A Caveat

I must begin with a caveat. In speaking of the future direction of American Religious life, one must recognize the difficulty inherent in explaining a phenomenon of this scope. When we attempt to stare into the future, we look--to use the words of the Apostle Paul--into a glass darkly, or--if we use the language of the theologian--we gaze into a mysterium tremendum. Perhaps Teilhard de Chardin put it best when he observed there is "not a thing in our changing world [that] is really understandable except in so far as it has reached its terminus."

Certainly, there is no sign that religion in America is nearing it's demise. While it clearly is floundering and in trouble, efforts are being made on a variety of fronts to bring about a renewed and vital religious faith. And yet certain trends seem relatively obvious.

Growing Secularization

One of the most widely publicized aspects of the recent past, and one that shows little sign of abating in the near future is a growing secularization within the church. The roots of this trend can be traced to a German pastor named Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer was one of the few German Christians to resist Adolph Hitler, and was a participant in various plots to kill him. He was arrested by the Gestapo, and meet his death in a concentration camp just days before it was liberated by allied troops.

Prior to his martyrdom, however, Bonhoeffer managed to smuggle the pages of a book out of prison in which he spoke of a "religion-less Christianity." This idea captured the imagination of many, and helped to inspire a demand for a "secular interpretation" of the gospel. Over time, Bonhoeffer's "religion-less Christianity" evolved until it reached its most provocative form in the "death of God" theology of the 1960s with its insistence on an entirely secular or demythologized version of the Biblical witness.

Although one hears little of the death of God anymore, this interpretation lives on in various liberation theologies that seek to put a strongly secular view of theology into practice. It also, strangely enough, seems to have taken root on the religious right. Although many conservative evangelicals would angrily deny it, their involvement in the political process seems to reflect a similar secularized view of God. They would never say that God is dead, but they act as if he is in a cosmic ICU, and has left a living will granting them power of attorney.

An Increased Dependence on Religious Symbols

At the same time Americans have grown increasingly secular, Churches and Synagogues have been growing increasingly dependent on religious symbolism. There are many Americans who would react quite negatively if one suggested the Bible contains myths. One third of the population believes the Bible is divinely inspired and is to be taken literally.

Yet more and more Americans, as Robert Wuthnow points out, are differentiating "between their faith and the symbols with which it is expressed." For example, among those who believe the Bible is divinely inspired, only half regard it as absolutely free of errors. Or for another example, a study of Lutheran church members showed that only one member in three felt it possible to prove the existence of God, and of those only about half felt this could be done from evidence in the Bible." While they may believe the Bible to be a symbolic expression of the word of God in that it points the individual toward the Truth, many persons are less inclined to view it as being the literal words of God.

God as Comforting Presence

As people increasingly distinguish between these symbolic expressions of their faith and the underlying truth to which the symbols point, they are also demanding the right to judge what these truths are and what they mean. In the study of Lutherans that Wuthnow mentions "only half ...felt God had given clear, detailed rules for living that applied to everyone; most of the remainder felt that individuals had to figure out how to apply God's rules to their own situations."

In other words, God has become "subjectivized." Instead of being a "metaphysical, transcendent, or omnipotent being," he has become a comforting presence who "solves personal problems rather than addressing broader questions." While Americans consistently have high levels of belief (96% of Americans say they believe in God, 90% say they believe Jesus actually lived, and 70% believe Jesus was truly God,) most seem to view the deity through the lens of their own needs. Eight out of ten persons surveyed in California believe God influences their personal lives, but only three in ten Lutherans believe he shapes national or social affairs. (For detailed polling results from the Gallup Organization, click here)

More and more, Americans no longer view God as being a "distant judge." Rather, they conceptualize him as a "lover and friend." God is seen as an "all-loving being," and one's relationship to him is seen as an important source of one's self-worth and self-esteem. If these trends continue, increasingly religion will be seen as the means to solve "personal problems, rather than addressing broader questions" of what is right and wrong.

