The Decline of Christianity in America:

Notes from an eight-session class — Part One 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 One of Eight: Is the brand “Christian” in decline?

This class session covers two questions. Is the brand “Christian” in decline? — examining what polling says. And, How was the USA shaped by Christianity?

While it has been obvious that the brand “Christian” (those identifying as Christian) is in decline, especially as we look back to the post WWII high of the 1950s. The question is, however, do those leaving the church still identify with the “Christian” brand? Polling data determines that some do and some don’t.

But what is missing from the study is a reliable definition of what exactly a Christian is (if that indeed is possible). At least for now this is not important. However, the question remains: Are the “true” followers of Jesus leaving the “Christian” brand behind? Or are the ones retaining the “Christian” brand the true believers. Or, is it some of each?

Also, from my perspective, there seems to be two kinds of Christianity, “Personal Gospel” and “Social Gospel.” The first characterized by Jesus as the personal savior, and the…