The Disenchantment of the West: Why Christianity is Waning in the United States and Europe

According to analysts, Christianity is rapidly advancing across the globe. Some are signifying that 3.2 out of 6.9 billion people currently identify with Jesus.[1]

Contrary to genuine concerns, Islam surpassing Christianity is improbable. For one thing, Protestant growth from 1960-2000 was three times global population changes and twice that of Islam.[2] Furthermore, Muslim fertility rates[3] are leveling out. Pew Research points out:

The gap in fertility between the Christian and Muslim-dominated nations fell from 67% in 1990 to 17% in 2010. If the trend continues, the Muslim and Christian fertility rates will converge in around 2050.[4]

Countering the inevitability of Islam’s dominance, Rodney Stark recently noted:

As recently as April 2015, the Pew Research Center declared that Muslims would soon overtake Christians by way of superior fertility. They will not … Islam generates very little growth through conversions, while Christianity enjoys a substantial conversion rate, especially in nations located in … the ‘global south’ – Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America. And these conversions do not include the millions of converts being gained in China. Thus, current growth trends project an increasingly Christian world.[5]

In the darkest corners of the world, astonishing numbers of people are turning to Christ. Latin America, Africa, and Asia are experiencing extraordinary growth.

Declension in the West

While God’s glory is on display around the world, not all nations are experiencing the same degree of impact. Christianity is undoubtedly outpacing population growth internationally. However, it is stagnant in the West.[9]

Christianity is on the decline in America, not just among younger generations or in certain regions of the country but across race, gender, education and geographic barriers. The percentage of adults who describe themselves as Christians dropped by nearly eight percentage points in just seven years to about 71 percent.[12]

Some would question these findings. Yet, no matter how one interprets the data, problems are apparent. While Christianity is expanding around the world, it remains stagnant in North America.

The Disenchantment of the West

It seems that this declension could be traced to a pervading skepticism. For centuries, Western Christianity has questioned the viability of the supernatural. Although individuals appreciate the stupendous biblical accounts, many are convinced that those encounters are not replicable.[13]

Max Weber lamented that “The fate of our times is characterized by rationalization and intellectualization, and, above all, by the ‘disenchantment of the world.’”[14] With scientific rationalism and advanced technology, there is no longer a sense of awe.

Stark concurs, suggesting that Europe and North America no longer “experiences the world as ‘enchanted’—Westerners no longer live in a world of spirits, demons, and moral forces.”[15]

Joining this chorus, Peter Kreeft writes:

The master heresy of our civilization, our culture, our times, is not terribly new. It’s been around for well over a century or two.  One … called it Modernism, and it’s basically the loss of the supernatural, which means either loss of belief in the supernatural, to the loss of the sense of the supernatural.”[16]

While the Church is advancing in much of the world, it is diminishing in the West—due to skepticism about the supernatural.

Commenting on this travesty, missionary-evangelist Randy Clark made the following remarks:

North America along with Western Europe has long been considered by some to be the Nazareth of the Church world. We are a nation of skeptics, and proud of it. Regardless of the evangelist that I have spoken with, I hear the same report; they do not see the same degree of healing and miracles here that they do in other non-western countries.[17]

George Otis Jr., who has been documenting revivals for over twenty years, believes that stagnation has gripped the West. Of the 800 awakenings that he has recorded, only two have occurred in North America. Otis writes:

Since my colleagues and I began studying transformed communities in the mid-1990s, we encountered nearly 800 examples. Astonishingly, as of late 2011, only two of these could be found in the borders of the United States, with only one other possible case in all of sub-Artic North America. I know of no recent instances of transforming revival in Europe, Japan, Singapore, Korea, Australia, or New Zealand. As a researcher, I have to at least wonder about this ratio. How can it be that within the entire range of Western society and culture we can define only two definitive cases of transforming revival?[18]

The reason Western leaders are not keeping up with their counterparts in the East and global South is that they are hesitant about charismata. For the most part, Christians in the industrialized world are opposed to the supernatural.

