Reports of Christianity’s death greatly exaggerated

Many atheists and secular progressives in the media gleefully reported the news recently that the number of Americans rejecting religious faith has almost doubled since 1990, from 8.2 percent to 15 percent.

In fact, CNN “reporter” Wolf Blitzer almost jumped up and down when he reported that news and the fact that the survey from The Program on Public Values at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., also showed that the number of self-identified Christians has declined from 86 percent of American adults in 1990 to 76 percent in 2008.

Hidden in these “facts” is the major reason for these increases and declines.

Most of the decrease in the number of Christian Americans and the simultaneous increase in Americans who say they have no religious faith come from huge decreases in the population among liberal mainline Protestant denominations in the last 18 years, which have declined from 17 percent to 12.9 percent. A small 1.1 percent decline in the number of Roman Catholics in America (some of whom suffer under liberal leadership like that of Archbishop Roger Mahoney in Los Angeles) also seems to have contributed to the decrease of Christians in the American population.

It is also safe to say that, as more conservative Christians have become more vocal about their faith and their concerns about the moral decline of the United States, more atheist radicals (such as pro-evolution wingnut Richard Dawkins and comedian Bill Maher) have also become more vocal about their multi-faceted opposition to Christianity and religion.

Regrettably, many of these attacks on Christianity and Christian truth come from government-run “education” establishments, controlled by anti-Christian teachers unions.

The same thing has happened in the political sphere, with the liberal “news” media becoming far more vocal in its bias and support for the socialist, pro-abortion policies and hysterical environmentalism of radical politicians like President Barack Obama and former Vice President Al Gore.

And, that doesn’t even begin to cover the rabid radicalism of Hollywood pinheads like Sean Penn.

Even if the increasing secularism and paganism in America continues, however, there is always China, the world’s most populated nation, where the number of Christians is growing by leaps and bounds.

In fact, the International Bulletin of Missionary Research estimates that the annual net increase of Christians around the world is 36 percent.

Clearly, though, the church has not done a really great job of defending the faith in recent years from the anti-Christian bias in the mass media and government-run schools.

One of our Christian associates in the field of apologetics has noticed an increasing apathy in the church and in seminaries toward that kind of intelligent evangelism and a continued move toward an emotional, happy-face, “seeker” mentality that doesn’t want to offend anyone.

In fact, a couple years ago, we heard a Christian talk-show host with a national radio program complain that some Christian leaders on the West Coast were blurring the lines between Mormon beliefs and traditional Christianity, despite all the heretical beliefs taught by the Mormon Church and its founders.

The Good News is that there are many great answers to the doubts and questions that non-believers, and even many believers, have about the historical Christian faith and the foundations on which it rests, Jesus Christ and the Word of God, the Bible.

Conservative, traditional Protestants and Catholics, not to mention Eastern Orthodox believers, do not have to be afraid of these doubts and questions because they all have firm answers reflecting a biblical worldview.

The ministry of the Christian Film & Television Commission® and its sister organization, MOVIEGUIDE®: The Biblical Guide to Movies and Entertainment, are hear to help Christians be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks them to give the reasons for the hope and faith that lies within them (1 Peter 3:15).

In that light, it is important to note that a Harris Interactive Poll, just published last December, found that 80 percent of American adults believe in God, 75 percent believe in miracles, 73 percent believe in Heaven, 71 percent believe that Jesus Christ is God and/or the Son of God, and 70 percent believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

There is plenty of really solid, even airtight, evidence that all these Christian teachings from the Bible (and more besides) are objectively true as well as logically credible.

The reports of Christianity’s death are greatly exaggerated. Jesus Christ is alive – yesterday, today and tomorrow!

 

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