Bad is not good

Via Ry, here's an interesting article about the decline of Christianity in America. More and more Americans, especially in liberal areas like New England, are walking away from the religion of their ancestors, labeling themselves "religiously unaffiliated" and "spiritual rather than religious."

Naturally, R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, is unhappy about the trend:

"The moral teachings of Christianity have exerted an incalculable influence on Western civilization," Mohler says. "As those moral teachings fade into cultural memory, a secularized morality takes their place. Once Christianity is abandoned by a significant portion of the population, the moral landscape necessarily changes. For the better part of the 20th century, the nations of Western Europe led the way in the abandonment of Christian commitments. Christian moral reflexes and moral principles gave way to the loosening grip of a Christian memory. Now even that Christian memory is absent from the lives of millions."

So there's only one Christian morality, is there, Mr. Mohler? Didn't the original New Englanders come to America to escape a reactionary, right-wing, politicized Catholic church? Why is it such a surprise that modern New Englanders would walk away from a faith that now seems publicly dominated by a reactionary, right-wing, politicized Southern Baptism?

"Christian moral reflexes" are by no means universal to all branches of Christianity. The Southern right-wing faction of American Christianity - Baptism and its offshoots - have decided that bashing homosexuality is an integral part of their moral reflex. But denying gays respect and acceptance is deeply contrary to the moral reflex of many Americans. In fact, it strikes us as downright evil.

So when the Southern Baptists and their ilk are the loudest and best-funded faction of Christianity out there, is it any surprise that many Christians of conscience are walking away from the whole thing?

That's a sad, sad thing. I've seen countries, like South Korea, where Christianity has been a force for political liberty. I believe it once was thus in America; it could be so again. But as long as the American airwaves are dominated by right-wing blowhards who insist that gay love is a sin, America is just going to drift in the direction of European-style secularism.