Prominent blogger Michael Spencer, a.k.a. the Internet Monk, believes “we are on the verge–within 10 years–of a major collapse of evangelical Christianity.” Within two generations, says Spencer, the number of evangelicals will be cut in half, and we’ll find ourselves in a “very secular and religiously antagonistic” culture.
Why does he think this will happen? For one, Spencer blames the role of evangelicalism in the culture war.
He predicts that conservative stances on moral, social, and political issues will be “losing causes” in this culture. Since evangelicals have made themselves synonymous with all these causes, “there will be increasing pressure to consider evangelicals bad for America, bad for education, bad for children and bad for society.”
A related problem, he says, is that we have not prepared the next generation well: “Our young people have deep beliefs about the culture war, but do not know why they should obey scripture, the essentials of theology or the experience of spiritual discipline and community.”
Spencer also thinks that, as Boomers replace the preceding, denominationally loyal generation as the backbone of evangelicalism, money will be harder to come by. Churches, schools, missions and ministries will feel the sting.
He takes shots elsewhere, too, but let’s stop here. First, I don’t think Spencer is saying that politically conservative positions are invalid or unbiblical. His point is that evangelicals have put too much energy into these, and recklessly so. If society becomes increasingly hostile to us, it should be because we worship Jesus, not because we favored the war in Iraq.
I share Spencer’s frustration here, though it seemed to me during the election that the media was quite willing–even eager–to talk about (and perhaps exaggerate) the shift in evangelical voting from Right to Left. Also, I’d say that most Americans define themselves first and foremost by political convictions, so regardless of what we evangelicals are loudest about, outsiders will tend to hear us in terms of politics. It’s an uphill battle.
About the young people (wait, is that me?), I also share Spencer’s concern. My brother teaches at an evangelical school that celebrates Free Enterprise Day in chapel and assures parents during orientation that their kids won’t become Communists there. Sighs of relief all around.
The long-term money concern, however, is new to me. Have any of you heard this before? If the worry is justified, how do churches need to adapt? And is Spencer too hard on culture warriors? Could a collapse be a good thing?
UPDATE: Mark Galli responds to Spencer’s predictions.
