The misunderstood reason millions atlantic

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A recent opinion piece in The Atlantic complains that Christianity is in decline because of 'how American life works in the 21st century. Lately, The Atlantic is pushing hard on a particular narrative of American Christianity. It spins a story of Real True Christianity being subverted somehow—but poised to return in glorious triumph if only Real True Christians start living out their faith in the correct ways. One of their recent stories spins that narrative. Alas and alack, its author misses some extremely important truths—about both American Christianity itself and American culture.

The misunderstood reason millions atlantic

Nearly everyone I grew up with in my childhood church in Lincoln, Nebraska, is no longer Christian. Forty million Americans have stopped attending church in the past 25 years. As a Christian, I feel this shift acutely. My wife and I wonder whether the institutions and communities that have helped preserve us in our own faith will still exist for our four children, let alone whatever grandkids we might one day have. This change is also bad news for America as a whole: Participation in a religious community generally correlates with better health outcomes and longer life , higher financial generosity , and more stable families —all of which are desperately needed in a nation with rising rates of loneliness, mental illness, and alcohol and drug dependency. Open navigation menu. Close suggestions Search Search. User Settings. Skip carousel. Carousel Previous. Carousel Next. What is Everand? Ebooks Audiobooks Magazines Podcasts Sheet music.

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Nearly everyone I grew up with in my childhood church in Lincoln, Nebraska, is no longer Christian. Forty million Americans have stopped attending church in the past 25 years. As a Christian, I feel this shift acutely. My wife and I wonder whether the institutions and communities that have helped preserve us in our own faith will still exist for our four children, let alone whatever grandkids we might one day have. This change is also bad news for America as a whole: Participation in a religious community generally correlates with better health outcomes and longer life , higher financial generosity , and more stable families —all of which are desperately needed in a nation with rising rates of loneliness, mental illness, and alcohol and drug dependency. Timothy Keller: American Christianity is due for a revival. The Great Dechurching finds that religious abuse and more general moral corruption in churches have driven people away.

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Church attendance in America has been on the decline in recent decades. Are Americans losing their ability to incorporate religion—or any kind of intentional community—into their lives? First, here are three new stories from The Atlantic :. How American Life Works. And the facts bear out that visual: As Jake Meador, the editor in chief of the quarterly magazine Mere Orthodoxy , notes in a recent essay , about 40 million Americans have stopped going to church in the past 25 years. The Great Dechurching , a forthcoming book analyzing surveys of more than 7, Americans conducted by two political scientists, attempts to figure out why so many Americans have left churches in recent years.

The misunderstood reason millions atlantic

Millions of Americans are leaving church, never to return, and it would be easy to think that this will make the country more secular and possibly more liberal. After all, that is what happened in Northern and Western Europe in the s: A younger generation quit going to Anglican, Lutheran, or Catholic churches and embraced a liberal, secular pluralism that shaped European politics for the rest of the 20th century and beyond. Something similar happened in the traditionally Catholic Northeast, where, at the end of the 20th century, millions of white Catholics in New England, New York, and other parts of the Northeast quit going to church. Today most of those states are pretty solidly blue and firmly supportive of abortion rights. So, as church attendance declines even in the southern Bible Belt and the rural Midwest, history might seem to suggest that those regions will become more secular, more supportive of abortion and LGBTQ rights, and more liberal in their voting patterns. But that is not what is happening. Declines in church attendance have made the rural Republican regions of the country even more Republican and—perhaps most surprising—more stridently Christian nationalist.

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Explore Ebooks. Even Paul apparently fought with Peter over various doctrines, and Peter likewise apparently hit the limits of his patience with the newest Apostle. How American Life Works. American churches have too often been content to function as a kind of vaguely spiritual NGO, an organization of detached individuals who meet together for religious services that inspire them, provide practical life advice, or offer positive emotional experiences. So far as it goes, we can probably say that complementarianism served its intended purpose. Indeed, in their new book, The Great Dechurching , Jim Davis and Michael Graham draw on new survey data to show that dechurched evangelicals—especially those who retain evangelical Christian beliefs—remain Republican, with conservative views on most issues. Too often it has not been a community that through its preaching and living bears witness to another way to live. Work, in this community, is judged not by the money it generates but by the people it serves. Declines in church attendance have made the rural Republican regions of the country even more Republican and—perhaps most surprising—more stridently Christian nationalist. Most Voted Newest Oldest. More From The Atlantic.

Nearly everyone I grew up with in my childhood church in Lincoln, Nebraska, is no longer Christian. That's not unusual.

Read: American religion is not dead yet. Jimi Barber died a forgiven man. Open navigation menu. Too often it has not been a community that through its preaching and living bears witness to another way to live. Sign In Subscribe. The friend wins out. Only half a century ago Christian denominations acted as politically centrist forces. If church communities in America began acting the way Meador and Dechurched suggest, the results would be absolutely stunning, he promises:. All Meador allows to be added is a small amount of short-term aid to go along with those warm fuzzies. Though churches have a reputation in some circles as promoting hyper-politicization, they can be depolarizing institutions. As I have pondered this question for almost two decades now, this feels like a diagnosis that gets much more deeply to the heart of the matter.