The Dallas Morning News (June 1, 2008) had two very interesting articles, which indicated that the influence of the so-called religious right is diminishing. But also one article raises the issue that the evangelical wing of Christianity is in decline. Taken together one can see the failure of the conservative evangelicals to be "salt and light."
Rod Dreher's "Retreating to a Defensible Position on Gay Marriage" concludes that the battle to stop same-sex marriage is finished and evangelicals need to find a way to live with the fact. Republicans are all talk. Conservatives should quit lying to themselves about the culture war. It's over. We've lost. What is also interesting is how he sees same-sex marriage as the logical result of philosophical assumptions about the nature of truth that nearly everybody in the modern era takes for granted. He analyzes this by going to Pitirim Sorokin's theory of ideational and sensate cultures.
Christine Wicker's "The Great Evangelical Decline" echoes some of the polls of the Barna Group. While she focuses on the Southern Baptists (half their churches will be closed by 2030), she alludes to the broader evangelical movement. Evangelical faith has been dropping since 1900, when 42 percent of the U.S. claimed that distinction. Every year, Religious Right evangelicals, such as those who lead the Southern Baptists, are a smaller proportion of the country. Every year, their core values are violated more flagrantly by the media, scientific discovery and mainstream behavior. Every election, politicians promise to serve them and then don't because evangelicals lack the power to make them.
It is easy to be pessimistic, but throughout the ages people have counted the church out only to see revival and awakening occur.
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