OPINION:
A year ago, only 20 percent of U.S. adults thought religion was a major influencer of American life. Now? Thirty-four percent believe that, Gallup just found. The question that pops, perhaps most importantly, is this: Which religion?
It matters. It matters because America was founded on Judeo-Christian values. So, religions outside that J-C box may not be supportive of America’s system of governance. In fact, some religions are completely counter to what makes America great and free.
Just look at the difference between the Constitution and Shariah law.
You can’t have God-given individual rights for the individual — as the Declaration of Independence provides; as the Founding Fathers’ writings detail; as the Bill of Rights solidifies — and simultaneously shove women inside a burqa and make ‘em stay at home while the men force all to worship their select prophet or face beheading. So yes, religion matters in terms of addressing the culture and spiritual direction of a nation. But the right religion matters more. A biblically centered, Bible-focused worldview matters.
And that’s why this finding from the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University, led by George Barna, is perhaps a bit alarming: Texas has fallen in standing on a measurement of the percentage of population holding a biblical worldview.
Texas — where 67 percent of adults identify as Christian, according to Pew Research.
Texas — where the “Christian right grows confident and assertive,” according to a March headline from The Texas Tribune.
Texas — where faith dominates life so much that a recent SmileHub study listed it as the third most religious of all states.
That Texas.
And it matters.
While roughly 12.6 percent of adults in Alabama say they hold a biblical worldview — and that’s the highest amount for any state — only a quarter of one percent of Rhode Island adults say similarly — and that’s the lowest, the Cultural Research Center found. And meanwhile, some states, like Texas, that are seen as Christian because of the large population of Bible-believers, have fallen off when it comes to rankings of those who possess Biblical worldviews.
From the Cultural Research Center: “Texas’s lower-than-expected biblical worldview incidence raises questions about the future of biblical Christianity in America, particularly in regions long considered strongholds of faith. The state’s massive population shifts, with over 9 million in-migrants since 2000 and significant turnover in 2024 (600,000 in; 400,000 out), have reshaped its spiritual landscape, especially in fast-growing areas like Austin and Houston. These trends, coupled with a rising proportion of young adults skeptical of Christianity, may signal broader challengers for the South and Midwest.”
The more borders are opened to those with socialist, communist, Marxist type leanings — to those who come from countries were governments are openly corrupt or expected to provide for citizens from cradle to grave, the more states’ populations become tipped to favor the socialist, communist, Marxist worldview and to detest the Judeo-Christian foundation upon which this nation was built.
It’s happening in Texas.
If Democrats have their way, it’ll happen in all the states.
“Perhaps Texas is a harbinger of things to come in terms of worldview, with the ever-diminishing impact of biblical beliefs due to the influx of young adults who dismiss Christianity as irrelevant and untruthful,” Barna said, in a written statement. “Texas’s long-standing tradition of biblical Christianity has been severely compromised in a short span of time … The implications of that transformation … may become particularly significant for other states in the South and Midwest.”
And in the rest of America, as well.
If Americans are not taking their rights and liberties from God — if they’re not grounded in the viewpoint of God-given freedoms — then they’re drifting down a path toward government control. Rights and liberties are either God-given, or they’re government-granted. And they can only be God-given so long as citizens know God, study God’s word and insist on godly governance — using the Judeo-Christian teaching tool, the Bible.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “God-Given Or Bust: Defeating Marxism and Saving America With Biblical Truths,” is available by clicking HERE.
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