The Decline of Christianity in America:

Notes from an eight-session class — Part Five of Eight

A Cannon Valley Elder Collegium course: “Is The Decline of Christianity in America A Good Thing, Bad Thing, Neither or Both?” Led by Jan Linn.

The goal of this course is not to arrive at a definitive answer, but rather create a diversity of thought — These are my thoughts.

Part Five of Eight: Is Christianity’s Decline A Wash for America?

Before getting into the topic for this session, we continued our discussion from the previous session — Is Christianity’s Decline A Bad Thing for America?

It is the Social Gospel that has the positive influence in America, loosely based on the Golden Rule — “Do unto others what you would have them do unto you.” This is a universal value that all major religions share. The Social Gospel movement was energized, during the 19th and 20th Centuries, with the emptying out of rural communities due to the mechanization of agriculture. The result was deep, very visible, poverty in large cities, as famously documented by the book, Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens. And, importantly, most of the displaced poor people did not become involved in church life. Thus a decline in Christianity during that time.

Also, the Social Gospel targeted “Black Codes’’ established in the South, following the Civil War. Black Codes were created to restrict black people’s right to own property, conduct business, buy and lease land, and to move freely…