OPINION:
I was an incognito “none” for much of my life.
Growing up in a rural Illinois town, church was just something you did. Outside of one Mormon family and the occasional Jehovah’s Witness, protestant Christianity was the default option. I spent my Sundays learning Bible stories and struggling to stay awake during sermons. I was Christian by default not by choice.
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When I went to college, I largely stopped attending church unless I was visiting my girlfriend and attending with her and her family.
Being “Christian” was often convenient; when it wasn’t, it was easy to set aside. If it were not for my college girlfriend (now wife) dragging me to Campus Crusade my sophomore year (where I committed my life to Christ), my friend, Aron (who helped me own my faith) and my seminary professor Walt (who guided me and pushed me to be a faithful husband and scholar) I would be a “none” right now. I would have set aside Christianity for good.
As such, I have a great deal of empathy for Perry Bacon Jr. whose Washington Post opinion describes the journey that led him to become “a ‘none’ or, more precisely, a ‘nothing in particular.’”
Bacon cites his lack of confidence in “one God who created the Earth or that Jesus Christ was resurrected” and tensions associated with political matters, as factors influencing his decision to leave his church. Underscoring the significance of his political views, Bacon suggests, “Newly woke Americans need a place to get practical, weekly advice about how to live out the inclusive, anti-racist values they committed to during the Trump years.”
The influence of politics is strongly correlated with the rise of “nones” in the United States.
As Ryan P. Burge, author of “The Nones,” notes, “A stunning reality is coming into sharper focus: political concerns are driving religious behavior more than theological beliefs are guiding political principles.” He goes on to suggest, “While the nones were slowly trending upward to this point [the early 1990s], their rise accelerated dramatically around 1995. The biggest religious trend occurring at that moment was the rise of evangelicalism and the religious right.”
Politics, along with the internet and secularization, seems to be fueling the increase of “nones.”
The research on “nones” should be concerning for those committed to building the body of Christ because it suggests that politics are beginning to shape the church.
Apart from Burge’s research, in a 2021 Lifeway study 44% of pastors identified “people’s political views” as one of the most challenging “people dynamics” in the church. Barna found that of pastors who have considered quitting full-time ministry, 38% identified “current political divisions.” Of pastors who have not considered quitting, 32% identified “current political divisions” as a factor that “negatively impacted” their ability to lead their church.
If, as the data suggests, our politics are creating tensions within the church, we need to ask ourselves whether we have become disciples of our particular political tribe rather than disciples of Christ. We should take care that we are not fooling ourselves into thinking we are committed to God’s word when we are really using God’s word to justify our political interests.
German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer identified a similar problem while speaking at an ecumenical meeting in Gland when he suggested, “…has it not become terribly clear, again and again, in all that we have discussed with one another here, that we are no longer obedient to the Bible? We prefer our own thoughts to those of the Bible…We read it [the Bible] no longer against ourselves but only for ourselves.”
Given the strong correlation between the rise in “nones” and politics in churches, we would be wise to question just how much preference we are giving to our own political thoughts instead of preferring the thoughts of the Bible. Clearly, theological convictions will often have political implications. The church can’t set aside biblical authority to provide a comfortable community for everyone. We do not follow Christ on our own terms, nor should Christians expect to live in harmony with the world by following Christ (John 15:18; 1 John 3:13).
Still, our political participation and convictions must be nested in and, thus, constrained by discipleship and subject to the church’s primary aim of building the body of Christ. Compromising our theological convictions is not an option; however, expanding our theological convictions is. Christians need to consider the possibility (or probability) that our interests have, in certain instances, been narrowed by prevailing political discourse so that we are less concerned with being citizens of heaven (Phillippians 3:20) than we are with being comfortable as U.S. citizens.
The rise of the “nones” should not be surprising.
We should expect political concerns to impact people’s faith. The world is full of influences that cultivate confusion about the word of God (Matthew 13:19), create a context of “tribulation or persecution” (Matthew 13:20), draw one’s attention to specific concerns (Matthew 13:22), or cultivate a desire for the world’s wealth (Matthew 13:22).
We should, however, be concerned if the church becomes so wedded to a particular brand of politics that being Christian and being conservative or liberal are inseparable.
When our politics define what it means to be Christian, we have lost sight of what it means to follow Jesus. While it may be easier to recognize a lack of faithfulness when Christians affirm “leftist” political positions, we should not assume that those who hold positions on the “right” are not making a similar mistake in the opposite direction.
The data regarding “nones” highlight a potential problem for the church because Christians do not want to be hated because of our politics but because of our commitment to Christ. Though the two intersect at various points, our faith demands more than supporting the right politician or policy. It demands that we be “all things to all people” that we might save some (1 Corinthians 9:22).
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James Spencer earned his Ph.D. in Theological Studies from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He believes discipleship will open up opportunities beyond anything God’s people could accomplish through their own wit and wisdom. As such, his writing aims at helping believers look with eyes that see and listen with ears that hear as they consider, question, and revise the social, cultural, and political assumptions hindering Christians from conforming more closely to the image of Christ. James has published multiple works, including “Christian Resistance: Learning to Defy the World and Follow Christ,” “Useful to God: Eight Lessons from the Life of D. L. Moody,” “Thinking Christian: Essays on Testimony,” “Accountability, and the Christian Mind,’ and “Trajectories: A Gospel-Centered Introduction to Old Testament Theology.” In addition to serving as the president of the D. L. Moody Center, James is the host of “Useful to God” a weekly radio broadcast and podcast, a member of the faculty at Right On Mission, and an adjunct instructor with the Wheaton College Graduate School.
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