Fall of the Evangelical Nation, The

An overview of a topic:
I enjoyed Christine's work at the Dallas Morning News. She was part of one of the best religion pages in the country. Two Postives about the book: 1.) She looks at the religious landscape of America from a long view bringing together many parts to form a complete picture. She does not connect the dots but does it more in an impressionistic fashion. She talks about the decline of the American church and that church leaders look outside the US for examples of leadership. That is Philip Jenkins thesis in the Next Christendom. She brings Phyllis Tickle and the emerging folks into the mix who talks about the next cultural quake that will shift Christian thinking like the Reformation, the monastic movement, etc. She quotes George Barna, the evangelical pollster. I nodded several times and she wrote a synthesis of what my reading and thinking has been as I read and listen to Christian thinkers. 2.) Her antecdotes are humanizing of evangelicals and former evangelicals. They provide the human dimension. 3.) Her journalistic writing style provides a quick read. I read the book in about three and half hours. Negatives 1.) Wicker has a point of view. That point of view is not entirely neutral and she claims that. Is it fair? At times, but at other times I wonder about her interpretation of folks. I will say that point of view is worth hearing, but she is part of the evangelical church that has fallen away. She is an actor in this movement. So, there are points when I question her point of view. However, for some folks that may mean that she provides a voice that needs to be heard. 2.) I think she left out one interesting aspect of the problem of the church. Education. The evangelical church of today now prides itself that its leaders are not overly educated. They have a life of experience that has prepared them to pastor not a seminary education. While the workforce is getting more specialized and more educated, the local church is not lifting up education as essential to be on staff. In fact, a lack of education is more helpful in growing a church at times. Continuing as we face a flat world more educated world...Evangelical Christianity will lack the ability to communicate with it. All of those students who learn creationism will now have to compete in classrooms with folks who learned evolution. The test is on evolution not creationism. I think the impact of evangelicals on education is also an element that is part of the disconnect with the world that people in the evangelical world feel and is leading to the decline. Overall, this book is an introduction and synthesis of folks who have done some of the heavier lifting. Willow Creek, George Barna, Jim Wallis, MacLaren, et al. This is a journalistic treatment that provides some synthesis to others' work. It is worth a read.

Some are born wrong, some achieve wrongness, and some...:
Some, like Wicker, have wrongness thrust upon them because they insist on not using logic. Wicker is a good writer, but this book is so utterly mistaken that it is hard to know where to begin. Her basic claim is that evangelical churches are slowly dying and she seems thrilled to alert the New York Times so they can throw a party. She's right that the number of evangelicals has been inflated. Frequently by the media who regard the religious as the enemy and enjoy scaring everybody over their lattes. But she knows nothing about Christianity or the way it effects people. Does she actually think all those conversions in the 1800's stuck, while only people today fall away? Ten or 29 years ago was no better as far as the number of people falling away, as her own life attests. Does she actually think there was a century when things were better? Does she imagine that in 1700 or 1100 more people went to church, or wouldn't have lied about it if a pollster asked them? The single most basic fact about Christianity is: Christianity has been about to be killed from the year it began. Except that it never dies and keeps growing. This is the basic fact about Christianity, proven over and over again in every century, and yet it eludes Wicker entirely. Wicker asks, "So how many true evangelicals...committed, certain, unswerving Christians...really exist (p 83) is so silly it made me laugh out loud. Just how many people were there ever totally committed to Jesus? St Teresa of Avila said you had to pray two hours a day before you could begin to make progress spiritually. Want to guess how many Catholics try it? Even the briefest glance at history should convince Wicker that truly committed Christians have never, ever, been more than a handful. How could anyone trying to write about Christians not know that? And by the way, the fact that there has never been more than a handful has never stopped Christianity from growing. What bothers Wicker most about evangelicals is "the hegemony that the religious right has exercised over moral discourse in America" (p 51). No doubt that's because of the stranglehold the religious right has over Hollywood, the media, and, of course, all our universities. Why, everything is explained now! Those dastardly religious righties are behind it all!! She actually seems to imagine that if evangelicals fall apart, the social conservatism movement will fade away too. For example, she seems most upset that there is still a stubborn group opposed to abortion, and fails to explain why, if evangelicals are dropping by the wayside, the number of people opposed to abortion is growing, not falling. Her theory, that we can all now breathe a sigh of relief because social conservatives will go the way of the dodo, is hilariously mistaken. If evangelicals are such a small group, why did Bush win, according to pollsters, because of social conservatives? Too bad Wicker didn't ponder that obvious question. First off, does she really imagine that all those people who fall away from their churches never retain a belief in social conservatism? Next, evangelicals are hardly alone in their crusade. Catholics now make up about one in five Americans, and, with Hispanics flooding in by the millions upon millions, are likely to be one in four Americans soon. And Catholics have been a major part of the social conservative movement all along, with leaders such as William F Buckley, Phyllis Schlafly, Paul Weyrich, Brent Bozell, William Bennett, to just name a few. A much better book on the social conservative movement, "Onward Christian Soldiers", by Deal Hudson, just came out and contains better information. In the end blurb about her, it says Wicker was a religion reporter. Let us all pause to wince.

