Reversing Religious Decline

Word from the Center
Written By Gene Edward Veith

Religion waxes and wanes in a culture and throughout history.  It can fade away, but it can also suddenly come back again.

That is one of  the takeaways from the American Enterprise study by Lyman Stone that we’ve been discussing this week:  Promise and peril: The history of American religiosity and its recent decline.

In addition to giving us something of a three-dimensional profile of the extent of religion in the United States and Western Europe, the study gives data about why religions decline but also what brings religions back.

As we reported from that study, the lowest level of church membership and church attendance in the history of the United States was in the 1780s, when only a third of Americans belonged to any church body and only a fifth of the population was in church on any given Sunday.  That’s far worse than today’s supposedly “declining” numbers, of 62% membership and 35% attending.

But after that religious low point at the very outset of our nation came the Second Great Awakening, which began in the 1790s and soon made our forebears the strong Christians we have always assumed them to be.

What changed?  Researchers have cited sociological factors.  For example, as we blogged about, the American Enterprise study says that the heavy-handed, politically powerful colonial churches created a backlash against faith, whereas their disestablishment and America’s new religious liberties created a climate for faith to flourish again.

Click here to read more from Dr. Gene Edward Veith.

Be Informed

Hosted by LCMS Urban & Inner-City Mission, the Rev. Dr. Greg Seltz, executive director of the Lutheran Center for Religious Liberty, will presents a free webinar on “Religious Freedom in our PC Culture” from 1:00-2:00 p.m. Central time Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2020. Seltz will provide insights and strategies to winsomely witness to our world as the Christian faith becomes less “PC.” Learn more here!

Be Equipped

Rev. Christopher Thomas Discusses When Christians Must Disobey Government’s Restrictions On Gathering In A Recent Issues, Etc. Interview.

Be Encouraged

PRAYER: Dear Father, you sent your Son, who left His powerful position in heaven to be born in a lowly stable, to live life in our place, to die a death that is the recompense for this world’s sin, and to give us eternal life as a gift now and forever. May that motivate our prayers and our service to our friends and our enemies, to our brothers and sisters in the faith and our neighbors in the community, and all who are in authority to lead and to serve. Give us strength to be a people constantly in prayer, available for service, and bold in our witness of the God who is at work in the world to save. In the Name of Jesus, we pray. AMEN.

See Also
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Jack Phillips
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This morning I sip coffee from one of his mugs: "Masterpiece Cakeshop: Yeah . . . that cakeshop." What cakeshop? If you don't know, you're not informed, and you're watching the wrong news. Jack has been embroiled in legal battles since 2012, when the baker declined to use his talents to create a custom cake celebrating a so-called gay marriage. Phillips, mind you, served all people, no matter what. But he did not wish to use his time and talents to commemorate that which he believed was wrong. This is what the First Amendment is all about, freedom of speech, which means the freedom from compelled speech, along with the free exercise of religion.

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November Bulletin Insert
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The Bulletin Insert is designed to be printed and cut in half to fit conveniently inside a Sunday worship bulletin. Each month an insert will offer insight, encouragement, and information from the LCRL on the topics of Religious Liberty, Life, Marriage, or Education.

November Bulletin Blurbs
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The dates identifying the LCRL bulletin blurbs are only suggestions. Please feel free to use any and all of the bulletin blurbs as your ministry needs allow.

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October Bulletin Blurbs
October Bulletin Blurbs

The dates identifying the LCRL bulletin blurbs are only suggestions. Please feel free to use any and all of the bulletin blurbs as your ministry needs allow.

October Bulletin Insert
October Bulletin Insert

The Bulletin Insert is designed to be printed and cut in half to fit conveniently inside a Sunday worship bulletin. Each month an insert will offer insight, encouragement, and information from the LCRL on the topics of Religious Liberty, Life, Marriage, or Education.

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Tune in this week as Dr. Jay Richards joins us to discuss how faith and reason can win the culture war and why Biblical messaging is key in this critical battle!

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Our lesson for today comes in the context of another healing event in the ministry of Jesus. It not only demonstrates Christ’s power over all things, but also the power of faith IN HIM amidst all the doubts and struggles that we may be facing. There is so much to learn from the honest confession of the father in this reading. This dad knew what his son needed, but felt helpless in response. He also knew what he needed -- stronger faith. When he meets Jesus, he expresses sentiments something like these:

“I’d like to have great faith, but I know that I’m inadequate, especially now when I need it most. In fact, I’m overcome by circumstances and doubt. Lord Jesus, while I believe, help my unbelief.”

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In his letter to the church in Rome, the Apostle Paul writes, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God” (Rom. 13:1-2).

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Discover why America’s Evangelicals are shrinking in number and influence, and how you can help bring back biblical faithfulness and political engagement by tuning in to The Liberty Action Alert.

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There’s a question that many are asking today. Actually, people have been asking questions like that for almost 2000 years. Here’s another one: “How can you believe that Jesus is the only Savior, the one that is the Savior for all people?” You can believe it because there is no one like Jesus. You could try to give me another name or show me another savior, but there isn’t one.

Gene Edward Veith
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