I do think their strongest base is dying off and there won't be that many to replace them. I also think there will always be Evangelicals and Biblical literalists; but, they will be a shadowy figures not prominent ones in society and government.
They know this, and this is why they are so desperate to keep tRUMPf, and complicit Rethuglicans, in office; and to fill the courts with judges they think will be on their side. They are the minority and they want to be the ones in charge; and, we must do all we can to prevent them from doing so.
Both Evangelicals and the Conservatives Representatives understand that their constituency is susceptible to and dependent on belief without evidence ...faith equals gullibility!
@motrubl4u I think Evangelicals are the minority among Christians and among the US population. And, they are in the minority when it comes to issues like women's choice and LGBTQ equality/rights. But, they VOTE in every single election; and, thanks to the Electoral college, their votes count for more than other votes. We are experiencing the beginnings of the tyranny of the minority; and we who oppose them better get better at always voting.
That's great and all, but it's not happening fast enough.
Things like religions rarely die, they just morph into something else. So it is certainly possible that the modern type of evangelical christianity will fade away, as fifty other forms of christianity have already. ( It is after all, now coming up against the greatest force in human life, that which brings down every empire and great movement in the end. Namely boredom, and humans complete inability to concentrate on anything for long. ) Hopefully to be replaced with something better.
Can't happen fast enough for me.
Hell yeah to that!
I don't see Evangelical religion (or the idea thereof...) going away any time soon. Until we as humans become more compassionate toward one another, our gods/god (and heroes) will continue to reflect our tribalism and xenophobia. We need to figure this out, and I don't think that we, as a species are all that committed to that process. We still want something outside of ourselves to "rescue us." This is especially reflected in our "blockbuster" movies. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Black Panther... all people outside of ourselves that do what we can't/won't do for ourselves. Our 'salvation' lies in our ability to work together, not in embracing super-heroes who will do our work for us.
I don't think that day will ever come. I honestly think that some of the things that make humans "great" also work against us, specifically sentience and self-awareness. This, I think is at the heart of the problem, our self-awareness, our inability to think (and I'm speaking generally) that we will someday die and simply not exist anymore. That reality threatens our self-awareness and our fascination with ourselves to a degree that we have made up gods and afterlives to believe in because many people cannot conceive or accept that, yes, we will die and simply stop existing. Religion, gods, afterlives, they pacify those very powerful child-like / infantile fears of death - ours, our loved ones, etc. So Evangelical Christianity may indeed die, but it will simply be replaced by some other religion making equally false promises of eternal life if you only believe and surrender your critical thinking (because that's where your awareness of your own mortality lies), and your coin; because, far too many people cannot get past their fear of death - a thing that is as old as religion.
I hear you. But I think this learned helplessness and lack of self awareness can be un-learned. It will just take a long time. I am optimistic in the long view.
It's been dying for some time now. We are a post-Christian society. But, will go out finally kicking-and-screaming...
Nope, not me. He still believes in an invisible man floating around in the sky. He probably still believes in tax breaks for the religious. It's ironic but religions evolve into a new story that more people will believe over time. Kinda proves Darwinian evolution doesn't it? I'm looking forward to the time we can live in reality instead of superstition.
Religions don't die but they die out when people stop believing in them. Christianity is a GodMan meme that has antecedents going back thousands of years before the first century AD. New variants like evangelicalism will continue to evolve, sadly. But we should see evangelicalism now more as a reactionary political movement with a religious mask, rather than just a religion. Expect it to get worse.
I think Christian fundamentalism will be the first to go, but it's going to take another century. Right now it's a dangerous cornered animal, and it's trying to take us all down with it.
Probably another millennium until the Abrahamic faiths in general are consigned to the fringe. Unlike the author of this article, I see little of consistent, sustainable value to salvage from Christianity. It has failed the world too many times.
Giles is still a believer & preacher, so he still has no room to talk. At least we agree on the one point, though.
I think this is something they also see and fear. But they look to tRump and the poop to turn things around. Good luck with that.
It is trying harder to exert its control through government action and making its precepts law. We must fight that with tooth, claw, and whatever means we have or we'll end up JUST LIKE it was in the middle ages when people were burned for simple disbelief.
It going to be a long time before the Abrahamic religions disappear. Islam is a lot more of a problem than Christianity as it’s believers tend to be radical extremist who don’t assimilate and want to impose radical Sharia law on others.
Please don't denigrate an entire culture because of a few examples. Did you know that there's much more white nationalist terror now than any other form? So does that mean caucasians in general are a problem? Being a caucasian myself I would argue that we aren't.
I have several Muslim friends and my son's best friend is Islamic and his mother wears a hijab. And they are some of the kindest, most accepting people I know. My oldest is transgender and they have no issues with it. And I promise you that if you live in a big city you are interacting with Muslims every day whether you know it or not.
That type didn't appear out of nowhere with Billy Graham, Jerry Falwell, et al, and they won't vanish like dodo birds, either.
There have always been the fire-and-brimstone, self-righteous, sinnin' saints among us. What else new?
Why?
Because the schizophrenic bible is full of the stuff, along with the New Agey, wishy-washy, touchy-feely, platitudinous tripe, of course.
Why do these people brag so much about being sinners, anyway? Is that their get-out-of-hell-free card? "I can sin all I want and I'm STILL going to heaven," they may as well crow. Sure, they're stealing, lying s.o.b.'s, but hey, they're baptized so it's okay!
Two sides of the same bipolar coin, if you ask me. Goin' nowhere (unless technology makes them obsolete).