The Tipping Point

America- where Protestants are a minority now…

For the first time in its history, the United States does not have a Protestant majority, according to a new study. One reason: The number of Americans with no religious affiliation is on the rise.

The percentage of Protestant adults in the U.S. has reached a low of 48 percent, the first time that Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life has reported with certainty that the number has fallen below 50 percent. The drop has long been anticipated and comes at a time when no Protestants are on the U.S. Supreme Court and the Republicans have their first presidential ticket with no Protestant nominees.

Among the reasons for the change are the growth in nondenominational Christians who can no longer be categorized as Protestant, and a spike in the number of American adults who say they have no religion. The Pew study, released Tuesday, found that about 20 percent of Americans say they have no religious affiliation, an increase from 15 percent in the last five years.

The decline of Christianity in America continues apace.  As I’ve said for years, we are becoming quite European and the center of Christianity is shifting to Africa and Asia; from whence missionaries will in the future be sent, to us.

Related Articles

• Report: US Protestants Lose Majority Status (abcnews.go.com)
• “Nones” on the Rise: New Report Finds One in Five Adults Have No Religious Affiliation (prnewswire.com)
• Report: US Protestants lose majority status (goerie.com)
• Report: Number of Americans with no religious affiliation rises (mercurynews.com)

The Word ‘Evangelicals’ Means Anything its Users Want it to Mean- So It Means Nothing

For instance, the phrase ‘Evangelicals for gay marriage‘ illustrates the point.  Evangelicals (in the historic sense of the word) can no more be ‘for’ gay marriage than they can be ‘for’ any other activity or behavior renounced in Scripture.  ‘Evangelicals for gay marriage’ is an empty phrase.  As empty as ‘Evangelicals for Adultery’ or ‘Evangelicals for theft’.

Now I realize that this will make the gay rights activists angry.  Sorry about that, but it can’t be helped.  I wasn’t the one to formulate the phrase and I mention it only because it shows how far modern ‘Christianity’ has removed itself, especially in its Protestant (Evangelical) branch, from its scriptural moorings.

It’s sad really.  ‘Evangelical’ used to be a term of pride.  ‘Evangelicals’ were people who were followers of Jesus, adherents of Scripture, and true to historic Christianity.  Now it means whatever its user wants it to mean- which means that it means nothing at all.

What next?  What can we expect?  ‘Evangelicals for Slavery’?  ‘Evangelicals for pedophilia’?  ‘The Evangelical Branch of NAMBLA’?  ‘Evangelicals for Abortion’?  ‘Evangelicals for Murder’?  ‘Evangelicals for Anarchy’?

Farewell, ‘Evangelical’.  You were useful for a while but now you’ve been hijacked and emptied of your meaning by persons who are as ‘Evangelical’ as a Boston Priest.

Life in God: John Calvin, Practical Formation, and the Future of Protestant Theology

Matthew Myer Boulton’s new volume arrived thanks to the kindness of Eerdmans for review.  Here’s how they describe it–

Readers of John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion often regard this masterwork of doctrine as a cold, sterile, and merely intellectual project. But Matthew Myer Boulton reads it very differently, arguing that for Calvin, Christian doctrine is properly conceived and articulated primarily for the sake of practical Christian formation — the immersive, restorative training for wholeness and holiness embodied in the church’s disciplinary treasury.

Although Calvin famously opposed the cloister, Boulton shows that his purpose was not the eradication but the democratization of monastic spiritual disciplines. Just as Calvin endorsed the “priesthood of all believers,” so too did he envision that ordinary disciples could live with God daily, consecrate themselves to the art of knowing God, and embrace spiritually formative practices including scriptural and theological study, daily prayer and worship, regular Psalm singing, frequent reception of the Lord’s Supper, renunciation of “the world,” rigorous moral accountability, and the like.

Sounds excellent doesn’t it?  Here’s what none less than Herman Selderhuis thinks of it:

“A stimulating and fresh approach to Calvin’s Institutes. Boulton succeeds in demonstrating that for Calvin doctrine is in itself practical – and that Protestant theology today can gain much from reading Calvin.”

It consists of 11 chapters in 3 parts:

Part One- Storming the Sanctuary
Part Two- Rereading the Institutio
Part Three- On the Future of Protestant Theology

Those links take you to my review.  I commend the volume to your attention.

Allan Bevere on the ‘Cancel Church on Christmas Day’ Question

And Allan, being way nicer than me, actually poses it in the form of a question- asking readers to offer their views about whether churches ought to cancel worship services on Christmas Day when Christmas falls on Sunday (as it does this year). (Personally, I don’t give a tinker’s toy for the half-witted musings of those dilettantes who only possess an internet assembled theology and their opinions are as meaningful as a flea on a dog).

A couple of things about Allen’s post.  First, he’s right in pointing out that the whole question is a totally Protestant thing.  The Orthodox and the Catholics would never even consider such a move.  Why do Protestants?  Are Protestants less committed to communal worship than Catholics and Orthodox?

And second, the photo he uses says it all- pointing out the abject hypocrisy of those churches which do in fact cancel services and yet who would maintain that society ought to ‘keep Christ in Christmas’.

What’s This??? A Reporter Does a Story on the Bible and Actually Gets it Right and Interviews People who Know it???

It’s a miracle.  And it’s about time that reporters actually research biblical topics instead of just consulting Wikipedia or whatever idiotic source they stream to.

So thank you, Mr. Blake, for restoring my faith, momentarily, in the Fourth Estate.

“It is a great Protestant tradition for anyone – milkmaid, cobbler, or innkeeper – to be able to pick up the Bible and read for herself. No need for a highly trained scholar or cleric to walk a lay person through the text,” says Craig Hazen, director of the Christian Apologetics program at Biola University in Southern California.  But often the milkmaid, the cobbler – and the NFL coach – start creating biblical passages without the guidance of biblical experts, he says.  “You can see this manifest today in living room Bible studies across North America where lovely Christian people, with no training whatsoever, drink decaf, eat brownies and ask each other, ‘What does this text mean to you?’’’ Hazen says.  “Not only do they get the interpretation wrong, but very often end up quoting verses that really aren’t there.”

Ah.  Someone with sense is out there.  It’s a miracle!