News: “The End of Christian America”

“ The decline and fall of the modern religious rights’ notion of a Christian America creates a calmer political environment and, for many believers, may open the way for a more theologically serious religious life.”

Jon Meacham, of Newsweek magazine, recently wrote an article entitled, “The End of Christian America.” He admits the title is an exaggeration, but it is a serious matter and worth consideration. Meacham opens his article with a quote from the president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, one of the largest in the country and a conservative Christian, who is troubled by the fact that Americans who claim no religious affiliation have risen from 8 to 15 percent since 1990. In other words, Christians now compose a smaller part of the American population.

According to Meacham, “America’s unifying force has never been a specific faith, but a commitment to freedom – not least freedom of conscience. . ." The decline and fall of the modern religious rights’ notion of a Christian America creates a calmer political environment and, for many believers, may open the way for a more theologically serious religious life.

At least, that is Meacham’s view. We thought it only fair to bring it to the attention of our readers. It does not contradict anything we believe or have said in our writing, in our view.

Again, Meacham insists that America “is not a post-religious society – and cannot be as long as there are people in it, for faith is an intrinsic human impulse. The belief in an order beyond time and space is ancient and enduring.

According to Meacham, religion has been a factor in American life and politics from the beginning. . . . but, men like Jefferson and Madison saw the virtue in guaranteeing liberty of conscience and helped create the context in which religion and politics mixed but church and state did not.

Meacham speaks well of the past. Now, if only they would address the present situation.