Some Republicans Don't Trust Their Leaders; Some Americans Don't Trust Clergy

I just finished reading Reorganized Religion; The Reshaping of the American Church and Why it Matters by Bob Smietana. Smietana wants badly to see the U.S. version of the local church survive. He tells in detail why it helped him during difficult times of his life. He is, however, a journalist and covers well all the problems facing the local church. 

One of the topics he discusses is the cultural notion of respect and authority. He laments the plight of those whose career has been in religion. They worked hard to reach the pinnacle they sought. It was to be a theologian with status or a preacher/priest who moved up in the size of churches and status among peers. All of this, only to land at a point in history where no one cares what he/she thinks about them or their views. It happened not because of their own shortcomings but is a society-wide phenomenon. Tonight, I am watching the Republican party long-timers in the House be ignored by relative newcomers.

To illustrate, he quotes another author who wrote, "If all you do is toss your credential expertise onto the table and say you should listen to me, no one is going to do what you say. That's true for religious professionals, medical professionals, and on down the line."

There remains a narrative within the religious community, both Protestant and Catholic, that the public will shop around, try on new ideas and maybe stray temporarily from the faith. But in the end, the narrative tells us, they will trust the good leaders in religion and come home to the faith. It is not happening and by all indications will not. 

Another version of the narrative by those who believe the decline in only temporary is that it was caused by wayward priests and preachers and too much involvement in politics. Evidence is the lack of trust in old institutions started some decades ago and a falling away would have happened even without these current events. 

This latter observation throws into further disarray the notion religion and religious leaders can reverse the trend. What has happened, the erosion of trust in institutions, was not caused by those in religion. Therefore, the author concludes, it cannot be solved by them. 

He never uses my favorite word, culture. What he has concluded is the culture on has moved and left Christianity behind. No matter how hard it runs, it cannot catch up.