Archives » Thursday, April 09, 2009
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Kurt Soller
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Apr 9, 2009 01:12 PM
With Easter approaching on Sunday, the media has made much of Christianity this week. And with NEWSWEEK's cover, "The Decline and Fall of Christian America,"
many pundits have been addressing where modern religion stands (see my
previous blog entry to find a round-up of the media mob regarding
Christianity.) The latest comes from Colleen Raezler, a guest columnist for onenewsnow.com who
wrote: "This Holy Week has been typical. Newsweek proclaimed "The
Decline and Fall of Christian America" on its cover. The Washington
Post/Newsweek "On Faith" blog featured a post that belittled the
significance of Jesus' death and resurrection. The Discovery Channel
aired a documentary that painted Jesus as little more than an
opportunistic politician who caught a bad break in a trial."
Whether valid or not, it's portrayals like these that have you readers
-- especially Christians -- up in arms. Yesterday, we had to disable
commenting on Jon Meacham's essay because nearly 5,000 comments in a
short period of time were making the site wobbly. The majority were
using our forum to share their beliefs on where Christianity is headed.
And as Christians, there were some great first-hand accounts of life in
an increasingly "post-Christian" society. "As an Evangelical Christian
from Africa, I should say this article was long overdue... I have
always been bothered by Political Evangelical Christianity in America
and the spreading of the same Political Christian dose in Sub Saharan
Africa," wrote commenter Katm. "Any thinking and discerning evangelical
Christian should take the critique in this article as a positive." Many
agreed, echoing an overarching idea that Christianity in America has
long been too political, and that this post-Christian America may be
well-warranted. "Raised as I was, I am very familiar with the teaching
of Christianity, and I am painfully aware of the holes my parents
conservatism left in my education," echoed one reader."But, my favorite
bible verse is the one about man being created in the image of God.
Isn't that another way of saying that God and man are the same? To me
it's just that simple."
With the numbers of believers down in this year's American Religious
Identification Survey -- the inspiration for our cover -- I was
surprised by the commenting Christians who were open about why the left
organized religion. "People are not abandoning Christianity so much as
abandoning organized religion," offered commenter xargaw. "Many of us
have found a deeper faith in our own searching and in our communities
outside of the church where irrelevant doctrine and hypocrisy are hard
to ignore. There is often more of God at work in volunteerism in your
town and being a true friend to someone in need than in the church
building. Many are striving to live as Jesus directed rather than
simply warming a pew once a week." But why forget organized
Christianity? Others were quick to explain: "Most Americans still
believe in God. But the last several decades the most visible voices of
Christianity have been those who preach judgment, hatred, anger and
violence."
Getting even more specific, there seemed to be an overwhelming amount
of blame placed on the previous administration and the effect it had on
politicizing religion. "I watched with dismay as the religious right
hijacked the political process and decisions that were previously
individual became part of a movement to impose a group's religious
views on all of us," wrote Bookfan. "Abortion, intelligent design, stem
cell research, and gay marriage became the property of voters'
sectors--rather than a personal moral decision." Even Christians
agreed, many of whom were unwilling to refute Meacham's assertion that
we've entered a new era when discussing how the church interacts with
the state: "Although I was raised in the US and in the Christian faith,
I have come to see it primarily as something very ugly and divisive,"
wrote the reader 'Meditating.' "Instead of concentrating on loving one
another, the Old Testament Christians (yes, it's an oxymoron) seem to
have taken over the religious dialogue of my faith and turned it into a
weapon intended to wound anyone who disagrees with them. What moral
person would want to identify themselves with a faith like that? I
don't and I am now one of those people who would not want to be
identified as a Christian. It seems no one injures the name of Christ
like the Christian have done."
That's certainly a harsh response, and it's worth pointing out that
many Christians who read the piece were justifiably worried that
Meacham and the magazine were dismissing Christianity. That's not the
case; since the cover's publication, Meacham has published a follow-up
-- asserting that faith, regardless of how it interacts with politics
and American society, will never disappear. "The Newsweek of my
childhood would have included historical data on church
affiliation/attendance in America over the last two centuries," wrote
Bobsf_94117. And others agreed that they wish our article had provided
more context into how we've been approaching this post-Christian
status." With that, came myriad arguments explaining what the Founding
Fathers intended, as Christians or non-Christians, when they wrote The
Constitution. But obviously, constitutional interpretation -- even as
it interacts with religion -- is a different, and very huge, topic.
Another time? On that note, I won't address the hundreds of comments
that went back and forth arguing whether Hitler was a Christian. Not
relevant...
Of all the thousands of comments though, the story about declining
Christian identification focused squarely -- and nicely -- on one
topic: the purpose of Christianity in society. I'm obviously not the
right person to answer that, but I was intrigued by the hundreds of
readers who wished religion away in sum, despite it's long history in
American society. "This can only be good for the United States," argued
one commenter. "We have lost our competitiveness in Science and the
quality of our Education has been declining thanks in part to religious
minded people who have been corrupting both Science and Education with
nonsensical concepts such as Intelligent Design." In a less-specific
away, hundreds agreed: "I am pleased!," wrote commenter Thevail. "How
wonderful that humans have chosen once again to think for themselves,
rather than depending on "the big book of answers." Religion is
supposed to inspire us to be better people, make us aspire to higher
goals, make us think before we act. But the truth is that if
Christianity is wounded..it's a self-inflicted wound." Immediately, a
committed Christian took it a step futher: "Another sensational title
by Newsweek; however, as Christianity goes, so does America....maybe,
that's why this country is going into the toilet."
As I'm sure you realize, it's impossible to cull more than 4,000
thoughts on Christianity into a few concise paragraphs. But from all
these viewpoints, we can glean a few things: Faith isn't headed away,
but our country an impasse between what Christians want from their
government, and how the rest of non-Christian America views
Christianity. Whether you believe Christianity is impure, or that our
Democracy itself is faulted, it's clear that both politics and religion
are in a time of flux. When do you think it will settle? And how will
both religion and democracy -- even in a post-Christian society --
intersect? Your comments below.
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