Comments on: Evangelical Collapse Damned Unlikely

By: Michael

Michael — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 15:18:45 +0000

Kind of late to the part Roger, OTB threads tend to die off after a few days.

Oh, and there are no militant atheists. Most atheists don't care what you believe, as long as it doesn't effect them.

By: RogerCfromSD

RogerCfromSD — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 05:37:09 +0000

Nice atheist barb, RSD. Feel better?

Better yet, feel like contributing something thought-provoking to the conversation?

My take on the future of "Evangelical" religion is that yes, it will diminish, but, other denominations will continue as they have been.

However, all religions are currently under attack by guys like RSD; and so, we will see an increase in anti-religion propaganda as a whole in the near future. The primary focus of which will be anti-Christian.

The liberals started it, the militant atheists want to help them.

By: Outside The Beltway « Blog Entry « Dr. Melissa Clouthier

Outside The Beltway « Blog Entry « Dr. Melissa Clouthier — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 13:39:33 +0000

[...] “Evangelical Collapse Damned Unlikely” Ideological vacuums create room for crazy. [...]

By: The “so-called’ Collaspe of Evangelical Christianity. « Political Byline

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 22:55:37 +0000

[...] Crunchy Con, Outside The Beltway, Macsmind, The Other [...]

By: Sean Riley

Sean Riley — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 21:16:08 +0000

... I'm not so sure he's wrong. He's not predicting the collapse of the Evangelical church, at least, not as a whole. He still thinks the megachurches will survive. What he is arguing is a faith collapse, that the church has done a dreadful job teaching faith and theology, instead teaching causes and culture wars. That's at least slightly true. Not totally -- There's a lot of theology being taught. I think he's being overly apocalyptic, but it wouldn't surprise me if some of his predictions regarding 'marginal believers' were true.

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 21:00:36 +0000

It makes me think of this pie chart: http://www.squarestate.net/diary/3793/

By: RSD

RSD — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 20:19:43 +0000

Religion is nothing more than the opiate of the masses.

By: PD Shaw

PD Shaw — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 19:23:59 +0000

I think the term "evangelical" is ambiguous. At the time of the reformation, it was the most frequent term used by those people later labeled protestants. But IIRC something like 20% of Catholics according to one poll described themselves as Evangelicals. I think the term is used by some to describe religious enthusiasm. Others use it to identify their beliefs as similar, but not the same, as Christian fundamentalism. Others simply to distinguish themselves from fundamentalism.

In short, one could massively change the portion of Evangelical Christians merely by nailing down what the term means.

By: odograph

odograph — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 18:31:25 +0000

Social trends do turn, over the decades. I give the guy points for being ballsy enough to call it.

... but there is no particular reason his call has to be right. It's a lot harder in fact to call the end of any trend, than it is to make the safe bet that it will continue.

By: Dave Schuler

Dave Schuler — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 17:38:56 +0000

BTW I think that 35% is an enormous exaggeration.

By: legion

legion — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 17:30:54 +0000

I don't think we'll see a collapse in Evangelism per se, but rather a dropoff of the major moneymaking evangelical organizations/megachurches.

This collapse will herald the arrival of an anti-Christian chapter of the post-Christian West. Intolerance of Christianity will rise to levels many of us have not believed possible in our lifetimes, and public policy will become hostile toward evangelical Christianity, seeing it as the opponent of the common good.

Jesus, protect us from your followers. What this guy, and many of the most evangelical types, don't get is that Atheists don't want Christianity - or religion in general - stomped out or outlawed (and after that, they'll start outlawing competing religions. The current infighting in the GOP is_ nothing_ compared to what you'd see if guys like Spencer had their way). What they mainly want is to be left alone to follow their own path without someone else's religion being shoved down their throats at every turn. The problem is, many evangelicals do want atheism outlawed. And declare anyone who doesn't share their extremism on that one issue to be 'the enemy'.

By: Dave Schuler

Dave Schuler — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 17:22:07 +0000

The United States has been home to multiple nonconformist, i.e. non-orthodox, denominations since before there was a United States. The reasons are various. A lot of religious nonconformists were sent here. We've got a higher degree of religious freedom than the mother country had. Isolation.

A lot of these denominations flourished in isolation but have found harder sledding in our much more highly connected world. Remember that there are lots of areas in the country that didn't have telephone service 50 years ago.

I think we'll continue to have a lot of non-orthodox Christians here for the foreseeable future. However, I also think that many of them will turn to orthodox denominations (if only for social reasons) or nothing at all.

It's also possible that exactly the reverse will happen. Greater connectivity means that virtual communities of adherents become possible.