Is Christianity dying?

Ian Boyne, Contributor

That the latest national census has shown that mainline churches are declining and that the newer, more Pentecostal-Charismatic churches, as well as the unconventional Seventh-day Adventists are growing, might be less significant than the fact that Christianity itself is rapidly losing its influence and pull.

There are many thoughtful people who believe that Christianity itself, not just the traditional churches, is dying. America has long been the most religious of the industrialised countries. Scholars now refer to Europe as post-Christian, and Canada is increasingly secular. Sociologist Peter Berger popularised the Secularisation Thesis, which basically says as countries industrialise, they secularise, and religious influence declines. For years America was the outlier to Berger's thesis. But that has been changing.

'NONES' GROWING FAST

The latest authoritative national survey of religious affiliation in America conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and released just last month found that the category of persons growing fastest are the 'nones' - those persons who disavow any affiliation to any particular religious group.

Says the report: "The number of Americans who do not identify with any religion continues to grow at a rapid pace. One-fifth of the US public - and a third of adults under 30 - are religiously unaffiliated today, the highest percentages ever in Pew Center polling."

It says in the last five years alone the unaffiliated category has increased from just over 15 per cent to just under 20 per cent of all US adults. Their ranks include more than 13 million atheists and agnostics - nearly six per cent of the population - and nearly 33 million people who have no particular religious affiliation.

Noteworthy is the fact that the 19.6 per cent of persons who identify themselves as not affiliated to any religious group outnumber those who are identified as white Evangelicals (19 per cent), white mainline Christians (15 per cent) and black Protestant and other minority Protestant (eight per cent). It is also significant that the unaffiliated is only marginally less than the 22 per cent Catholics. Mormons only account for two per cent of Americans and everyone in the 'other faith' category - which would includes Seventh-day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses - lumped together only accounts for six per cent of Americans.

Yes, indeed, mainline churches are declining in America, too, but so are all religious groups. Interestingly, not all of those identified as 'nones' are atheists and agnostics. Some describe themselves as spiritual, but not religious, showing the level of disillusionment and disenchantment which has overtaken institutional religion of all forms. There are some cultural and philosophical trends which, some say, signal the impending death of Christianity itself.

SPIRITUALITY ON DEMAND

There has been a massive swing away from institutional religion overall. People have generally had it with organised religion, and in this seeker-oriented, gourmet, niche-market, custom-made, individualistic age, people recoil from one-size-fits-all religious groups. It's a spirituality-on-demand, custom-built, individual-needs-tested marketplace. People have generally had it with meta-narratives, the Grand Story, universal, transcultural, 'objective' truths. It's post-modernism popularised - and embraced by millions who have never heard the names Foucault, Derrida and Lyotard. (Remember the song, "To Each His Own. That's my philosophy. You don't know what's right for me. I don't know what's right for you. Do your thing.")

In her book just published this year, Christianity After Religion: The End of the Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening, Diana Butler Bass, who holds a PhD in religious studies from Duke University, reports on her extensive survey and analysis of the American religious landscape.

She writes: "Academic polls, journalistic ones, denominational surveys and polls with heavy theological agendas all indicate that inherited religious identities like Protestant, Catholic, Jewish were in a state of flux in the United States; that actual attendance at weekly religious services is significantly down ... that traditional religious institutions are in sustained decline and that general belief in God has eroded over the last 30 years."

She continues: "Many of my friends, faithful churchgoers for decades, are dropping out because religion is dull, the purview of folks who never want to change, or always want to fight about somebody else's sex life."

That trend, as other American trends, has caught on here, too. More and more people are opting for more exciting things to do on a Sunday morning than going to church - and there are many more choices today. Today, we have Facebook, Twitter, iPads, hundreds of cable stations, satellite television, DVDs galore and many places to go on a Sunday. The distractions alone are enough to lure one away from church - which finds it hard to compete.

Plus, many of our mainline preachers are unbearably boring and sonorous, out of touch with everyday life; raising old theological questions no one is asking and giving answers no one cares about. Christianity is in terminal decline, many believe. The traditional churches might more markedly mirror it, but some observers point out, even those elements which have 'succeeded' at the expense of some core Christian teachings. Who is talking about sacrifice, suffering, renouncing the world, the heavy cost of discipleship? Most of the churches which are growing have done so in compromise with prevailing cultural norms.

