Russell Moore on the Vulnerability of "Bible Belt Near-Christianity"

Russell Moore just posted piece entitled "Is Christianity Dying?" The post responds to the recent Pew Center report that Christianity in America is on a steep decline. As the NY Times summarizes the report, "Seventy-one percent of American adults were Christian in 2014, the lowest estimate from any sizable survey to date, and a decline of 5 million adults and 8 percentage points since a similar Pew survey in 2007."

Moore, however, notes that what is most in decline is cultural Christianity. His description and explanation of the vulnerability of "Bible Belt near-Christianity" or "Almost Christianity" in the current cultural moment is superb:

People who don’t want Christianity, don’t want almost-Christianity. . . . Almost Christianity, in the Bible Belt, looks like a God-and-Country civil religion that prizes cultural conservatism more than theological fidelity. Either way, a Christianity that reflects its culture, whether that culture is Smith College or NASCAR, only lasts as long as it is useful to its host. That’s because it’s, at root, idolatry, and people turn from their idols when they stop sending rain.[1]

I recommend reading his full post here.

Jonathan

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[1] Emphasis added.