How religion is devolving
Publisher: In-Sight Publishing
Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014
Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com
Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada
Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal
Journal Founding: August 2, 2012
Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year
Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed
Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access
Fees: None (Free)
Volume Numbering: 11
Issue Numbering: 3
Section: B
Theme Type: Idea
Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”
Theme Part: 28
Formal Sub-Theme: None.
Individual Publication Date: August 15, 2023
Issue Publication Date: September 1, 2023
Author(s): James Haught
Author(s) Bio: James A. Haught, syndicated by PeaceVoice, was the longtime editor at the Charleston Gazette and had been the editor emeritus since 2015. He was thought to have been the first investigative reporter in West Virginia. He won two dozen national newswriting awards and was author of 12 books and 150 magazine essays. He was also a senior editor of Free Inquiry magazine and was writer-in-residence for the United Coalition of Reason. He died on Sunday, July 23, at the age of 91.
Word Count: 512
Image Credit: None
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369-6885
*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*
Keywords: Charismatic, Christianity, Elmer Gantry, fervor, insane, James Haught, liberal Protestant churches, Pentecostals, religion, supernatural claims.
How religion is devolving
Religion in America is essentially changing.
Fundamentalist writers deny that Christianity is in retreat. Instead, they say, only weak believers are quitting Catholic and mainline Protestant churches, while hard-core, true-blue, devout adherents remain as firm as ever.
The Myth of the Dying Church, a recent book by Glenn Stanton of Focus on the Family, claims that supernatural-oriented “born-again” folks have retained all their fire — and presumably all their fervor for narrow-minded “Religious Right” political causes. “The percentage of Americans who attend church more than once a week, pray daily, and accept the bible as wholly reliable and deeply instructive to their lives has remained absolutely, steel-bar constant for the last 50 years or more, right up to today,” Stanton writes in The Federalist.
Stanton admits that “liberal Protestant churches” have suffered enormous losses. “People are leaving those churches as if the buildings are on fire,” he writes. He says this is happening because the mainline ceased believing miracle tales and other divine claims of the bible. “They might as well become Unitarians or something like that,” he has said in an interview.
Well, I suppose it’s true that “intense” religion remains strong in America. After all, one-fourth of all Christians now are reportedly Pentecostals or Charismatic who “speak in tongues.” That’s pretty intense.
But there’s a deeper message in the culture shift that is occurring: Religion isn’t just losing members — it’s also losing social status and public prestige.
Here’s why: When I was young in the 1950s, America felt high respect for “tall-steeple” mainline Protestant churches with seminary-educated clergy, many with doctorate degrees. Back then, the most respectable community leaders belonged to the most highbrow congregations. Far less respected were arm-waving, whoop-and-holler, fundamentalist churches with amateur, self-proclaimed preachers. Bottom status went to “holy rollers,” those pitiable emotional religious basket cases. It’s a realm notorious for Elmer Gantry-type charlatans.
When America’s secular tidal wave began a half-century ago, it eroded mostly the high-prestige elite churches. Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Methodists and the such lost millions of members while the nation’s population climbed. In other words, educated, reputable faith disintegrated — but lower-status, less-respected religion held firmer. (In fact, it became tied at the hip with the Republican Party.)
Younger Americans especially quit religion, leaving mostly gray heads in pews. A societal transformation is in progress. The ratio of Americans who belong to church has fallen 20 percent in the past two decades. The share of adults who say their faith is “none” has climbed to one-fourth — and one-third among adults under thirty. Soon, “Nones” may outstrip all other categories.
Shrinkage of respected churches leaves more low-respect ones behind. Thus religion itself loses prestige in America’s eyes. After all, it’s difficult for educated people to admire believers who spout “the unknown tongue” or croon in church.
American values will, hopefully, continue evolving until it’s assumed that intelligent, science-minded people naturally disbelieve supernatural claims. And religion will move toward low-prestige. That’s a powerful implication of the demographic shift that is occurring.
This piece is adapted from a June 10, 2019, column written for Daylight Atheism at Patheos.
Bibliography
None
Footnotes
None
Citations
American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Haught J. How religion is devolving. August 2023; 11(3). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/devolving
American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Haught, J. (2023, August 15). How religion is devolving. In-Sight Publishing. 11(3). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/devolving.
Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): HAUGHT, J. How religion is devolving. In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 11, n. 3, 2023.
Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Haught, James. 2023. “How religion is devolving.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 11, no. 3 (Summer). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/devolving.
Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Haught, J “How religion is devolving.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 11, no. 3 (August 2023).http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/devolving.
Harvard: Haught, J. (2023) ‘How religion is devolving’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 11(3). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/devolving>.
Harvard (Australian): Haught, J 2023, ‘How religion is devolving’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 11, no. 3, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/devolving>.
Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Haught, James. “How religion is devolving.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.11, no. 3, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/devolving.
Vancouver/ICMJE: James H. How religion is devolving [Internet]. 2023 Aug; 11(3). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/devolving.
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