The Evangelical Problem

When evangelicals eschew their religion’s savior, there is a major issue.

Let me qualify myself by saying that I haven’t been a Christian since I was 12. I have a lot of reasons for that which I have gone into in a lot of depth in other articles, but suffice to say I was turned off from all religion for a number of reasons and have been either atheist or agnostic ever since. For reference, I’m in my late 30s now, so I have been non-Christian for more than two-thirds of my life.

As someone who has been on the outside of religion since the late 90s, it has been eye-opening to watch the dominant religion in America fall so far and so hard. In the 80s and 90s, almost 90% of Americans identified as Christian. These days, it’s about 64%, with the so-called “nones” making up most of the difference, about 30% of the population all told.

Think about that. At one point not that long ago, nine in ten people you encountered, on average, identified as Christian. These days, it’s less than seven in ten. Think about your workplace, then imagine how many of your coworkers are likely non-Christian in one way or another. Whether they follow one of the many other religions in America or are simply non-religious in some way, there are quite a few non-Christians walking around these days.

Evangelicals are, unequivocally, the problem here. In particular, the embrace of Trump by the evangelical denominations has caused a schism in American Christianity. These days, you’re either all-in on conservative Christianity — subservient wives, kill the queers, etc — or you’re tolerant, loving, and accepting of all people as they are — often called “woke,” either derisively or as a compliment.

Which one of those sounds more Christ-like? I feel like the latter does — you know, turn the other cheek, drive the money lenders from the church, love thy neighbor, may he without sin cast the first stone, that kind of stuff. Jesus was pretty accepting of people who were different, those who didn’t fit in the world, and society’s outcasts. On the other hand, he didn’t really seem to care for those who sought power for power’s sake and people who were generally cruel and unjust.

Admittedly, this was inspired by an NPR article about the schism within the Baptist church, wherein a particular pastor found himself forcibly ousted from his long-time denomination over his liberal viewpoint. I read these articles with a certain schadenfreude, watching the self-destruction of Christianity and chuckling to myself about how I got out before the ship started sinking.

(It is, admittedly, a sad sort of laugh, since a lot of Christians are pretty cool and don’t deserve to be lumped in with the evangelicals. I have a number of friends who are still Christian, and they lament the fall of Christianity, in a broad sense, to Trumpism.)

Normally, I read these articles, laugh, lament, and then move on, but there was one line that prompted this response. The pastor being interviewed mentioned using a quote by Jesus, being rebuked by a follower, and reminding said follower that he was, in fact, quoting their lord and savior. However, instead of apologizing, the follower would respond with “Yes, but that doesn’t work anymore. That’s weak.”

You know that your religion is in trouble when the lord, savior, and namesake of your religion is considered “too weak” for his adherents. Jesus is weak, but you know who isn’t? Trump. He is clearly God’s chosen figure to save America from the woke mob, those darn lib’rul commie socialists who want things like “tolerance” and “love for all” and that kind of nonsense.

Honestly, I think a lot of people recognize this hypocrisy, which is why there are so many denominations that are doing their best to staunch the bleeding through universal love and acceptance. You know, the stuff that Jesus actually taught.

It’s not working terribly well, though. Broadly speaking, the younger folks these days look at evangelical Christianity and scoff. They can see the rampant hypocrisy in the evangelical denominations, claiming to follow Christ while supporting some of the most un-Christlike political candidates. Those who were raised Christian are leaving, and those who were raised non-Christian are largely uninterested in conversion.

If you’re ever in a mood to be cynical, do a search for “ex-fundies” or something similar. You’ll find a lot of disaffected 20-somethings who left strict evangelical families to find the love and acceptance that they were sorely lacking in their homes and religious sects. It’s both encouraging — seeing people find the love that Jesus actually preached — and saddening — watching them fall away from a religion that, despite being problematic for many reasons, has its strengths.

So we have a problem wherein much of Christianity finds their lord and savior’s message of love and acceptance to be “weak,” and those who believe in the message of love and acceptance are “woke liberal scum.” This is driving people away from Christianity en masse and discouraging new converts, particularly among younger folks in both areas.

