It seems like the Republican defeats in the last election have led to some soul searching, not just among politicians, but among evangelical organizers who helped elect them.
Two links today: the first a transcript of the grand poo-bah of evangelical orthodoxy, James Dobson. He admits the religious right has lost the major moral battles of our time, and foresees a growing secularism in American society, much like Britain.
The second is an article from the Christian Science Monitor, where an evangelical minister from Kentucky theorizes that American Evangelical Christianity will be under major financial, logistical and theological pressure in the coming years. From the horse's mouth, so to speak.
Organized Christianity is a major force in the USA and many Canadian Christians follow the lead of what goes on 'down south'. Furthermore, Prime Minister Harper has well-documented ties to Canadian evangelical groups which coordinate with their American counterparts.
But beyond politics, these articles capture the conflict between the priorities of political and religious leaders (the elite, some might say) and regular Christians who hear one thing coming from the pulpit or the stump speech, only to see their neighbour starving.
Dobson demanded unflinching acquiescence from his followers, longing for a return to a time when everybody believed and obeyed, no questions asked. The trouble with this view is that I'm not convinced that even when churches were full every Sunday morning everyone necessarily believed everything and felt hunky-dory. Karen Armstrong has a lot to say about this. The point is not always belief, it's that religion should allow a space for us to have a conversation about what we believe and our moral obligations to one another.
Religious faith is a mode of understanding the world, and religious (and political) organizations that emphasize compliance over compassion are bound to burn out sooner or later. People need to have genuine connections with their fellow humans. It's in our nature, more than following orders.
The Canadian situation is slightly different, gay marriage having been legalized by the Supreme Court and most Canadians being generally less religious and more politically moderate. But organized Christianity will face major challenges here as the older generation passes on.
I often wonder what this post-Christian era might look like. Although organized religion certainly has many pitfalls (and boy, it's easy to generate a list), it remains one of the few institutions that helps people because it's the right thing to do, and that connects people of all ages and backgrounds in a given community.
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