Americans are becoming less and less religious and one New York Times columnist has found the culprit: the religious, conservative “blowhards” who “have entangled faith with bigotry, sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia,” or, in other words, the religious, conservative Americans who support President Trump.
Churches are empty, in part, because “for some young people, Christianity is associated less with love than with hate,” writes columnist Nicholas Kristof. The unwillingness to address political issues such as climate change and racism, the stubborn refusal to work with the social justice movement, and the eager acceptance of Trump and his policies have all contributed to the growing unpopularity of Christianity, specifically evangelical Christianity, among the younger generations, Kristof claims.
Kristof is right that evangelicalism is declining the United States, but it’s not because evangelical churches are too conservative. If anything, mainstream megachurches are becoming more and more liberal in an attempt to adapt the church to culture. As a young evangelical, I’ve seen this firsthand: On Christian exclusivity, traditional teachings on sexuality and gender, and so on, many churches have capitulated to the cultural Left. Yet, despite its best efforts to stand athwart culture and yell, “Stop!” evangelicalism continues to decline.
Perhaps it’s because this decline has less to do with politics, as Kristof suggests, and more to do with the unappealing, empty spirituality some churches offer. Young adults want authenticity, which is why, according to a recent poll, 67% of millennials said they’d prefer a “classic” church over a “trendy” one. They want community, too, and in megachurches with 5,000+ people that can be quite hard to find.
The numbers back this up: Traditional churches tend to hold onto their attendance numbers better than most. Young adults in search of a moral foundation want theological consistency, and they’re drifting toward churches that can offer both.
Kristof’s argument, however, has less to do with the problems plaguing evangelical Christians and more to do with the president they’ve chosen to support. Masking his disdain behind feigned concern, Kristof points the finger at religious Trump supporters who have turned a blind eye to the president’s immorality and arrogance and blames them for Christianity’s decline — an accusation that is just as absurd as it is dishonest.
Traditional Christians support Trump not because they approve of his character, or the lack thereof, but because they feel they have no other choice. Right or wrong, religious conservatives look at cases such as Colorado baker Jack Phillips’s, Washington florist Barronelle Stutzman’s, and Minnesota videographers Carl and Angel Larsens’s, and imagine that their rights are next in line on the Left’s chopping block.
Political hypocrisy is certainly a problem, but it’s not the reason young adults are fleeing the church. Kristof and many others on the Left would like to think so because then, finally, the narrative that Christianity is incompatible with conservatism would be true.
Christianity, just like any other religion, is full of hypocrites and blowhards. Some of them are politically liberal, others are politically conservative. Political affiliation in the church isn’t that important. What does matter is genuine faith, theological soundness, and personal ministry. A church that lacks these things will act as a repellent to believers in search of a faith that matters, regardless of whether the pastor is a Republican or Democrat.
For Kristof’s sake, perhaps we should add one little caveat to Jesus’s teaching in Matthew 7:16: “You will know them by their fruits” — not their voter registration.