Demographics are not on their side, either. Christianity is on track to, at absolute best, have just over 50% of the American population as adherents. At worst, they’re looking at just over a third. And again, it’s young people driving this — that article estimates that about 31% of people raised Christian become unaffiliated between the ages of 15 and 29. Meanwhile, the older adherents are starting to die off, which is exacerbating the transition.

I think the primary issue here is the evangelical wing claiming to follow Christ while ignoring almost all of his teachings. There is a slow but inevitable shift toward the political left going on in America at the moment, as there generally is. Progress is progressive, so to speak, and the forward movement of time brings progress and an inevitable march to the left along with it.

Conservative politics are inexorably tied to evangelical Christiatniy at this point. As such, the shift away from those politics — even among young Republicans, who tend to dislike the old culture wars — will help bring about its downfall. Evangelical Christianity will probably never go away, but its influence will likely wane in coming decades as more of its adherents either leave because of its oppressive and regressive principles or, put simply, die off.

The evangelical embracing of Trumpism has brought it to a state of power like it hasn’t seen before, but it will also ultimately bring about its downfall. Conservative Christians have won many political battles thanks to Trump’s authoritarian streak and desire to court the most extreme among his followers.

The overturning of Roe v. Wade was their biggest win to date, and they are currently reaping what they have sown in that regard. Kansas, a conservative stronghold, overwhelmingly voted down abortion restrictions, and Ohio recently rebuked a naked attempt by conservatives to make it harder to enshrine abortion rights in their constitution in a vote this fall.

The general public doesn’t care much for the strict conservative values of evangelicals, and even a number of conservatives dislike the extreme positions taken by the religious right. Many attempts to restrict abortions have been rebuked by the voters as We The People get fed up with the “moral minority” dictating policy for the rest of us.

And, as it is driving young people away from the church, so too is it driving them to the voting booth to reject their regressive and oppressive politics. The youth vote has shifted strongly toward left-leaning candidates, and Democrats are winning the messaging war toward younger voters.

The American evangelical churches are rotting from the inside thanks in no small part to their embrace of Trumpism. It is a self-inflicted wound in a lot of ways, a sort of mutual death pact between the evangelicals and the Republican party, inked in the 80s and signed in blood by Ronald Reagan. Neither institution will actually die — probably — but their power will wane significantly unless and until they change their values to be more in line with modern society.

None of this is revolutionary or new, but it’s striking nonetheless. The irony of evangelical insistence that America needs god while simultaneously turning away from the values of the savior that gives their religion its name is incredibly apparent to anyone on the outside. Meanwhile, those inside the church are ignorant to their own hypocrisy, having gone blind from their “eye for an eye” ideals.

Make no mistake, the evangelical church is finally starting to wane, having overreached in its culture wars and support of fringe political candidates. Their constant push for so-called “purity” and cultural whitewashing run counter to demographic shifts, and those efforts are facing increasing pushback.

However, they still have considerable power in much of America, and the damage they are capable of inflicting upon this country is immeasurable. Their regressive ideals have the potential to undo generations of progress and send us backwards, which would require a concerted effort in the coming decades to undo.

Evangelicals must be stopped in their tracks. Trump cannot serve another term, and his wannabe imitators like DeSantis must be shut down as well. Their tyranny must end soon, and it must end decisively; anything short would cause more damage than the hyper-conservative supermajority in the Supreme Court has done in the past few years.

Demographics and public opinion might be turning against them, but they will push their agendas with every means they have, be it gerrymandered districts or school board elections. Democrats might be good at messaging to the youth and the youth might be voting in record numbers, but Republicans are better at low-level and grassroots efforts like local elections. We cannot cede that ground in this fight; we can’t afford to.

The evangelical problem will, in the end, solve itself — hopefully, anyway. Old evangelicals will continue to die out, their leaders drive away moderates and young people, and demographics will continue reducing their power, but it can’t happen soon enough for my taste.

Until then, I encourage you to go vote. Vote in every election you can. That is how you make your voice heard, and that is how cooler heads will eventually prevail.

I hope so, anyway.

Be well out there.