One of my favorite religion writers, Bob Smietana, recently published a book that grew out of his decades of religion writing. His book is called Reorganized Religion: The Reshaping of the American Church and Why It Matters. I’m biased a bit and here’s why. Bob was at one time working for a denominational magazine and we at times met for coffee or lunch or to chat, and one time he suggested to me that I should “blog.” I wasn’t even sure what a blog was so I asked “What is a blog?” He told me. He told what to do to start one with Blogspot. I left that discussion, walked to my office, opened up a blog at Blogspot – and you guessed, here we are. Just under 20 years ago! Thanks to Bob.
His years of looking at the underbelly of America’s churches, and his speciality I would guess is the American evangelical movement, puts tendons, ligaments, muscle, flesh and hair on the skin of what he writes.
Experience gives him perspective, angles, if not at times more than his share of questions and wonderings.
He knows that by 2021 the percent of Americans who claim to be “None” on religion queries is at 29%, and that only about 60% of Americans claim now to be Christians and less than 50% are members of a church. What’s happening?
Many are leaving because they are no longer welcome. Because they have called out how their church acted; or because they don’t like their church’s stances on politically- and socially-important topics (like climate, politics, racism); or they despise how the church treats women and silences their voices; or who can get married in the church and who cannot.
Many today, and I am one of them, are bone weary about the term “evangelical” and if they want it tagged to their name. As the definition gets narrower and narrower more and more are jettisoning the term. The game is up because there is no official person who decides. The game has become tribal: “our” tribe vs “their” tribe. The term has definition only in a tribe though many tribes claim the term. Someone, will ya, please come up with a more embracing, more congenial, and more accurate term. If you think Kristin Kobes Du Mez didn’t tell plenty of truth about how the evangelical movement actually operates – with more than a bundle of masculinism and political powermongering – then you will have to side with the inaccurate definition. I’ve been there, I’ve watched this defining movement happen, and I’ve seen many get to the bone-weary part.
Which brings me to the Moores who are discussed in Smietana’s book.
Beth Moore is America’s most influential Bible teacher. Some, mostly Southern Baptists, don’t like her teaching at all (bless their hearts) but she keeps on teaching and her readers keep on reading and she’s a blessing to the whole nation. Well, she called out Donald Trump’s sexual harassment behaviors and got into a peck of trouble and she finally realized she was no longer wanted in the denomination of her own faith development. I’m grateful for her courage to speak up and speak out.
Then there’s her namesake and not related, Russell Moore, who was the SBC’s official point person for discerning how best for the SBC to relate to the powers of government. He’s a specialist on church and state stuff. He, too, like his namesake called out Donald Trump and advocated for race relations that sounded too much like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and eventually he realized he too was not wanted so he opted out of the SBC.
To use Smietana’s words, they “no longer believed the lies they were told” by the institution, and in that expression Bob squarely whacks the pinata and the sugary treats all fall to the floor.
Many no longer feel wanted; many now refuse to believe the lies because they’ve been there and seen the realities.
In my own recent story and studies, I’ve heard about 200 stories of power abuse in churches and Christian institutions. I’ve been on about that many podcasts about Tov, and nothing surprises me because I’ve seen the underbelly.
I’m standing with those who no longer believe the lies.
That’s why I am doing a series on Bob Smietana’s book. Join me.
I loved your book, a church called Tov (but I love all your books.) My husband and I recently moved to Boone (the mountains of NC) and we decided not to join another church. He does F3 (fitness, faith and fellowship) so he has a strong network of Christians and I am still finding my community. Have you ever heard the phrase "No organization is safe for the individual". Well, I interpret that to mean, organizations always exist to perpetuate themselves, even if it's against the interest of the individual. In a way, joining a church is like joining the "least bad" organization. But I still think there are churches that are Tov, I just think they look different than what we expect. We decided not to join a church in the traditional sense because they always expect free labor from us (my husband's a general contractor) but as you pointed out, there are several reasons why people are leaving. So right now, I am in a position of faith, trust, openness. I've recently started going back to recovery meetings. Maybe that is my church and my way of spreading the message of hope.
So different in Canada. You write "only about 60% of Americans claim now to be Christians and less than 50% are members of a church" and I can't help wondering whether a large proportion--even of those who are "members of a church"--are Christians in name only. If that is the case, I'm not concerned that numbers are dropping. It's not because of what the church is doing wrong, but because of political and social change. For some, anyway. I'm not for a minute quibbling with what you say about abuse and error.
On a different point, I've been reading your blog all those 20 years, and, as I've told others, it's been a theological education for me. Many thanks for all the time you've spent blogging!