Rock on what passes for American Christianity! And abandon The Rock, abandon the Truth, abandon the Word of God.
 
But make sure you FEEL GOOD upon leaving the church building because that’s what’s most important in going to a so-called Christian church on a Sunday, right?
 
Wrong!
 
Can’t sing hymns any longer. Can’t preach from the whole Word of God any longer. Can’t preach much really from the Bible — except for some passages, verses approved by the U.S. Department of Sugarcoating, Itching Ears & False Teachers.
 
Gotta do what the young people want and demand, ya know.
Gotta do what the rich folks want and demand, you know.
Gotta do what the overly sensitive and politically [in]correct demand or they will wail and squeal, ya know.
Gotta do and please the people, you know.
 
Rather than pleasing God and doing what is instructed to know and obey in the Bible, you know.
 
Can’t have real Bible-centered, Bible-preaching. Oh no, that’ll never do! Have to appease. Have to be inclusive, you know. Anything goes. Just get those still lost in darkness backsides in the pews, in the seats, and make sure you fork over those dollars, and no checks written with insufficient funds, please!
 
Ahh, the current state of the American church.
 
For the most part.
 
And falling, failing, shrinking, loving the world and sin more than loving God, more than loving and cherishing the Word of God, more than…
 
…and less of everything we ought to be doing, how we ought to be faithfully praising, honoring, teaching, preaching, writing, speaking, and living.
 
Read on!
 
Ken Pullen
Thursday, January 6th, 2022
ACP — A Crooked Path
 

The ‘Europeanisation’ of the United States: 1% fewer Christians per year

Christian America Is Following The Path Of Western European Secularization

Self-identified Christians were 73% of the population in 2011 – they are now 63%, says a Pew Research study. Protestantism is the faith group that has suffered the biggest secularisation.

By Pew Research, Evangelical Focus · 05 JANUARY 2022

Reprinted from Evangelical Focus

The United States is following the secularisation path of Western Europe, as the number of people who identify as Christians continues to fall. One decade they still were three in four citizens, now it is only two in three.

According to the latest report published by Pew Research, only 63% of US citizens self-identify as Christians, 10% less than in 2011 (73%). In 2007, the number was close to eight in ten (78%).

In contrast, it is the group of “nones” (atheists, agnostics or “nothing in particular”) that grows, from 16% in 2007 to 29% now.

“Christians now outnumber religious ‘nones’ by a ratio of a little more than two-to-one”, said the Pew Research Center. “In 2007, when the Center began asking its current question about religious identity, Christians outnumbered ‘nones’ by almost five-to-one”.

Protestantism’s fall in numbers

It is the group of Protestant Christians, the biggest religious confession in the US, which suffers the largest losses. Exactly 50% identified as Protestants ten years ago, now only 40% do so. This figure includes mainline Protestants, Evangelical Christians (Baptists, Pentecostals, etc) and some other minority groups.

“Currently, 60% of Protestants say ‘yes’ when asked whether they think of themselves as a ‘born-again or evangelical Christian’, while 40% say ‘no’ or decline to answer the question”, says the report.

Catholicism, on the other hand, remains stable, with 21% of the population self-identifying with the Roman Church (three points less than in 2011).

Mormons (2%) and Orthodox Christians (1%) continue to be small minorities.

Daily prayer

Asked about the role of prayer in their lives, 45% said they pray every day, down from the 55% that said so in 2014.

One third of US citizens now say they never pray, almost twice as many as in 2007.

41% say religion is “very important” in their lives (down -15% since 2007) while 33% say it is “not too important / not at all important” (up +17% since 2007).

When Protestants are asked about church attendance, it is evangelical Christians who say they are more commited to their Christian community: 63% join a worship service at least once a month (a number that goes up to 70% in the case of black evangelicals). Only 32% of other Protestants attend a church service once a month.

The secularisation of Western Europe

These newest data seem to confirm that the United States follows the path of secularisation of European countries.

Recent data in the UK show that self-described Christians are close to fall under the 50% line, as being non-religious is already the main option among those aged 25 or less.

In the Netherlands, the number of Protestants is on a historic low (14%) and Christianity is no longer the default religion for the members of the Royal family.

In Germany it is surprisingly the young people who say they believe most in God and eight in ten say they have prayed at least once.

In the last 20 years, Roman Catholicism has lost 20 percentage points in Spain, as evangelical Christians have multiplied eightfold and now represent 2% of the population.