The article reminded me of a similar article we read at the beginning of the semester entitled "Pew In The Pews," by Alan Wolfe. However, this article focused on Albert Mohler Jr. who is the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. After Mohler read the 2009 American Religious Identification Survey he was shocked to see that Americans claiming no religious affiliation has doubled since 1990. Mohler went on to say that "a remarkable culture shift has taken place...the consensus of the last millennium has given way to a post-modern, post-Christian, post-Western cultural crises which threatens the very heart of our culture." A reason why the percentage of Christians in America are declining is that they are starting to understand the separation of church and state. My opinion is that Albert is jumping the gun a little too quickly. Just because the Christian numbers are declining does not mean that America is in a post-Christian state, just a less-Christian state.
The article went on to talk about the reasons why many conservative Christians are now entering a "post-Christian phase." This is because they have not won their battles against same-sex marriage, abortion, and prayer in schools and they feel as if their faith is going nowhere. In a Newsweek poll only 62 percent of Americans think the U.S is a "Christian Nation,"under Obama, while 69 percent did when George W. ran the country in 2008 which help show the fall of a Christian America. It's not that people are not spiritual anymore, in fact 30% of people would rather call themselves "spiritual" rather than "religious."
The article identified that Conservative Christians are the ones not ready to accept the way of life now compared to how it was many years ago. They need to realize that "the Christian God is not dead, but he's less of a force in U.S politics and culture than at any other time in memory." Conservatives do not need to abandon Christianity or their faith just accept the way religion is heading in today's world. A quote from the article that I think describes today's way of life is "American public life is neither wholly secular nor wholly religious but an ever-fluid mix of the two." Do you feel this way too? :)
Meacham, Jon. "The End Of Christian America." Newsweek. 13 Apr. 2009. 11 Apr. 2009
