Eric Blauer wants to know how liberal Christians are responding to Russell Douthat’s editorial on the decline of Liberal Christianity. Diana Butler Bass and the Rev. Winnie Varghese have given two very fine responses and I have a few observations of my own.
First, it is not liberal Christianity that is declining in the west, it is Christianity. Period, full stop. Roman Catholicism has remained stable entirely because of the influx of Latino Catholics. The estimates of people who call themselves ex-Catholics in the USA now runs to 30 million. The Southern Baptist Convention has lost something in the order of 3 million people in the past decade or so, more people than populate the entire Episcopal Church. It was two years ago or so that a Gallup Poll revealed that for the first time in our history less than half of the citizens of the United States identified themselves with a particular religion. The only denomination that is growing right now is the Mormons, and they are using the best method since conversion at the point of the sword went out of fashion, babies. Mormon missionaries are not good at recruiting people who were not previously LDS into their church, but the religious imperative to have children has continued to be successful in producing new generations of believers.
Second, the decline in mainline denominations, of which the Episcopal Church, my spiritual home, is one, predated the leftward movement that has become so prominent in recent years. In the Episcopal Church the decline began 10 years before we began serious discussions on Prayer Book revision, 15 years before the ordination of women, and nearly forty years before the ordination of an openly gay man as Bishop of New Hampshire. If we want to think in terms of cause and effect, the liberal reforms in the Episcopal Church might better be understood as a result of, rather than a cause of, the decline in numbers.
In reality however, in the face of systemic declines all over western Christianity, we need to admit to ourselves, if to no one else, that neither liberalism nor conservatism are responsible for the decline in Christianity. People are not saying in big numbers that their denomination is too liberal and therefore they will go to a conservative church, nor are they saying that their denomination is too conservative and therefore they will go to a liberal one. Anecdotally there are numerous examples of this, but they don’t explain the systemic nature of this decline. Rather, people are saying Christianity just isn’t relevant, and are not going anywhere at all.
Christianity has always had progressives and traditionalists, liberals and conservatives, and always will. Today, as when progressive Paul took on traditionalist Peter at Antioch, (and yes, that is how it was) the Gospel admits of many interpretations. The task of Christians is not to extirpate differing understandings of the meaning of what God has done in Christ, so that theirs alone triumphs, but rather it is speak in terms people today understand, and which liberate them to live full lives as beloved children of God. So to traditionalist Christians everywhere, may I simply offer the advice of John Donne, that famous English Divine: “Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.”
So why the decline in your corner Bill?
Good writeup! Bill I always enjoy your scholarship. Liberals are quick to jump ship just by the nature of being liberals, and conservatives stick by their traditions because they are conservatives. In reality, they’ve both checked out. One by virtue of abandoning the church, the other by just embracing conservative evangelicalism instead of a real Christianity.
Answering Eric’s question above, I agree with Bill’s statement that Christianity is declining because it is no longer relevant. People aren’t going anywhere at all. They don’t feel they need Christianity. They’ve created a gospel of the American dream. They look to celebrities and sports figures, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. They’ve developed community on Facebook and Pinterinst. How will Jesus help me to make it in America? What, give up my riches and the American dream to a man crucified on a cross? I think I have better things to do on Sunday morning!
Bruce –
What is “real Christianity”?
I think the conversation should expand. By this, I mean that most churches, both conservative and liberal, have decline and continue to decline in the US, but more importantly so has membership in a wide group of other community groups. Rotary and other similar volunteer groups have also seen a similar decline. Societies dedicated to hobbies like car enthusiasts, bird watchers and similar groups also have seen declines. This might be more a decline in commitment to membership throughout the whole of the culture. The ethos of individualism and consumerism have eroded our wanting social engage activities, which increases our poverty of the spirit. Is it any wonder that depression and other mental problems that arise out of loneliness are on the rise. We are forgetting how to with each other.
Real Christianity in my view is that which was laid down by the Church fathers such as Augustine, the Scholastics such as Aquinas, and the mystics such as John of the Cross, Fenelon, and Guyon.
People have been joining online communities like rats escaping a sinking ship…ie Facebook.
I think that if we can’t define what a real Christian is, in terms simple enough for anyone to understand, then we don’t deserve to be followed. I don’t think we need to read or understand any of those men. We need to present the good news about Jesus Christ after explaining why every single person on earth needs this good news, and do it with meekness and a God-given love for those we present it to. It’s all in the Bible, like an abandoned gold mine still full of treasure.