In case you missed it, the Pew Research Center released a report titled “America’s Changing Religious Landscape; Christians Decline Sharply as Share of Population; Unaffiliated and Other Faiths Continue to Grow“. In it, they claim that there has been a rapid decline in Christianity as a share of population in the US, eight percent in just seven years, from 78.4{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} to 70.6{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986}. Frankly, I think both numbers are inflated and the number of followers of Jesus is much, much smaller. But that is a subject for another day, today the question is, why?

Sometimes, visuals are necessary to understand things. Here’s a cartoon on the subject:

That says an awful lot in a short space. I found that toon via Perry Dorrell’s Brains and Eggs blog – don’t read it if you are afraid of the opposition. For a more lengthy treatise on religion in the public square, try reading Joe Carter’s “Under Which God”. You’ll be glad you did.

The central theme of that toon resonates with me, particularly as a follower of Jesus who happens to be a conservative Republican. Why in the world would anyone want to follow Jesus after observing the behavior of, well, Christians? Especially conservative Republican Christians? I see it everyday in the social media world of my fellow conservative Republicans. Hatred. Fear. Greed. Everything exactly opposite of what Jesus talked about.

There has been a lot of noise this week about the failure of the Texas House to pass the so-called “Pastor Protection Act“. It seems like I get an email every day from Jared Woodfill and Steven Hotze about the end of the world raining down on us if we don’t make double, triple, quadruple sure that no pastor will ever have to perform a marriage ceremony for Jack and Bill, or Jill and Hill, if they don’t want to. They never bother to think about the profound effect it would have on this society if they simply stood up in silent disobedience should they ever face that situation. But hey, they might lose their tax exempt status!

Imagine if a converted Jew named Saul had stood up on Mars Hill and, instead of proclaiming the good news of Jesus, told the crowd gathered there that the proper and right course of action was to embed religion into the state, forcing people to behave according to his understanding of morality.

Where would Christianity be today?

Why do so many people that call themselves Christians live in fear? Why would anyone want to follow people that are always afraid? Answer those questions and you’ll understand why the percentage of people calling themselves Christian in the US has declined so rapidly.

UPDATE:

Jonathan Saenz of Texas Values wanted to make sure that everyone knows that the Senate version of the Pastor Protection Act is still alive and he expects that the full House will vote it out next week.

The Senate version of the Pastor Protection bill in the House and House State affairs passed it out Friday. From reading your article I was concerned that Texans would think that the entire bill was dead and they would get confused when they read my emails and other reports saying it’s still alive. Thanks!