#9 The Future of the Church in America
What is the definition of Church, and the purpose of denomination in America? Church is defined as “a particular Christian organization, typically one with its own clergy, buildings, and distinctive doctrines.” (Dictionary, Church, 2019) While a denomination is “a group or branch of any religion” (Dictionary, Denomination, 2019) How has the development of America affected the religious outlook of Americans? First, I will address the founding documents of America, then the idea of common religion, then the idea of moral therapeutic deism, followed by an addressal of the need for Christian denominations, and a conclusion.
Christianity in America has changed in many ways and for many reasons since the founding of America. One of the most notable facts about America is its relation to religion. America was founded on common Christian principles such as “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” (Earl Taylor) From the Declaration of Independence. This shows how religion is tied to the American mindset, it especially shows how the American mindset is connected to Christianity consider “and also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labor, it is the gift of God.” (Solomon) Furthermore, religion is tied into the constitution of the United States. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” (Madison) these two documents sent America in a direction that we are still discovering the results of.
Article one of the Constitution of the United States ended up being endowed with the idea of the “separation of church and state.” (Jefferson) There were two walls if you will, the one that Thomas Jefferson wanted, and the one America ended up adopting which is Justice Blacks wall. Justice Black was a “foremost jurisprudential interpreter of the metaphor in the supreme court.” (Black, 1989) Thomas Jefferson’s wall showed the Church and state on one side and the national government on the other side. While Justice Black’s wall showed the Church on one side and the national and state government on the other side. The point of separating the Church and state was so that the church wouldn’t control the government making other religions oppressed. The modern result of this though is the exclusion of most religion from government except atheism which necessarily follows the exclusion of god. “separation of church and state” (Jefferson) does not mean the separation of god and state because the point is that the government should not control or be controlled by religion. If as it is assumed “separation of church and state” (Jefferson) includes the separation of god and state then it means the government is prejudices against god.
Religion in America has always been a political issue, and politics have also been a religious issue for a long time. Religion is common in America, by common I mean everyone has it. When America declared its independence in 1776 the religious makeup of America was almost 100% Christian .2% (Table 1) was Jewish besides that almost everyone participated in some kind of organized Christian event every week. This information points to the importance of the “separation of church and state” (Jefferson) since otherwise there may have been political fractionization and religious war. As it were America did have a civil war over the issue of slavery from 1861 to 1865 which caused splits within some denominations. An example of this is the Southern Baptist Convention which broke from the Northern Baptists in 1845 over the issue of slavery.
Today 70.6% of Americans are Christian, by denomination that is 25.4% Evangelical Protestant, 14.7% Mainline Protestant, 6.5% Historically Black Protestant, 20.8% Catholic, 5.9% Non-Christian Faiths, 22.8% unaffiliated (religious "nones"), 3.1% Atheist, 4% Agnostic, 15.8% nothing in particular, etc. What does this mean for common Christian religion and politics? It means that god is important to most people in one way or another. Does “the separation of Church and state” (Jefferson) still matter today? I would argue that the “separation of Church and state” (Jefferson) should adapted to modern times. By this I mean while in the beginning of America agnosticism and atheism were not religions, they can be argued to be religions now. This is because such a significant number of Americans hold non-religious views. Which translates to religious benefits to minority religions. This can be seen in organizations such as homeless outreach, veteran services, and pregnancy help. The government offers funding as it should to these types of organizations but largely excludes religious organizations. In this case the exclusion of traditional religion, offers an advantage to the minority religions of nones, agnosticism, and atheism.
The common religion of America today can be described as moral therapeutic deism. Moral therapeutic deism (MTD) is a concept from Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers a book written by Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton. This book is meant to describe what they believe the common beliefs among America’s youth are. What they found is that the beliefs of today’s youth fall into the categories of (MTD). That is Moralistic, the youth hold moralistic values, they want to do the right thing. It is also therapeutic, meaning religion makes them feel good. Finally, it is also deistic, meaning there is a god, but he doesn’t affect my life, except to make it better. Knowing what denominations/religions the youth are a part of is a good indicator of the future of the Church in America. Looking at a graph we can see that Islam and Hinduism have the highest percentage of people under the age of 49 in America. Followed by Atheism, agnosticism, nones, Buddhist, orthodox Christian, Latter day saints, then seventh day Adventists. (Lipka, 2016) What does this information tell us? It tells us that there is more appeal in these religions than in protestant Christianity; at least in terms of (MTD). It seems the future growth of any denomination will have to address (MTD) as a religion, or at least address the issue of (MTD).
