Why is Christianity declining in the US and other advanced / technological / educated nations?

[Zzyzx]

Why is Christianity declining in the US and other advanced / technological / educated nations (particularly among younger generations)?

New Pew survey finds self-identified US Christians dropped 12% in a decade, as number of those claiming no religious affiliation surged

Over the last decade, the share of Americans who say they attend religious services at least once or twice a month dropped by 7 percentage points, while the share who say they attend religious services less often — if at all — rose by the same degree.

Empty Tomb, a Christian organization based in Champaign, Illinois, that researches religious giving, says the decline is longstanding. According to its research, Americans gave about 3% of their disposable income to churches in 1968, and less than 2.2% in 2016.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/decline-o ... oll-finds/

The number of Americans who call themselves Christian declined from 77% ten years ago to 65% in 2019. What is worse (or better), the absolute number of Christians declined. In 2019, the country had thirteen million fewer Christians at one hundred sixty-six million.

Protestants have nine million fewer members, two million less born-again’s, and seven million less non-born-again’s. Catholics are down by two million. Mormons were up slightly, but their % remained the same at 2%.

People who identified themselves as atheists, agnostics, or “nothing in particular” increased by twenty-seven million to sixty-seven million people. Today, 17% of Americans say they never attend religious services up from 11% a decade ago.
The data also shows a wide gap between older Americans and Millennials in their levels of religious affiliation and attendance. People born between 1928 and 1945 describe themselves as Christians 84% of the time. Baby Boomers only 76% of the time. In stark contrast, only 49% of Millenials describe themselves as Christian. Four-in-ten Millenials described themselves as “nones,” and one-in-ten identified with non-Christian faith.
http://churchandstate.org.uk/2020/06/u- ... apid-pace/

[Zzyzx]

From just the human perspective, the Church is in decline because less people are turning to Jesus Christ.

Yes, there are fewer Christians because there are fewer Christians

Less people are turning to Jesus Christ because Christians are not as faithful in the propagation of the Gospel.

Yes, there are fewer Christians because Christians are less Christian

Christians are not as faithful because of the lack of spirituality in their faith.

How do you know and measure this?

Christians are less spiritual because of the worldliness that is allowed in the Church.

Reality slips in occasionally

Worldiness is allowed in the Church because Christians are moving away from the Bible as that which dictates how a church is to function.

And most Christians stopped wearing robes and sandals too. Drat, all the modern stuff.

[historia]

Okay, but you have made the claim that Christianity is declining in the US and "other advanced / technological / educated nations." How can you make that claim with regard to "other nations" if you are unable to define which ones are "advanced / technological / educated"?

We can play definition games here if you like;

Surely, clarifying key terms in the question cannot rightly be dismissed as a "game."

That's a bit of a cop out.

Last year, nearly 50 million more Christians were added in Africa, making it the continent with the most adherents to Christianity in the world, 631 million.

. . .

White U.S. congregations are withering. From 1991 to 2014, the number of white Protestants declined by a third, a trend that will continue as they age: Though 20 percent of Americans are 18 to 34 years of age, only 1 in 10 white Protestant congregations reflects that in their attendance. As a result, more than half of U.S. congregations now have fewer than 100 members. Hundreds will close this year.

. . .

Globally, thanks to dramatic geographic and demographic changes, Christianity is recentering its footprint and becoming a non-Western religion. For 400 years, the faith has been molded by the largely European culture that came out of the Enlightenment. But today its vitality is coming from emerging expressions of Christianity in Africa as well as in Asia and Latin America.

I'm not sure what you would like for us to take from this. The article says nothing about which countries are "advanced / technological / educated" and which are not.

The parts you bolded (quoted above) simply say that Christianity is growing faster among non-Whites, both in the United States and abroad. Surely, you aren't suggesting that only Whites are "advanced / technological / educated."

Why not just answer my question directly?

[historia]

From just the human perspective, the Church is in decline because less people are turning to Jesus Christ.

Yes, there are fewer Christians because there are fewer Christians

So there are fewer Christians because there are fewer true Christians...?

This part of the discussion seems rather confused, as there are more Christians today than at any time in history.

In 1910, there were 612 million Christians worldwide. In 2010, there were 2.17 billion. By 2050, that number is projected to increase to nearly 3 billion. See, the Pew forum for the historical and projected demographic data.

Jesus WAS a fraud unless he was actually the Jewish messiah. Jews did NOT / do NOT accept him as such. Non-Jews attempt(ed) to tell the Jews that Jesus was the Jewish messiah . . . He 'became the messiah' by being 'deified' as Icon for the new gentile (non-Jewish) religion after he was dead.