That's the essential point which is argued deftly by the highly sophisticated New York Times columnist and Catholic Ross Douthat in his 2012 book Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics. Aside from the Seventh-day Adventists, the groups which are growing place a strong emphasis on experientialism, emotion, prosperity theology, health and wealth.

Just as our secular youth are influenced by American cultural penetration and American pop culture, so our religious youth and adults are influenced by American religious TV. Secular youth have MTV and BET, and religious youth have TBN, Word, and Inspiration channels.

The newer churches are more loosely organised, democratic, congregational, more expressive, emotion driven, and cater more to individual spiritual needs. Yes, as Garnett Roper pointed out in a highly stimulating discussion he and I had last week on 'Nationwide at 5', these groups tend to splinter easily, but, paradoxically, that's a plus to many: They can always design their own little church, little ministry; they can create their own religious niche to fit their idiosyncrasies. They don't have to put up with what Father is doing or what Right Reverend this or that is decreeing, citing ancient liturgies and church traditions. The flexibility, even malleability, of these newer churches fits in with an individualistic, hedonistic Western culture.

MAKING OWN WORLD

It also fits in with the dominant technology. Marshal McLuhan said decades ago, "The medium is the message", meaning technology determines cultural life. Karl Marx said before him, "The hand mill gave you the feudal lord; the steam engine the industrial capitalist." The means of production - the base - determines the superstructure.

Technology is customised, personal, and contextual. People gather in virtual space; they don't need block and steel. If I don't like you, I defriend you. I don't have to watch what everybody is watching the same time everybody is watching it. Technology allows me to watch what I want to watch, when I want to watch it, and how I want to watch it. Everything is customised. I am Creator. I make my world. I can block you out at a click. I read only the blogs which agree with me, go on sites which support my prejudices and fancies. I am my own God!

Institutionalised, catechised Christianity does not fit well with this sound bite: attention-deficit-disorder age. No wonder many see Christianity as dying. They say it can't survive the combined onslaught of a technology-driven, globalised, liberalised world. In a global village, people are more exposed to other religions, other ways of thinking and living.

Also, the many scandals, revelations of hypocrisy, double standards, and plain wickedness taking place in the name of God, and the strong association between Mammon and God, have turned off many. A lot of people will tell you, "I don't go to church. Too much hypocrite inna church." In its news story, 'None of the above: youth make up 40% of J'cans shunning all religious denominations', The Gleaner on October 22 that 10-29-year-olds make up perhaps 40 per cent of those shunning all religious groups.

It quoted one young man seen playing football instead of being in church on a recent Sunday morning: "Di said (same) people me see go church a di said (same) people me see a carry out wickedness ... . Me used to go to church, but me stop from me pree wah a gwaan."

HURT BY CHURCH

A lot of people have also been hurt by the institutional Church and are totally turned off from organised religion. There has been a phenomenal growth in house churches and very small fellowships unconnected to any denomination. Many find religious groups inherently oppressive, stifling, and intellectually draining.

Another fact not known by many in Jamaica is that many pastors and religious leaders have been losing their faith in droves. In fact, recent studies have shown that even many who are still preaching in pulpits don't believe in God and don't believe the Bible!

There are websites and groups such as The Clergy Project which cater to pastors who no longer believe in God but who, for social or other reasons, continue to lead their unsuspecting flock. The New York Times Magazine, in its August 28 issue, ran an interesting article 'From Bible belt pastor to atheist leader', chronicling one pastor's loss of faith and departure from ministry. Many have left ministry and are now working with atheistic and humanistic groups.

Besides, a number of biblical scholars have cast doubt on the authenticity and historicity of the Bible. Increasingly, ordinary people can watch documentaries on Discovery, TLC, National Geographic, A&E and other channels, where leading scholars show why you can't trust those Bible stories you had taken for granted all these years. This has been profoundly disturbing to many.

The Internet has also destabilised the faith of many. Many Christians with questions can now find other doubters online who reinforce their doubts, leading them to renounce Christianity. Increasing secularisation and economic pressures, which crowd out religious interests, also undermine faith. And the traditional pastors have been doing a disastrously poor job in countering the ideological and cultural assault on Christianity.

Can the Church then be saved?

Ian Boyne is a veteran journalist. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and ianboyne1@yahoo.com.