'Advent and Christmas aren’t about trends extending as before,' Ross Douthat writes; 'they’re about rupture, renewal, rebirth. That’s what American Christianity needs now.'
A large cross in Groom, Texas, April, 11, 2022. In September the Pew Research Center modeled four potential futures for American religion, depending on different rates of conversion to and disaffiliation from the nation’s faiths, writes New York Times columnist Ross Douthat.In September the Pew Research Center modeled four potential futures for American religion, depending on different rates of conversion to and disaffiliation from the nation’s faiths.
The result is a religious landscape dominated by popular Christian ideas that have “gone mad,” as G.K. Chesterton once put it, “because they have been isolated from each other and are wandering alone.” This America has a church of self-love, with prophets like Oprah Winfrey preaching a gospel of the divine self, a “God Within” spirituality that risks making selfishness a virtue.
As a celebrity businessman and huckster Trump turned out to be a natural champion for Peale’s more right-wing heirs, gathering in allies from the realm of celebrity pastors and prosperity preachers. Meanwhile, as a tribune of American greatness, he ended up appealing to the more nationalist parts of evangelicalism — including voters who were more likely to identify with Christianity as a cultural marker of “American-ness” than to actually attend church.
So on right and left alike, the nation-of-heretics framework still seems useful. But then the question, and the challenge for my thesis now, is exactly how far the decline of Christianity can go before a term like “heresy” stops being analytically appropriate. Because at some point, presumably, the influence of Christianity becomes merely genealogical, and you have to credit spiritual experimenters with reaching distinct religious territory.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
‘Stranger Things’ Redefines a Genre in Its Darkest, Most Epic and Emotional Season YetWith Emmy-nominated showrunners Matt and Ross Duffer at the helm, Stranger_Things continues to reinvent itself in its penultimate season ad
Read more »
Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga Nominated for Society of Composers & Lyricists AwardsDiane Warren, Billy Eichner, 'Weird' Al Yankovic, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Alexandre Desplat and Guillermo Del Toro also scored nominations for their work on film music.
Read more »
Why Beyoncé’s Club Renaissance Party Looked So BoringPeople had definitely turned out for Beyoncé’s Club Renaissance in L.A., but it appeared to be missing the propulsive, no-holds-barred energy of the Grammy-nominated album. People were mostly, well, standing around. Why is this?!
Read more »
15 Of My Absolute Favorite Red Carpet Looks From Asian Celebs In 2022Vanessa Hudgens at the Met Gala?! Iconic.
Read more »
China's economy looks different than it was going into the pandemicThe Chinese economy of 2023 almost definitely won't look like the Chinese economy of 2019.
Read more »