Robert considers himself an evangelical Christian, though not of the fire and brimstone variety, and he often takes a liberal stance on social issues, unlike his right-wing co-religionists.
Rather than attend a “megachurch” where charismatic preachers can attract thousands of worshippers, he drives 45 minutes outside of Washington to attend a smaller church that he says better fits his spiritual needs.
“This church is very community-orientated and the preacher gives thought-provoking sermons. I like to be challenged,” said Robert, who requested anonymity because he works for a government agency. “Many of the other churches nearby are too politicised, either on the left or right, and don’t offer enough of a spiritual home.”
Robert’s aversion to political Christianity appears to be shared by a growing number of US residents. Recent polls and research show stalled growth in the popularity of the conservative or fundamentalist strain of evangelicalism, which has been broadly defined as belief in a personal conversion to living by the New Testament, or being “born again”. George W Bush, the former president, is one of the best-known adherents to the faith, a hallmark of his presidency.
Church attendance research by Outreach magazine, which calls itself “a leading provider of church communication and outreach tools”, found numbers at some of biggest churches in the US shrinking and many worshippers failing to move beyond the “beginner believer” stage.
While the sands appear to be shifting within US Christianity, overall, the religion has declined. Since 1990, the number of US residents who are Christian has slipped to 76 per cent from 86 per cent, according to a recent American Religious Identification Survey by Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. Those who said they had no religious faith almost doubled to 15 per cent.
“Within two generations, evangelicalism will be a house deserted of half its occupants,” warned Michael Spencer, a prominent blogger and Southern Baptist, in a commentary published in the Christian Science Monitor newspaper that caused quite a controversy among Christians.
He firmly blamed the imminent “collapse” on evangelicals themselves for having aligned themselves too much with Republican conservatism against liberals in the “culture wars” on such issues as abortion and homosexuality. He said more of the public saw the movement as a threat to cultural progress and bad for the country.
“We fell into the trap of believing in a cause more than a faith,” he wrote. Evangelical leaders “made buildings, numbers and paid staff its drugs for half a century”. Meanwhile, young people knew little about the tenets of their belief except how they felt about it.
“Evangelicalism is a vital movement not only of beliefs, but also personal experience, even if it is embarrassing,” said Mr Spencer by telephone from his home in rural Kentucky. “Small groups are the core of our movement, but we threw that out and got celebrity preachers and now we’re paying the bill in a decline.” . . . . . .
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