For 10 years now I have been an adjunct in Pepperdine University’s Washington D.C. program. The Religion & Culture course I teach is based on the assumption that religion is a ubiquitous, overwhelming, and persistent influence on culture and politics. I always share with my students an article by Toby Lester from the February 2002 Atlantic, entitled “Oh Gods” (pp.37-45). In it Lester argues that despite predictions to the contrary, the world is not evolving into a secularist’s paradise, but is becoming more virulently religious. He writes:
“The assumption is that advances in the rational understanding of the world will inevitably diminish the influence of that last, vexing sphere of irrationality in human culture: religion. Inconveniently, however, the world is, today, as awash in religious novelty, flux, and dynamism as it has ever been…”
This seemed sound wisdom in the wake of 9/11. It was certainly what I experienced for the entirety of my life. From the silent majority that elected Nixon to two terms as president, through the moral majority that helped put republicans in the white house for 12 consecutive years, to the increase in adherents, attendance, and involvement that churches experienced after the dust settled from the collapse of the World Trade Center – I lived my first 45 years in a country which was becoming increasingly conservative, and religious – and in a world that seemed so.
I’m not sure if this is the case anymore. Trends in church adherents, attendance, and involvement are down - precipitously among college students – although any studies conducted now are too early to really establish a long term trend. I think the assertion of secularism in the Middle East offers stronger evidence. The revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, and Libya are not religiously motivated – and this in the most intensely religious part of the globe. Turkey, not Iran seems to be the future model for Islamic nations. In this country, especially in the wake of near-economic collapse and historically high unemployment rates, social issues that so dominated our political discourse seem deflated of importance. If president Obama is defeated in the 2012 election it will not be because of his views on abortion, or gay marriage.
Are we at the beginning of a period where interest in religion is in serious decline? Will secularism soon be ascendant? Have I spent the first half of my life during a blip in history, an anomalous period of religious fervor before the ultimate triumph of a secular world-view? In the latter part of the 3rdCentury there was a last spike in devotion to the old gods before the ultimate death of the Roman pantheon and the triumph of (a form of) Christianity. Has my “normal” really been abnormal – and is that “normal” swiftly fading? Does it matter?
Certainly it matters to individual souls. But the Gospel is not dependent on the outcome of elections, or long-term cultural trends. The Gospel is forever (I John 2.15-17). Let us not forget that for at least 1000 years that which bore the name “Christianity” bore little resemblance to anything in the New Testament. One could argue that only a small fraction of what is called “Christianity” has ever been recognizable as connected to the New Testament model. One could assert that Jesus told us this is how it would be (Matthew 7.13-14).
I have been taught, and believe the Bible teaches, that as long as the Word endures, the Church endures – because the word is the seed (Mark 4.14). If every oak tree was exterminated, and yet I have a thousand viable acorns (or even one), I can reestablish a population of oak trees.
Souls are at risk, and that matters. Perhaps that risk is increasing (when has the risk ever been low?). But the Truth, and the Word which contains it are eternal, established, unassailable.
