the > churches now face. > > -- > -- > Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community > <[email protected]> > Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism > Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org > > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. 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