The decline of the white Evangelicals: what Jennifer Rubin got wrong
I could not hate this opinion piece by Jennifer Rubin more. This intones the forever idea that churches should not be political.
Ms. Rubin states that the reason for the decline of the Religious Right is that all of a sudden it got political. No! Rubin states it straight out in the article. The reason for the precipitous decline of the Religious Right or white Evangelicals is that its values are not in keeping with young people! And this is even more unbelievable when it is recognized that evangelical Christian faith is aimed at the mythic/literal development stage of spiritual growth and development: the need for set answers, a bent toward literalism and infallibility, and a sense of reciprocity and transactional faith. These are usually characteristics of a faith found in adolescence. Generally, however, in a faith that is growing deeper and deeper, questions about the faith you are given are starting to emerge. We learn that faith is more about difficult questions rather than right answers. Chronological age does have some bearing on people developing a deeper and deeper well. Tools for discernment emerge and ask us to develop freedom, balance, and intentionality.
But chronological age can also be a block for necessary community growth and development. We settle in with eyes that see the same things, ossify heroes and stories, and our energy for transformative justice slows. Sometimes a whole generation brings new eyes that recognize a need for radical change and transformative justice. While white Evangelicals may have pushed on traditional forms of Sunday best, organ music, and ancient forms that had not been updated, their even more ancient forms of authoritarianism, racism, and patriarchy were pushed to spiritually grow but became frightened by their own diversity.
The article does not recognize that one of the reasons for evangelical Christian faith’s loss of people is that it has become increasingly evident that it is white. If your faith says blatantly that you are going to keep African-American, Native, and LatinX people from voting, why would anyone in those demographics every join hands with you? Oh, lookee here. Jennifer Rubin, the author, is white. Didn’t know Georgia was a blue state? Why was that? Because African-American vote was suppressed for so long. Reason Jon Tester won back his Senate seat in Montana? Great Native organizing got out the historically suppressed vote. That also translates in the pews.
Though I welcome the news that mainline Protestants now number more than evangelical Christians, I want to remind us all of our faith. This does not mean the mainline Protestant church is making a comeback. In fact, we need to stop planning for that and be honest enough to be faith communities that have less people and less dollars. That does not make these faith communities any less vital. In fact, what it can do is force faith communities to remember that they shouldn’t be doing faith alone — without other faith communities, without the community outside its doors, without so many other NGOs who need space or a nod or other hands to make them sustainable. And our buildings and focus on ordained clergy growth and development through seminaries rather than an integrated growth and development with laity is what should kill off many of our seminaries. This has to be about communities and transformation! How do we educate and provide faith formation for the whole church, all leadership?
One of my former congregants regularly shows up to tell me that my liberal views, represented in the UCC, are the reason why the churches are struggling with people and financial numbers. That is such horse hockey for an institution that is supposed to be about courage. If faith communities are growing by leaps and bounds with increasing budgets, I think it often represents the fact that we may be too vanilla to actually represent God’s values of steadfast love, justice, and righteousness. Those values require something of us. And if billionaires keep faith communities awash in green while communities perish from inequity and injustice, then I don’t think God is walking with that faith community.
I was really disappointed in this opinion piece by Ms. Rubin. I’m not all that interested in winning the numbers game over and against evangelical Christians. I am interested in how those numbers might help bring about transformative justice in our communities, nation, and world. What Ms. Rubin may have gotten right is that white evangelicals are panicking as they see their world transform without them. And that fear and panic may make them more dangerous than ever.