White Christians are no longer the majority population in the US. Between ethnic demographics and, especially, changes in religiosity among younger generations, they represent a "mere" plurality, about 43% of the population.
Going from a tacit "we're large and in charge" position of unquestioned power to a headlined "we're shrinking and sinking" status has, unfortunately, somewhat unhinged some elements of that demographic, especially amongst the conservative evangelicals and those leaders among them who have always assumed they would have power and prestige.
Thus we see retrenchment and resentment, attempts to undo freedoms around sex and sexuality, women's rights, and LGBT rights. They do this now under a banner of "religious freedom," as suddenly the idea that, of course, the mingling of church and state would benefit them and their church no longer necessarily holds true. Those who have always preached that civil law should be obeyed as an extension of church law, now are swift to add, "except by us."
These folk have become all the more desperate, hitching their star to Donald Trump as someone who will kowtow to them for political support, and in turn give them the culture war victories they are longing for, no matter how opposite his demeanor and actions and words are to those of Christ. They further sell their souls by telling stories of how God uses godless (but, sometimes, "good") pagan leaders in the Old Testament to protect and restore the nation of Israel, and assume if they can just get hold of the right pagan hero — like Trump — then the social changes of the last fifty years can be rolled back and some mythical, idealized world of beneficent Old-Fashioned Christian American can be restored.
It can't. Demographics don't lie. European-Americans, particularly ones with no admixture of other "races," are a dwindling part of the population themselves. But, more importantly, they are failing on the religion front as well. The children-through-young-adults of today, including (and perhaps especially) the children of those White Christian Conservatives, see Christianity and religion more as tools of oppression than of hope. The "Good News" has become for them calls to imprison their gay friends, shun their transgender friends, have their women give up work and go back to birthing babies and doing the laundry — and, while at it, to ignore climate change, pay taxes for church indoctrination schools, stop spending time with people of different ethnic backgrounds, and whatever other twisted agenda the merger of God and Mammon dictates. And that just accelerates people falling away from a faith that could do those things.
Ultimately, this battle has stopped being about doctrine and dogma, about evangelism and the Gospel. It's become about fear of change, and tribalism, and a perceived, existential threat to what they hold dear, not just in their own lives but in the future. The lashing about isn't going to work in the long run, any more than King Canute could order back the tides. But the damage these folk will do, are doing, as they struggle for relevance, let alone domination, is going to be profound.
White Christians are in retreat — and they’re getting more isolated and less tolerant
Last year, the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) put out a new report on religion in America that measured a truly remarkable shift: For the first time, almost certainly in the country’s history, people who identify as white Christians are a minority of Americans. Four out of every five Americans were self-described white Christians in 1976, but now that group only constitutes 43 percent of the U.S. population. There are a lot of reasons …
Thinking out loud.
But look at what happened in the 1960s and 1970s, when one of the offshoots of the counterculture was the Jesus People. They are no longer counterculture today (and one could argue that they were not counterculture in the 1980s), but it’s always possible that a new movement might arise. Hillary Clinton could have led such a movement, but her religious views were paradoxically not inclusive (the whole “deplorables” thing).
+John E. Bredehoft I would be shocked if Christianity as a whole were to vanish. I expect the landscape in 20-50 years to be (climate change aside) quite different.
I've always maintained the worst thing that ever happened to Christianity was converting Constantine. Maybe, 1500 odd years later, that can be corrected.
+Dave Hill Christianity is growing most quickly in the “oppressed” regions of the Third World in China and various African nations. That change will be more pronounced than the domestic disappearance of the moral “majority.” The Roman Catholic Church is recognizing this with a South American pope. Most denominations (including ours) are organized on a national basis, however…
As an avowed atheist, I couldn't be happier.
+John E. Bredehoft oppression always leads to the rise of some sort of promise of deliverance from that oppression. See Ireland and Poland.
To me the moral authority of "christians" has been totally destroyed. There are moral people who are christian. The public claim to "christianity" I see now as a warning sign more vivid than the stripes on a coral snake. The snake won't go out of it's way to bite you.
+John E. Bredehoft As an Episcopalian, I'm very aware that the current growth of Christianity in various denominations (certainly the Anglican world) is all in the Southern Hemisphere (the "Global South"). By and large, that growth has tended to be highly conservative, which is why the Episcopal Church is currently a sit-outside-the-room part of the Anglican Union, what with our having women priests, women bishops, a (previous) woman Presiding Bishop, and, of course, blessing same-sex marriages.
+John Poteet Sad, but true.