Why do denominations exist? Christian denominations exist because of differences in leadership style, and for different beliefs. Earlier I mentioned that the southern Baptists broke with the northern Baptists over the issue of slavery. After the civil war there were freed slaves in the south who started black Baptist churches which didn’t identify with the southern or northern Baptists. Denominations change through time; the Sothern Baptists no longer advocate for slavery. But that doesn’t mean the black Baptist churches have anything in common with the southern Baptists. Black Baptists teach a social gospel. In some cases, denominations exist because of the lack of need for unity. For example, the Pentecostal movement in America. The Pentecostal movement was founded as one church on Azusa street. Later when people from that church went and created their own churches, they had different beliefs besides Pentecostalism. As well as different leadership styles which led to there being many different Pentecostal churches including Assemblies of God, Foursquare, Calvary Chapel, etc. Consider also the case of the Lutherans there is the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS). The split between these two groups is over the concept of critical thinking. The (ELCA) thinks that the church should change according to what people believe such as about abortion, homosexuality, and gay and female ministers. While the (LCMS)
Believes something like historically critical thinking. Meaning that they try to follow the historically Lutheran beliefs as much as possible. Many churches also split from denominations due to disagreements with the church, or denominational leadership. An example of this would be my parents church. There was an Assemblies of God (AOG) church with around 1000 members but when the pastor was replaced 900 people left that church. Over 500 of them started attending a non-denominational church that was similar to (AOG). Non-denominational churches to pop up with undefined beliefs that generally loosely follow some denominations beliefs but without oversight.
The future of denominations in America, may be more splintering if something doesn’t change. The issue with this is that as the Church becomes more broken up into smaller groups there will be less authority controlling what is taught. This could lead to Christian beliefs becoming murky and could lead to the dismissal of the church as an important religion. Furthermore, as denominations continue to proliferate the catholic church, and other religions will gain a stronger foothold in America. If denominations were to unite then the continuing issue of denomination would be internal rather than external. Which might be an improvement since it would allow for more oversight, and room for agreements as well as disagreements within the Church.
The proliferation of denominations makes it harder for the church to not be influenced by American culture. The future of the church in American may be united or more fractionized by its response to the rise of (MTD). How the Church responses to these issues will decide the future of the church in America. It is my opinion that within three generations the church in America will undergo a change that makes it either more united, more secularized, or more Catholic.
Works Cited
Black, J. H. (1989, Winter). Wall of Separation Between Church and State. Retrieved 11 16, 2019, from https://www.jstor.org/stable/23917624?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents.
Dictionary, G. (2019, 11 16). church.
Dictionary, G. (2019, 11 16). Denomination.
Earl Taylor, J. (n.d.). National Center for Constitutional Studies. Retrieved 11 16, 2019, from https://nccs.net/blogs/articles/biblical-roots-of-the-declaration-of-independence.
Jefferson, T. (n.d.). Freedom Forum Institute. Retrieved 11 16, 2019, from https://www.freedomforuminstitute.org/about/faq/the-first-amendment-says-nothing-about-separation-of-church-and-state-or-a-wall-of-separation-between-church-and-state-where-did-this-idea-come-from-is-it-really/.
Lipka, M. (2016, 7 11). Which U.S. religious groups are oldest and youngest? Retrieved 11 17, 2019, from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/07/11/which-u-s-religious-groups-are-oldest-and-youngest/.
Madison, J. (n.d.). The Constitution of the United States. Retrieved 11 16, 2019, from https://constitutionus.com/.
Solomon. (n.d.). Ecclesiastes 3:13.
Table 1. (n.d.). Retrieved 11 16, 2019, from https://www.researchgate.net/figure/CHURCH-CONGREGATIONS-IN-1775-76_tbl1_259581152.