A Questioning of Traditional Structures

A fourth trend is an increasing willingness to question the traditional structures of the church and synagogue. There has been a growing recognition that many of the structures and traditions of American religious life are moribund and extremely lacking in adaptability. The willingness of Roman Catholics to question old traditions was revealed in a rather striking way recently when the Bishops of the American Church refused to adopt a pastoral letter that rejected the ordination of women. High Church liturgies are being eroded in favor of more informal and relaxed worship, lay participation is increasing, and clerical power is waning.

In every denomination, bureaucracies are falling out of favor, and more and more resources are staying in local congregations. This is because denominational hierarchies are seen as largely superfluous to the real work of the church. The corollary to this, as we have seen, is that more financial resources are flowing to "local hands on" ministries like Habitat for Humanity, and control over these funds is being kept in local hands where people can be sure they are used to help the people for which they were intended.

Changing Morality

A fifth trend has to do with personal morality. In the 1960s, many Americans began to embrace a new morality with its emphasis on dealing frankly with long forbidden subjects. Students in the 1960s and 1970s, demanded and received greater freedom, and questioned the structures and values of our society. Questions of loyalty and obedience to constituted authority, or to the nation, were re-opened and re-examined, and dissenting views were increasingly tolerated.

Today the people who were most directly influenced by this revolution are rising to positions of leadership in the church. Although many have grown more conservative as they have watched their parents grow wiser, many have also grown increasingly frustrated by the institutional resistance to change they have encountered. Some of these persons have dropped out of the church, but there is a new generation of church leaders that still retains its earlier willingness to shake things up, to challenge the denominational leadership.

The Rise of A New Class

Since the Second World War, the federal government has helped to foster exponential growth in the area of higher education. As a result, a new "overclass"--as Newsweek puts it--is emerging. Persons in this class have specialized training, and are skilled in the areas of "science, advanced technology, education, and information processing." They also have "values and interests" which "differ sharply both from the less privileged and from less educated members of the social elite."

This "cleavage" is having a profound impact on American society in general, and America's churches in particular. In some ways, this--and not denominationalism--is the real source of divisiveness in American religious life. As we saw last time, denominations are increasingly loosing their importance, and many persons feel free to move from one to another. In this environment, the real source of division is not old denominational lines, but this new dichotomy between the highly educated elites, and the less educated with one tending to be more liberal, and the other tending to be more conservative.

This fault line can be found in almost every denomination. Highly educated Baptists and Catholics often have far more in common with each other than they do with their less educated co-religionists. It also has expressed itself in the divisions that have formed in the evangelical movement, and helps to explain the rise of such organizations as the Christian Coalition. It may well be that in the future, this will be the division that matters most in shaping the development of American religious life.

Some Troubling Signs

Although a new generation is moving into positions of leadership--one that appears willing to make needed changes in religious institutions, one should not exaggerate this new generation's chances for success. Most surveys show that Americans, through deeply troubled by the state of the nation and religion, still hold to the religious convictions of earlier years. Polls show there is still considerable resistance to change.

On the other hand, the shrinking rolls of the mainline denominations, and the denominations widespread budget problems that are only growing worse, reveal a loss of vitality and morale that is reflected in conversations I have with local parish clergy. Increasing numbers of clergy are surrendering their religious calling. I know that from personal experience. Of my class at Duke Divinity School, only a handful remain in parish ministry.

Clearly, American religious life is in a time of profound transition. But it certainly is not the first time we have seen this happen. It occurred prior to the first and Second Great Awakenings, and something very similar took place after the Civil War, and led to the rise of Christocentric Liberalism and the Social Gospel.

It may be that we are entering another of those periods of transition; one that will give rise to a Fourth Awakening of religion in this country. In the previous Awakenings, renewal came about as a result of the introduction of radically new ways of doing church. The First Awakening contributed the revival to American religious life, and the Second gave us the circuit rider and the Benevolent Empire. The Third Awakening gave the nation's churches and synagogues a stronger sense of social justice. Today, new ways of doing church are emerging. A revived evangelicalism has taken root that is making use of contemporary worship forms. The Community Church movement is drawing a new wave of unchurched persons into the faith and influencing thousands of churches as a result. If these changes do herald a Fourth Awakening, remember, you heard it here first.