Conclusion

While evangelists in the Majority World provoke the imagination of the masses, Western preachers are trying to persuade with politics, moralism,[19] and hollow philosophical arguments. Leaders from the emerging world give the people something to see and hear, and all we do is placate and talk.

Until the Western Church is willing to embrace the supernatural, our churches will not match the growth in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. God is up to inexplicable things, and we are mostly missing out.

In this unique hour, Westerners can no longer afford to be disenchanted.

PR

For Further Reading

Real Christianity is Growing in the USA

Is Christianity dying in America? In this review essay by historian William De Arteaga, he points out that the statistics about the church shrinking are not what most have made of it.

Notes

[1] This figure is contested, with many researchers suggesting lower numbers. Several estimate the figures to be around 2.2 billion. Rodney Stark, Triumph Of Faith: Why The World Is More Religious Than Ever (Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2015), 12.

[2] Bruce Milne, Know the Truth: A Handbook of Christian Belief (Downer’s Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2010), 332.

[3] Islam’s 1.84% growth is due to high birth rates. Various, “The List: The World’s Fastest-Growing Religions,” Foreign Policy, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (May 2007).

[4] Pew Research Center, “The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections,” 2010-2050 (April 2, 2015). http://www.pewforum.org/files/2015/03/PF_15.04.02_ProjectionsFullReport.pdf (Accessed June 22, 2018).

[5] Rodney Stark, Triumph Of Faith: Why The World Is More Religious Than Ever (Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2015), 19.

[6] Ibid.

[7] See J.D. King, “The Underground Revival In The Middle-East That Might Just Take Down Islam.” https://jdkinginsights.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-underground-revival-in-middle-east.html

[8] Global statistics from 2005-2010, derived from http://www.operationworld.org/ and displayed in the following chart. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-B_sThFDJErc/VdStKZzGLDI/AAAAAAAAJeQ/icz__663RfM/s1600/World%2BChristian%2BGrowth%2BMap.tif (Accessed June 22, 2018).

[9] See Jason Mandryk, Operation World: The Definitive Prayer Guide to Every Nation (Downers Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity Press, 2010).

[10] See Lamin Sanneh, Whose Religion is Christianity? The Gospel Beyond the West (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), 15. [Editor’s note: Read the review essay by the late Richard Twiss, “Difference Can Make Us Mo’ Betta”].

[11]. Elizabeth Isichei, A History of Christianity in Africa: From Antiquity to the Present (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995), 1.

[12] Sarah Pulliam Bailey, “Christianity faces sharp decline as Americans are becoming even less affiliated with religion,” Washington Post (May 12, 2015).

[13]. Kinnaman writes, “When it comes to ethnicity, black Americans (55 percent) are almost twice as likely as white (29 percent) and Hispanic Americans (26 percent) to agree strongly that people can be physically healed supernaturally by God. Finally, the West (22 percent) and Northeast (29 percent) regions of the United States are more skeptical of supernatural healing, while the Midwest (32 percent) and particularly the South (43 percent) are more likely to believe people can be physically healed supernaturally by God.” David Kinnaman and Roxanne Stone, “Most Americans Believe in Supernatural Healing,” Research Releases in Faith and Christianity, September 29, 2016. https://www.barna.com/research/americans-believe-supernatural-healing/ (accessed October 10, 2016).

[14] Max Weber, From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, translated and edited by H. H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills (New York: Oxford University Press, 1946), 155.

[15] Rodney Stark. Triumph Of Faith: Why The World Is More Religious Than Ever (Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2015), 16.

[16] Peter Kreeft with Dave Nevins, Charisms: Visions, Tongues, Healing, etc. (Book Baby, 2013), Kindle locations 47-49.

[17] Randy Clark, Evangelism Unleashed (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Global Awakening, 2011), Kindle Locations 962-965.

[18] George Otis Jr. “Why Revival Tarries in America.” Charisma 37:8 (March 2012): 42.

[19] See Albert Mohler, “Why Moralism Is Not the Gospel — And Why So Many Christians Think It Is,” (September 3, 2009) https://albertmohler.com/2009/09/03/why-moralism-is-not-the-gospel-and-why-so-many-christians-think-it-is/