R R Reno is a student of religion and society, and the editor of First Things. He found a very interesting little nugget.
... the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia produced a detailed report on family life in the United States. Titled “Culture of American Families,” this study illuminates what underlies today’s political polarization, realities that are tied to the history of Protestantism in America.
The study identifies four distinct family cultures: the Faithful, Engaged Progressives, the Detached, and American Dreamers. ...
The 'Detached' group is (figuratively) 'living on the other side of the tracks.' The 'Deramers' group is composed of the strivers, which includes a visible group of immigrants.
The other two? That's where the action is.
...If you dive into the survey data provided in this study, you can see that the culture wars of recent decades are rooted in the conflict between these two family types. I won’t go into detail here, but some data points are informative. Among the Faithful, Republicans outnumber Democrats 4-to-1. Among Engaged Progressives, the opposite obtains: Democrats outnumber Republicans 4-to-1....
...the Faithful parents harbor a reciprocal hostility. Homeschooling reflects an effort to prevent one’s children from falling under the influence of schools dominated by Engaged Progressives. ...
Given that "Engaged Progressives" are champions of various Grave Sexual Disorders, for starters, that's what we call "prudent."
...For most of our history, it was a battle between two strands of Protestantism. One strand is the conservative and populist Protestant tradition that goes back to Cane Ridge and the Second Great Awakening. In the twentieth century, it was often called “evangelical,” although its opponents were more likely to deride it as “fundamentalist.” In recent decades, the uniquely Protestant character of this strand has been diluted by the addition of conservative Catholics and orthodox Jews, which is why the University of Virginia study adopts the generic term “the Faithful” rather than Evangelical....
The second strand finds its roots in liberal Protestantism and offshoots such as Unitarianism, Transcendentalism, and other forms of nineteenth-century and twentieth-century spiritualism....
Note Well: The Unitarians were the ones marching around in Waukesha demanding that the Music Honoring Homosexuals/Multisexuals be sung in grade school. Surprised??
Reno describes the result of 'progressive' Christianity, beginning with this claim:
... Our conservative Protestant tradition is not inclined to submit and accept the progressive consensus, which brings me to the second trend: the rightward movement of Christianity in America....
... Although I have described Engaged Progressives as descendants of liberal Protestantism, they are self-evidently not Christian in a church-going sense. By default, therefore, conservative Christians—those who continue to affirm God’s authority—have come into possession of most of the actually existing churches in the United States. As liberal Christians fell away, conservative Christians became more dominant....
Umnnhhh.....yes.
But will 'conservative Christians' dominate the polity? Maybe, but not likely.
...The conservatism of contemporary Christianity is not political (although it can be that as well). It is metaphysical. Even in liberal denominations a degree of doctrinal orthodoxy has returned, at least with respect to the divinity of Christ and doctrine of the Trinity....
...Put simply, the kind of Christianity practiced in the United States is on a trend line toward the “right,” by which I mean toward the party of authority, not the Republican Party. The reason is not hard to discern. In Return of the Strong Gods, I offer a brief history of the last seventy years. I show how the open society consensus has eroded all anchoring authorities, leaving us anxious and atomized. This condition is creating a demand for the “return of the strong gods,” by which I mean a restoration of commanding authorities that ask us for devotion and sacrifice.
Needless to say, in 2023 these “strong gods” do not compel widespread obedience. Our most powerful institutions are dominated by Engaged Progressives, who continue to promote the “left” agenda of critique and liberation. But a growing minority of Americans want truths to honor and obey, and more often than not, they pursue this desire through an explicitly religious faith. And they are not just “hanging on” in a rearguard action. There’s an upsurge in conviction....
Reno goes into a discussion of a trend he sees: people blaming Christianity for 'weakness.' Whether that's true or not, what he forecasts is interesting.
... a third cultural contender seems to be emerging, one that rejects both Christianity and progressive culture in favor of a vision of strength that refuses to apologize for its superiority and of power that does not feel guilty for treading on those too weak to resist. If this third, neo-pagan contender gains ground, Christians will face a confusing and difficult environment for mission and proclamation. My second trend, that if a “rightward” movement toward a thicker and more authority-friendly Christianity continues, as I predict, the churches will find themselves metaphysically akin to the neo-pagans, who also wish to revive the “strong gods.” But the churches will find the neo-pagan morality antithetical, and this may end up driving even the most conservative churches into an uneasy alliance with Engaged Progressives....
And you thought that predicting the '24 election results was complex?
Fifteen or twenty years ago, the idea of "muscular Christianity" was bandied about regularly 'midst the Intellectualoids. It appears that "muscular Christianity" will no longer be a thing, at least in Reno's reading, because he thinks that "thicker" Christianity will be mixed with neo-pagans.
That's very hard to believe.
We disagree there.
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