This is deeply misleading. The earliest Christians pronouncing Jesus to be the Messiah were themselves Jews.

Islam (the fastest growing religion in the world – another spin-off from Judaism) also regards Jesus a NOT the messiah.

This is simply false. Muslims consider Jesus to be the Messiah:

As in the Christian New Testament, the Quran (the central religious text of Islam) describes Jesus as the Messiah (al-Masih in Arabic), born of a virgin, performing miracles, accompanied by disciples, rejected by the Jewish establishment, and being raised to heaven.

And finally:

Perhaps younger generations can come to grips with the fact that Christians comprise less than a third of the wold population (in 2020) – and the fact that Islam is the world's fastest growing religion.

A high percentage of Christians are in Africa; and in just one more generation forty percent of the world's Christians are predicted to be in Africa. Christianity appears to have run its course and is declining in North America, Europe, Australia, and elsewhere. Becoming upset, defensive, and hostile will not affect the outcome – but will say something about you (generic term).

I don't see Christians here becoming "upset, defensive, and hostile." Perhaps this is a bit of projection?

[Quantrill]

Yes, there are fewer Christians because there are fewer Christians

Yes, there are fewer Christians because Christians are less Christian

How do you know and measure this?

Reality slips in occasionally

And most Christians stopped wearing robes and sandals too. Drat, all the modern stuff.

The question involves, why are there fewer Christians. To just repeat there are fewer Christians because there are fewer Christians is no answer. I gave reason as to why there are fewer Christians.

To say 'less Christian' is the same as 'less spiritual' is not true. A Christian, and by that I mean one who is born-again, can still be Christian yet his spiritual relationship with God is hindered for a variety of reasons. Some of which I gave already.

By the Holy Spirit is how it is known and measured.

Worldliness always slips into the congregation of the people of God. For some reason, the world just loves to want to be with Christians, and yet they in turn dilute and lessen the impact of the Church. It's an old story. When Moses led the people out of Egypt, a group of 'mixed multitude followed with them. (Ex. 12:38) (Num. 11:4) The same is true even with the 12 disciples of Christ. There among them was Judas.

'Modern stuff' does not change the Scripture. The world and atheists and agnostics want it to change the Scripture. But it doesn't.

Quantrill

[brunumb]

This part of the discussion seems rather confused, as there are more Christians today than at any time in history.

There are more members of almost all religious groups today compared with the past, so I don't understand the significance of that comment.

[brunumb]

By the Holy Spirit is how it is known and measured.

Could you please outline the process involved in that determination.

[Quantrill]

By the Holy Spirit is how it is known and measured.

Could you please outline the process involved in that determination.

Christians have the Holy Spirit. And they have the Bible which is the Word of God, a product also of the Holy Spirit. When they allow things in the Church contrary to Scripture, it reveals a lack of spirituality on their part as they are allowing things contrary to the Holy Spirit.

There are people also in the Church who are not Christians, just like the mixed multitude with Israel, they don't even have the Holy Spirit. That also contributes to the lack of Holy spirituality in the Church as they are of another spirit.

Quantrill

[brunumb]

By the Holy Spirit is how it is known and measured.

Could you please outline the process involved in that determination.

Christians have the Holy Spirit. And they have the Bible which is the Word of God, a product also of the Holy Spirit. When they allow things in the Church contrary to Scripture, it reveals a lack of spirituality on their part as they are allowing things contrary to the Holy Spirit.

There are people also in the Church who are not Christians, just like the mixed multitude with Israel, they don't even have the Holy Spirit. That also contributes to the lack of Holy spirituality in the Church as they are of another spirit.

Quantrill

But how are such things determined and measured as you said?

[historia]

This part of the discussion seems rather confused, as there are more Christians today than at any time in history.

There are more members of almost all religious groups today compared with the past, so I don't understand the significance of that comment.

That comment is in reply to Quantrill, Diagoras, and Zzyzx, who are engaged in a side discussion that takes as its central premise that there are fewer Christians today.

[Quantrill]

But how are such things determined and measured as you said?

I just told you. By the Holy Spirit, and the Scriptures that are of the Holy Spirit.

The Church functions by the Holy Spirit in the individual lives of believers. Every believer has been given gifts from the Holy Spirit. It is through these gifts that the Church functions. See (1 Cor. 12-14) (Rom. 12:1-16) and (Eph. 4:4-16).

So, the believers, Christians, have the Spirit of God and the Word of God to determine and measure.

Quantrill