The Ongoing Crisis in Christianity Continues Apace.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/rolltodisbelieve/2017/06/08/the-ongoing-crisis-in-christianity-continues-apace/
The Ongoing Crisis in Christianity Continues Apace.
June 8, 2017 by Captain Cassidy
Last time we met up, we were talking about how Ken Ham’s little evangelism project, Ark Encounter, is already faltering. I thought it was hilarious that this news comes out now, amid a Gallup poll showing that belief in Creationism is at its lowest point since Gallup began asking that question of Americans. But that’s not the only bad news for Christians (and fundagelicals particularly). There are a lot of other indications that their losses since 2015 are only getting worse–becoming part of a general ongoing crisis that’s been in full swing for years and may not even have peaked yet. So let’s catch up on the news!
(snip)
* A recent Gallup Poll about Creationism indicates that a smaller percentage of Americans than ever buy into Creationist beliefs. The number of Americans who hold the demonstrably correct belief, that humans evolved on their own without any kind of help from superhuman or supernatural entities, is also drifting upward. Now, people who try to split the difference by saying that okay, humans developed over time but a god maybe guided the process, is raising even more sharply than the drop in hardcore Creationists. So it’s not entirely good news, though it seems like a lot of religious people stop there on their journey toward reality. But it’s encouraging–for people who care about reality at least. For Christians, especially for fundagelicals who push Creationism, it’s disastrous. They’ve deliberately created a showdown between Creationism and reality, hinging membership in their tribe on belief in the Bible as a literally true and divine document. Oops.
*The Episcopal Church continues to slide into complete disaster. Attendance is down 3.4% and the denomination lost a net 43 parishes. This decline is steady and nothing the leaders of the church do seems to be able to reverse it. The denomination’s headquarters are now marked by “fear, mistrust and resentment.” I am Cas’ complete lack of surprise. Also not surprising: its leader is trying to hide behind “being human” to explain their pure dysfunction and to reassure his people that why gosh, every single church out there is like theirs. That, I want to tell this guy, is the WHOLE GODDAMNED PROBLEM WITH HIS GODDAMNED RELIGION. But there we are.
*We’re still a bit ahead of Barna’s 2016 numbers (that’ll probably get released in the fall, probably), but a few months ago they released a report on the people “who love Jesus but not the church,” which is the new ultra-trendy and hipster way to be spiritual but not religious. Pastors seeing that report have got to just be having kittens. The upshot is that there’s a huge and growing percentage of people (ranging from 13% in the Northeast to 33% in the Deep South, which is the least surprising set of numbers they printed in this particular report) who have completely abandoned formal Christianity and are trying to create an eclectic belief system for themselves that speaks better to their personal values and cultural goals. We’re gonna talk more about this one later because there are some really interesting facets to it, but for now we’ll rest there.
(snip)
A Capsizing Ship.
This is truly an amazing time to be alive. We’re watching the slow-motion collapse of a world religion, folks–and of a worldview. Obviously, there will still be some skirmishes to fight as Christians begin to get desperate to regain their lost dominance, and we’re already seeing those skirmishes escalate.
(snip)
Maybe it really is just about drawing out the end as long as possible.
By the time things go really pear-shaped and fall apart, the leaders of today will be hell and gone–along with all the money they could extract from those doomed churches. You’d think parishioners would demand better, but that’s how it rolls, I suppose.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Those trying to steer the masses toward dark places will always appeal to religion. If the counter argument for a more enlightened outcome begins with a dismissal of religion, then you've begun by telling people they're stupid. You're simply never going to win, or get to steer, in a country filled with stupid and stupid-adjacent people by going that route. It's better to learn to wield religion without necessarily believing in it, IMO.
For a bad example, when the news of the existence of AIDS took hold of the public consciousness decades ago, right wingers and televangelists came out of the woodwork, calling it retribution from God and using religion to stoke fears -- much to their own egotistical and financial benefit. One liberal after another tried to shoot down those claims by appealing to reason. They failed to convince much of the country.
A much better approach, IMO, was to steer the conversation to the position of reason by engaging people's religious programming rather than fighting it. It seems to me that the more effective counterargument to the "curse from God" hysteria was to propose that God didn't send AIDS to punish us, but to test our compassion -- to see how we treat our own people when they are in gravest need. Do we turn our backs, or do we embrace them, and commit every tool given to us to find a cure? And of course, the coup de gras -- what would Jesus do?
Admit it, even some of you die-hard atheists had a little well-up at that last part, right? 
The same way of arguing works for any liberal agenda item, but most liberals seem reticent to go that way. I'm not. I'd rather get to steer than stand at the side. Satisfaction due to not stooping to religiosity is of little comfort when the ship is heading for the rocks.
That's my take, anyway.