Falling Away

As evangelicalism becomes intertwined with American politics, so has the progression of people leaving the church increased.

Around 12 percent less of the American citizenry have self-identified as Christian between 2009 and 2018/2019 according to the Pew Research Forum (https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/ ). While the statistical percentage seems small, the actual numerical figures might help you to grasp how many people that represents. The 2020 census reported that roughly 255.5 million adults (18+) are currently residing in the US. Twelve percent of that figure is just a little over 30.5 million people (https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/popest/2010s-national-detail.html ). In just over 10 years, a whopping 30 million people no longer identify as Christian or never have to begin with.

Admittedly, I’ve never received a phone call from the Pew Research Center and I’m not sure if you have but we can also see the religious climate changing in our culture. Just a simple view of the various profiles across the social media spectrum shows the growing disdain towards declaring a single faith tradition.

So, what’s going on? Is there a connection between the church’s involvement in politics and the growing losses in followers of Christ?

I’m glad I asked! I can only speak from my own experiences and observations but I do believe that there is a correlation there, among other things.

Sticking to the topic at hand, Jesus himself faced the minglers of faith and politics in His own time and, on at least one occasion, referred to one group of them as a “den of vipers” (Matthew 23:33). Matthew, chapters 22 and 23 is filled with Jesus renouncing the hypocrisy of these Pharisees and Sadducees. The Pharisees were very active in the community and were the unofficial interpreters of the Mosaic Law and were the most influential among their community. They were considered the most knowledgable among the common people about proper tradition and conduct as a follower of the law. The Sadducees were the religious elite among their community, acting as a “de facto” government over the Jewish community. They empowered themselves with religious rule over their people while also adhering to the civil rule of the Romans. They, too, were very influential but in the political realm, less so among the common people. Basically, they had the ear of the Empire and were in a unique position to manipulate that to their advantage (sound familiar?). Unlike the Pharisees, there was very little interaction between the Sadducees and the “commoner” as the Sadducees were mostly very wealthy and considered themselves set apart from them.

The reason this is important is that many in our current Christian leadership, though not ALL, seem to have adopted this blended pattern of influence. If we take a look at some prominent pastors today, we can observe this Pharisee/Sadducee mentality in all spheres of our culture. The voices of order and control with booming authoritarian vocal overtones riddle the airwaves across all mediums. Their efforts in recent decades to gain more and more power (ahem, money) and influence over both, their followers and within the current system of legislation, have caused extreme division in the corporate church. Not only is there a fragmentation within the church, but the spectators who don’t subscribe to the Christian faith are watching in disbelief at what the church is doing to itself and others. Since the message of Christ is pretty widely known (for example, “…love God and love others as yourself.” ~ Matthew 22:37-39), many want nothing to do with what they see as today’s version of Christianity that is largely involved in the translation of scripture to command, condemn, and judge everyone. Is it any wonder that people in our country have a bad taste in their mouth about religion if that message is what we see, especially when publicized in Christianity’s reach into the political sphere?

I write about the church as a corporate unit and am well aware that there are some outliers of the faith who are attempting to get back to the root of Jesus’s message. There are spiritual leaders and Christ-followers that recognize the need for changing the Christian narrative and optics. Whole congregations are breaking from the traditional church hierarchy to set themselves apart from the “Christian Nationalism” construct. (Postcards from Babylon Documentary https://www.postcardsdoc.com/). Many deconstructionists from Christianity have become aware of the problems that come with a lack of critical thinking, tribalism, steeping religion into politics, and believing that only select people are worthy of God’s love. Perhaps they are among the 30 million that no longer, or ever did identify with America’s version of Christianity? Maybe that’s why we’re seeing those numbers drop.

I personally am constantly seeking out those messengers who echo compassion, social justice, equanimity, faith, generosity, kindness, and above all declaring that ALL are worthy of love from the Divine. However the Divine looks or feels is up to the receiver but mostly, it starts with me. Despite the religious influence in the political arena, it still begins with me. Whatever a person’s belief set is, I have the responsibility to demonstrate the universal language of love that is not unique to any one faith tradition. Will I fall short? Absolutely. But I strive to keep from withholding that demonstration just because someone doesn’t look like me, believe like me, live like me, or act like I think they should. I’ll refer back to Christian scripture, “Love God and love others as you love yourselves,” but this message isn’t unique to Christianity. This Golden Rule can be found in every major religion in the world. Further, it’s almost ALWAYS taught to toddlers in every home. “Don’t cut in line. Wait your turn. Don’t snatch the toy from your friend. Share your toys with your friends.” Some version of these directives are something we’re all familiar with.

Even amidst the contending voices of power over our population, I hope that we, as an American society, can come back to the truth that is love and compassion. We must. We cannot continue to thrive without it. But it does start with me.

And you.