In September 2022, the Pew Research Center published an updated article on its findings on religious disaffiliation in the United States. The results have changed little since The Threefold last published on this topic, but the results are still staggering. The Pew Research Center article states “about 64% of Americans, including children, were Christian.” This is down 26% from the historic high in 1972 and also down 14% from 2002. The following article will be split into two parts, possible reasons for the decline in the church and what JBU students should do in light of religious disaffiliation.
Possible explanations for individuals leaving the church
The first possibility for disaffiliation in the church is political cynicism. In 2011, 30% of white evangelical Protestants said that a governing official could behave immorally in their personal life, but still conduct their elected position well. Yet five years later, according to the same PRRI study, “More than seven in ten (72%) white evangelical Protestants say an elected official can behave ethically even if they have committed transgressions in their personal life.” Over the course of five years, the opinion of white evangelicals changed by 42 points.
In relation to this study, JBU political science professor Daniel Bennett said that over the years the evangelical church has weaponized its stance on many of these topics for political gain. Bennett noted that in some circles, as this study shows, morality is not the issue. The issue is which political party is winning the ballot. In other words, some people use the Church as a platform for political beliefs.
For some people, this has led to a rightful amount of cynicism when it comes to the interacting with the Church.
It comes as no surprise that there are deep structural issues within the church, such as child abuse in the Catholic church, the abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention or the myriad of pastors with obscene amounts of wealth. These are some of the issues that cause individuals to lose faith in the church as a whole. Lou Cha, professor of Christian ministry & formation, said to think about what these scandals look like from an outside perspective. Cha said all the anger, vitriol and internal conflict that is spread by Christians reflects poorly on the church as a whole, leading some to lose faith and many to avoid the Church altogether.
Cha went on to say another contributor to religious disaffiliation is church splits. When church splits happen, often there are people caught in the middle, people who are unsure of which side to pick. According to Cha, those are the people who decide instead to disaffiliate from the church. Cha said it is not because they do not love God or are any less religious than other people, but it is because they do not want to deal with all the mess that is the Church.
This leads to groups like those who love Jesus, but not the church. These are people who meet together often on a weekly basis to discuss spiritual matters. These small pockets of people are distinct from the Church due to their size and lack of church discipline.
What JBU students can do about it
People are leaving the Church. That is the fact Christians are faced with today. The way Christians need to respond is through compassion to those who have left the Church. Christians should not seek to prove individuals wrong for leaving the church but by showing them they are loved. In regard to this, Bennett said “JBU students need to … be aware that there are significant challenges affecting the church … I think it is going to take discernment and wisdom to solve [Individuals disaffiliating from the church].” Bennett went on to say that sometimes Christians can lose sight of their conviction in pursuit of beating “the other side.”
When asked how to respond to religious disaffiliation, Cha said that Christians need to take a personal approach asking what brings individuals to leave the Church. Cha said that one-on-one interactions with genuine curiosity are key in understanding those who have left the Church.
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