The End of Christian America

Brian Miller sent me a link to a Newsweek article titled "The End of Christian America". http://www.newsweek.com/id/192583/page/1

I wanted to comment on a few things it says. I've been thinking about this stuff for some time now.

The hingepoint of the article is the result of a recent survey that found that "the number of Americans who claim no religious affiliation has nearly doubled since 1990, rising from 8 to 15 percent". There were other numbers given to reveal that the number of those claiming to be Christian has gone down during the same time period and that less folks consider America to be a Christian nation.

Should we be scared? depressed?

I'm not. I've been aware of this for some time. I've brought it up in sermons. In all honesty, I see it as a positive trend.

Where do I start?

Well, first off, the number of cultural Christians has greatly decreased. By cultural Christian I mean those who would claim to be Christian but have no real relationship with Jesus. They call themselves Christian, might even go to church (on Easter and Christmas), but there is nothing to speak of regarding genuine faith in Jesus. They were Christian because that was the box they checked. They felt it was important to identify themselves as something, and Christian seemed more appropriate than Muslim or Jewish.

Today, folks are less inclined to feel compelled to identify with a larger group. Plus I would venture to guess that the possible answers to these surveys make it easier to claim no religious affiliation (just a hunch on that one).

I remember growing up seeing the church filled with folks (in my judgmental opinion) had no idea why they were going to church. They just went because it was the thing to do. Well, these folks had kids and their kids have grown up and seen through the empty religious crap and don't feel compelled to identify themselves as something they are not.

So, the end result is less what? Less Christians or less people calling themselves Christian? I'd rather have a committed army of 100 than a lukewarm army of 500. If these numbers indicate the death of anything, it's the death of mainline, cultural Christianity, which the prophets of the Old Testament would heartily welcome.

No problems here. For me less is more. I think the Kingdom of God functions better when it is the underdog. When it is looking up form the bottom, rather than looking down form the top. Which brings be to my next point......

Question: was Emperor Constantine good or bad for the kingdom of God?

I'll make that my next post.