For the past ten years, Pew Research Center has been observing the decline in religion in the US. Last week they released their findings under the headline, “In the U.S., Declines of Christianity Continues at a Rapid Pace.” Pew found that the number of Christians in the U.S. had dropped by 12% in the past decade, while the religiously unaffiliated share of the population increased by 17%.
Pew is right in noting that this is a significant decline to have taken place in only ten years, and an understanding and awareness of this trend matters. The declining number of people identifying as Christians has implications for believers. However, as we think about these numbers, we must never lose sight of the fact that the power of the gospel is not dependent on cultural trends. Pew’s findings are an urgent reminder that the people around us are lost and hurting, and this should motivate us to act with urgency, compassion, and concern.
The decline of Christianity in America is not a new topic, and it should not necessarily strike us as a complete surprise. Five years ago, Tim Keller observed,
It used to be that the devout and the mushy middle — nominal Christians, people that would identify as Christians, people who would come to church sporadically, people who certainly respect the Bible and Christianity — the devout and the mushy middle together was a super majority of people who just created a kind of “Christian-y” sort of culture.
The mushy middle used to be more identified with the devout. Now it’s more identified with the secular. That’s all.
It’s entirely likely that the number of Christians in America hasn’t changed significantly in the past ten years. What has changed is the cultural attitude toward religion, especially Christianity, resulting in a decreased identification with Christianity and an increased identification with secularism.
However, the rise of secularism does not mean that people no longer believe in or serve anything. Humans are worshipers by design; it is what we were created to do. When we turn away from God, we end up turning to something, even if that something isn’t a traditional organized religion. As our culture grows increasingly secular, we should expect to see people turn to religion replacements or “neo-religions.” Writing about Pew’s findings, Wesley J. Smith points out the rise of modern neo-religions, such as radical environmentalism and transhumanism as religious replacements that are already becoming popular. “As the West becomes less theistically religious generally and increasingly anti-Christian specifically,” he writes. “Expect new forms of faith to continue emerging… The need to believe is hard-wired in our beings. We will always have religion.”
Americans, especially younger generations, are adrift without an understanding of the hope of the gospel, and by extension, without a solid grasp of God’s good design for life, family, or sexuality. This is a tragedy and one that should move us to speak and to act. Pew’s research reveals a need for evangelism in our own neighborhoods. Americans desperately need to hear the message of salvation. In the midst of cultural shifts, silence is not golden. In fact, silence is the most unloving response we can adopt — we must not, through our silence, refuse to offer the truth to the people around us.
It is imperative that we communicate to those around us the reason for our hope, and that requires that we live, speak, and act in a manner that reflects our hope. Responding to the declining number of Christians in America with an attitude of fear, pessimism, or frustration communicates to those around us that our faith is in our own power. We put our confidence, not in elections, or in maintaining a majority, or in passing the right policies, but in God. Keeping this in mind enables us to continue to engage winsomely in even the darkest situations.
Speaking up in defense of marriage, family, sexuality, and the protection of human life is one of the ways that we seek the good of those around us. When God created us male and female, in his image, he established a design for human flourishing. Upholding and embracing God’s design for life, family, and sexuality is not a power play about “imposing” our beliefs on those around us, it is love in action because rejection of God’s design only leads to emptiness and hopelessness, something that we see at increasing and alarming rates in our society right now.
The decline in religious affiliation in the U.S. means that we neither can nor should assume that society will uphold biblical values by default. For this reason, now more than ever, cultural engagement is crucial. If Christians are not willing to speak up and to act in defense of biblical values and God’s good design, who will?
If we take away anything from Pew’s data, it should be an increased drive to compassionately engage the culture around us. People need the hope of the gospel and an understanding of God’s design for human flourishing, and we must not respond with silence.