Evangelicals should read this book:
As an evangelical leader myself, reading Wicker's book was not an exercise in edification. But it is a cold dose of reality, and although I don't believe all her claims, I think the thrust of what she says must be heard. She begins with her thesis: Evangelical Christianity in America is dying. The great evangelical movements of today are not a vanguard. They are a remnant, unraveling at every edge. Look at it any way you like: Conversions. Baptisms. Membership. Retention. Participation. Giving. Attendance. Religious literacy. Effect on culture. All are down and dropping. It's no secret. Even as evangelical forces trumpet their purported political and social victories, insiders are anguishing about their great losses, fearing what the future holds. Nobody knows what to do about it. A lot of people can't believe it. No wonder. The idea that evangelicals are taking over America is one of the greatest publicity scams in history, a perfect coup accomplished by savvy politicos and religious leaders, who understand media weaknesses and exploit them brilliantly. ix Could this be true? She lays out studies showing the problem is real, mostly from Christian, evangelical sources--Gordon Conwell, Barna, Josh McDowell, Southern Baptist Mission Board, and from some secular, but neutral sources like Pew and Gallup. She, herself, is not neutral. She is a lapsed Baptist who lost her faith in college, like 90% of evangelical children do, according to McDowell. She tries, but fails to conceal her glee over the situation. But I liked the fact that this was coming from a non-evangelical. Do we dare to read what the world thinks of us? As a non-believer, Wicker is more interested in the issues raised by the Christian right. She portrays the common perception that evangelical churches are growing in America as sort of a plot, or scam, designed to give the right-wing political people more power at election time. I found this part uninteresting and somewhat implausible. But while I questioned her interpretations at many points, I did not find her main thesis implausible. Our own studies show the same thing. For instance, "The evidence comes from Southern Baptists' own studies. Only 7 percent of members who've been in a Southern Baptist church five years of less are true converts." 62 We have done studies that show the same thing, and Baptists are generally better than other evangelical churches. In some of our studies of famous churches, the percent that report they met Christ in that church is as low as 3 percent. She rolls out numerous studies in an interesting way, interspersed with stories of people from both favorable and hostile perspective. She concludes, "The truth behind all these numbers is that evangelicals are not converting and cannot convert non-Christian adult Americans, especially native-born white people, in significant numbers." 64 I believe that is as true as any statement in the book. In a larger view she says, "A small and declining group of people has been portrayed as tremendously powerful and growing so rapidly that they might take over the country--when in fact that number of converts among this group is down and dropping. They are rarely able to convert and adult, middle-class American. Their share of the population is not 25 percent, but at most 7 percent of the country and falling. All these numbers come from the churches themselves." 67 What about the reports that 30 or even 40% of Americans are evangelicals? She de-bunks that myth using work again from evangelical sources, including Barna who made that figure popular. His real test for actual believers of a simple list of 9 basic truths shows that the real number of those who believe the Bible at a level that could be considered evangelical is only 7% of the population. Even this crew is suspect. The rest of the so-called 'born-again' Christians in America don't even know what it means. Wicker observes, "The other larger group \othe rest of the 40%\c comprised evangelicals who were born again but didn't accept the great majority of the most basic religious tenets that evangelicals are "supposed" to live by. 86 I've known this for years. There's no way most of the people Barna refers to as born-again are true Christians. As I argue in my upcoming book dealing with Satan, why would the church ever consider facing the pain of change when they believe they're already on the winning track? At pastors' forums I've attended, most Christian leaders believe we are in the midst of a revival in America. Unfortunately, as Wicker proves, nothing could be further from the truth. Unless evangelicals are prepared to face the truth about ourselves, we will be unwilling to think outside the box in a way that will do any good. -Dennis McCallum, author Organic Disciplemaking: Mentoring Others Into Spiritual Maturity And Leadership

The Fall of the Evangelical Nation: The Surprising Crisis Inside the Church:
Again, another brilliantly written book by Christine Wicker. Both sides are fairly depicted, and an amazing and informative read.

The Fall of the Evangelical Nation:
A lousy book because Christine Wicker did not have all the facts. She made conclusions based upon a small sample. Her write up and the review of the book is very misleading to the public