Turning Christains into Atheists

[Hagoth]

Instead of quoting Daniel and the rock that will fill the whole earth, this scripture is being quoted:

And it came to pass that I beheld the church of the Lamb of God, and its numbers were few, because of the wickedness and abominations of the whore who sat upon many waters; nevertheless, I beheld that the church of the Lamb, who were the saints of God, were also upon ball the face of the earth; and their dominions upon the face of the earth were small, because of the wickedness of the great whore whom I saw.

See? We have always thought the church would be small!

Didn't Quentin Cook do exactly that last year?

[Newme]

There have been observations that many families these days, particularly young families, have switched to a homechurched model...

Though, I note that your comment, "I see Christ as a culmination of the highest good in humanity - and how to love well" aligns more with the Jesus that Bawer follows than the fundamentalist one. Along with your quotes from Luther and Jefferson.)

I wonder if some are seeing signs and financial incentives that people are buying, selling and worshipping more online, from home.

Lol I just looked up Baur Christian and it turns out he’s a chess champion - might be worth joining! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Bauer

My belief is a work in progress. I feel the urgent peer pressured need to find truth in Christianity & symbolically there is some.

[Raylan Givens]

When we left. We visited around a dozen churches over the course of ten months. We found the churches to be filled with nice loving people. Our girls had a nice time learning about other faiths.
Ultimately, we decided we just aren’t church people. We are just too skeptical and don’t need the religious aspects. We also decided that when people group together, they love and support each other, whether this is a church or some other community group. So we have tried to increase our network of friends and people we care about. It has mostly filled the void, but I still long for more community some days.

I would not be surprised if religion severely declines then morphs into something else.

[Raylan Givens]

He says,

And that’s the greatest irony of it all; that the very Evangelicals who’ve spent that last 50 years in this country demonizing those who reject Jesus—are now the single most compelling reason for them to do so. They are giving people who suspect that all Christians are self-righteous, hateful hypocrites, all the evidence they need. The Church is confirming the outside world’s most dire suspicions about itself.

This by no means describes Christians in general, but it does capture the tone the loud-mouthed, self-righteous minority who are turning people away from Christianity. Sometimes I feel like some of them are intentionally trying to offend people and push people away; sort of a more for me attitude. I heard one Evangelical explain that the more sinners suffering in hell the sweeter heaven will be for him.

I tend to believe that the loudness and proudness with which someone proclaims their Christianity is pretty much inversely proportional to their degree of genuine inward Christianity. There are many, many good Christians out there who don't wear it on their sleeve as a challenge or condemnation. And there are also many non-Christians who live more Christ-like lives than many self-proclaimed followers of Jesus.

I think there is something special in having many generations of people meeting together. I think that is a powerful tool that the Church played in my life. I had three generations of people that cared for me.

Unfortunately, these social issues and debates over them are becoming increasingly generational from my perspective. I think Christianity will continue to “gray out” and congregations will shrink.