Organized religion in America is grappling with dwindling congregations and church closures (read story here).
That’s less than shocking. The old churchgoing generations are dying off, and people who stopped attending during the pandemic have been slow to return. But there’s a bigger reason: Bad behavior.
The Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandal didn’t help (as the article mentions); neither did the evangelical community’s love affair with Trump (which the article doesn’t mention, but it’s obvious). It’s hard to see how someone can be a Christian and a Trump supporter at the same time. Trump is a liar and cheater, a racist and bigot, a serial adulterer, and encourages violence; virtually none of his behavior is compatible with traditional Christian values.
Surveys find a major reason for declining church attendance is that “church members seem to be judgmental or hypocritical.” Young people, especially, often “disagreed with their church’s stance on political and social issues.” The article doesn’t mention abortion or anti-gay hate, but again it’s obvious. Democrats benefited in the 2020 and 2022 elections from young voters repelled by rightwing religious politics turning out to vote in larger-than-usual numbers.
Pew Research says, “Since the 1990s, large numbers of Americans have left Christianity to join the growing ranks of US adults who describe their religious identity as atheist, agnostic or ‘nothing in particular’.” This is too bad, because real Christianity as preached by Jesus is a lovely religion, based on love and acceptance. The Christian brand has been sullied by the un-Christian behavior of people who go around calling themselves “Christians” and use religion as a club against people they don’t like.
And then there’s the so-called “prosperity gospel,” i.e. televangelists who claim God wants people to be rich. That’s not what the Bible says, and it implies that God will look the other way at greed and avarice.
What it boils down to is Christianity has a massive credibility problem among younger (and a growing number of older) Americans, because ungodly people use it to justify or excuse un-Christian beliefs and repulsive behavior.
The two videos below illustrate what’s driving many people away from religion. In the first one, Paula White, a “prosperity” televangelist, pounds the podium for Trump; rightwing haters attack a Texas Democratic legislator for reciting an inclusive prayer. How can decent people not be repulsed by these self-proclaimed “Christians”?