The Real Reason for the Collapse of Christianity


Over the past decade of daily monitoring Christian pundits and sites there has been a slow but steady change. For some years, those who claim to be big thinkers in the faith ignored the falling numbers. Then a few said it is experiencing a norm up and down cycle and will recover soon. As time went it became apparent it was not a cycle but a permanent downward trajectory. As that became apparent, some began to speculate on why it is happening. While the target, the reason for the fail, is big and bold right in front of them, Christian pundits still are unable to find it. 

Pundits would do well to go back in time for the answer. Until he died in 1986, his nineties, philosopher Will Durant spent most of his life writing huge works on history and philosophy. They skirted around most traditional philosophies which wrote of leaders in religion and politics as those who formed the direction of societies. To Durant, the direction of change was more a product of forces acting on the daily lives in billions of ordinary citizens. I happen to like that because it is also my own view of history and social change. 

As an example, today the hot button issue is abortion. I am confident the eventual outcome of this conflict will be determined, not by the Supreme Court, religious leaders or politicians, but by individual women navigating their lives. If they would rather give birth than have an abortion, abortion will disappear. If it is the opposite, abortions will remain widely available. 

Sixty years ago, when Christianity was still ascending, Will Stuart explained clearly the coming decline: 

Is Christianity dying? Is the religion that gave us morals, courage and art to Western civilization suffering slow decay through the spread of knowledge, the widening of astronomic, geographical and historical horizons, the realization of evil in history and the soul, the decline of faith in the afterlife and of trust in the benevolent guidance of the world? It this is so, it is the basic event of modern times. 

He wrote this before the ubiquitous laptop and phone gave everyone challenging information at the touch of a button. Yet, he predicted people would stop believing the tenets of the faith. That is exactly what has happened before our eyes but which remains invisible to pundits in Christianity. It happened not because some new personality or leader swept through the Western world but by one person at a time seeing the light.

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