Not white evangelicals’ problem They have close ties to the Republican Party, but their political thought and culture are homogeneous, sociologist of religion Ryan Burge said at a conference hosted by Denver Seminary.

“When a religious movement becomes largely a political monoculture, that’s bad not just for the people in the pews, but for democracy as a whole,” said Burge, an associate professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University and author ofGraphics related to religion” Bottom stack.

“We need to be around people who are different from us, and no matter what church you are in, if everyone you sit next to on Sunday mornings votes the same way you do, then you don’t know what it means to be kingdom. “It’s church-centered, and you’re also making it harder for us to live in a functioning democracy.”

Ryan Burge

Burge surrendered one of five opening remarks During “Engaging and Credible Witness: Church and Politics.” The September event also featured presentations by journalist and author Tim Alberta; Native American activist Mark Charles; political strategist, lawyer and minister Justin Giboney; and Denver Seminar President Mark Young.

Burge focused his speech on the state of American religious groups and their political leanings, including mainline, nondenominational, the Catholic Church, and religiously unaffiliated (also known as none).

20 percent of white evangelicals identify as Democrats and 60 percent as Republicans, but a full 80 percent will vote for Donald Trump on November 5, indicating that Christian conservatives are almost entirely in political alignment regardless of party It shows.

“The reason I know this is because In 2020, 80% of white evangelicals voted for Donald Trump, but no one tells you: In 2008, 80% of white evangelicals voted for John McCain, and in 2012, 80% of white evangelicals voted for Mitt Romney. “He voted for,” Burge said. They don’t exist and a contributor Leaving the Great Church: Who’s Leaving, Why Are They Leaving, and What Will It Take to Bring Them Back?

The share of Americans who embrace the evangelical label (around 27%) is lower than the 30% peak reached in 1994, but higher than the subsequent range of 17% to 23%.

He also added that Evangelicalism has become further disconnected due to the rise of the nondenominational church movement, which has essentially ended the monopoly enjoyed by major evangelical denominations such as the Southern Baptist Convention. “There are little pockets of evangelicalism all over America now, and they don’t talk to each other.”

But this separation did not last Evangelicals have stopped thinking and voting simultaneously and have moved so far to the right culturally and theologically that confused evangelicals Russell Moore, David French And Beth Moore They are labeled liberals for questioning or criticizing Trump. Burge said it doesn’t end there.

“The Southern Baptist Convention has lost 3 million people in the last 16 years, so there is a huge movement in the SBC to right the ship. Do you know what their whole motivation is? “The denomination has become too liberal.”

Resolutions are being drafted in the SBC to oppose in vitro fertilization and declare abortion murder, and to imprison people who seek abortions, even though only 20% of evangelicals oppose in vitro fertilization and only 20% agree that people who seek abortions should be imprisoned.

“I don’t know what religious movements are, but they like to purify themselves and it’s killing us.”

“The thought leaders of these sects Burge tells 80 percent of his people that they are too liberal to be in their own denomination. “I don’t know what religious movements are, but they like to purify themselves and it’s killing us.”

The decline of white, mostly moderate or liberal Mainline Protestant Christianity in the United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ and the Disciples of Christ is no longer a surprise, Burge said, but just how steep and rapid their decline has been largely overlooked. , Evangelical Lutheran Church, Presbyterian Church (USA) and American Baptist Churches USA.

By the late 1950s, approximately 55% of Americans were on the membership list of one of these denominations. This figure fell to 30 percent in the early 1970s, fell below 20 percent in 1988, fell to 10 percent in 2018, and remains around 9 percent today.

“These were sects It once had tremendous cultural power, political power, religious power. They steered the ship. They can direct people to the right candidate. I would say that this is the kind of Christianity we want. “These are people who focus on things like the Social Gospel, who work on compromise and reconciliation, who welcome people into their churches from the left, the right, and the center.”

There is little hope of a rebound because the share of Mainline Protestants ages 18 to 40 represents only 2% of Americans. For example, he said, half of Episcopalians celebrated their 65th birthdays, but only 17% were 18 or younger.

“If they kept every child going to church now, in 30 years they would be 37% younger than they are today, and they won’t keep every child in church. If they’re lucky, they might keep half of them.”. So in 30 years the Episcopal Church will be 45% smaller than it is today, already down to 325,000.”

Most conservatives abandoned Burge added that the mainline churches are long gone and many liberals have joined the ranks of the have-nots. “There is no significant white, Protestant, liberal tradition in America today. To be a white Christian is to be conservative by default.”

Many of these white Christians are part of the nondenominational movement, which has grown from 3 percent of U.S. adults in 1972 to 15 percent by 2024. “They are the fastest-growing religious force in America today, and they are overwhelmingly Republicans,” Burge said.

White Catholics also make up the majority of Republicans, with 60% voting for Trump in 2020. “And all the tracking polls say the same thing will happen in 2024.”

As a result, the young, liberal Catholic priest became a thing of the past.

US Catholic Church as a whole is trending more and more to the right. Of priests ordained before 1981, 38 percent are Democrats, 24 percent are Republicans, and 38 percent are independents. “But with each passing decade of ordination, you can see priests coming into the Catholic Church becoming more and more conservative,” Burge said.

Two-thirds of appointees in the last 20 years identify as conservatives, and almost none are liberals. Ultimately, the young, liberal Catholic priest is a thing of the past, Burge said. “I think of the young Catholic who read about (the late social activist) Dorothy Day. ‘I want to be like that,’ he says, and he goes to mass every Sunday and hears nothing about Catholic activism, immigration and workers’ rights. All they hear is more culture war stuff.”

Americans with no religious affiliation appear to have stopped growing and now represent 30% of the population, Burge said. This group, made up of agnostics, atheists and those who say they are “nothing special,” are among the most liberal and most likely to support transgender care for those under 18.

“They are the people who will tell you Burge explained that “not only am I not religious, but you shouldn’t be religious either, and religion is a cancer, religion is the cause of all the ills the world is facing.”

All of this, he noted, means there is no middle ground moving forward in the United States. “There will be no room for the moderate, conciliatory practical person who says, ‘I see it the same way you do.’ ‘I am a Christian, but I believe in the pluralism of society.’ No, if you are not a Christian your vote should not count on election day. “In fact, there were people who told me that only Christians should be able to vote on election day in this country.”

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