Christianity is widely mocked and belittled by our cultural elite, which seem to enjoy citing statistics that purport to show that Christianity is in decline in America. But actually only white Christianity is showing declines in affiliation. Fewer young white people may be going to church, but that is not the case with young blacks, Hispanics, and Asians. In fact, Christianity is booming among demographics that the cultural elite claims to care about: women, blacks, and immigrants.
So says Stephen L. Carter in Bloomberg Magazine. He begins by citing the ugly bigotry displayed by New York journalists in their indignation that Chick-Fil-A, a business run by evangelical Christians, has come to Manhattan. But then he delves into statistics that most people, Christians as well as secularists, do not realize.
From Stephen L. Carter, The Ugly Coded Critique of Chick-Fil-A’s Christianity:
A 2015 Pew Research Center study of race and ethnicity among U.S. religions provides some basic facts. In the first place, if you’re mocking Christians, you’re mostly mocking women, because women are more likely than men to be Christians. The greatest disproportion is found among black Christians, of whom only 41 percent are male. So you’re mocking black women in particular.
Overall, people of color are more likely than whites to be Christians — and pretty devout Christians at that. Some 83 percent of all black Americans are absolutely certain that God exists. No other group comes close to this figure. Black Christians are far more likely than white Christians (84 percent to 64 percent) to describe religion as very important in their lives. Of all ethnic groups, black Christians are the most likely to attend services, pray frequently and read the Bible regularly. They are also — here’s the kicker — most likely to believe that their faith is the place to look for answers to questions about right and wrong. And they are, by large margins, the most likely to believe that the Bible is the literally inerrant word of God. In short, if you find Christian traditionalism creepy, it’s black people you’re talking about.
It’s true that, politically, black Americans are overwhelmingly Democrats, and that’s true of black Christians as well. On the other hand, black Christians tend to be socially conservative: the least tolerant of homosexuality, the most likely to oppose same-sex marriage and the least likely to believe in evolution. If you’re maligning traditional Christianity, the people you’re maligning are disproportionately black.
Just as Christianity is growing in the “developing nations” of Africa, South America, and Asia, even as it declines in Europe and America, it seems to be following the same pattern within culturally diverse nations like the United States. He cites statistics about first generation immigrants, how they are showing the highest rate of Christian affiliation. “American Christianity is growing heavily through immigrants who are people of color,” Carter notes. “If Christians are really so scary [as the secularists are saying], maybe it’s time to build that wall.”
We might reflect on the political ramifications of all of this. Blacks and Hispanics are solidly Democratic. Even though they tend to be socially conservative. If Blacks are less supportive of homosexuality, more opposed to same-sex marriage, and more skeptical of evolution than white people are, what are they doing supporting candidates who strongly and militantly hold opposite opinions?
Well, African-Americans are still concerned with Civil Rights issues, which Democrats have claimed for their own. And their community is plagued with poverty, so they feel it’s in their interest to support Democrats who promise to help them.
And Hispanics, who today are either strongly Catholic or strongly evangelical, feel it is in their political interest to support what they perceive as the pro-immigration party.
But what might happen if some of those existential issues fade? Might Blacks and Hispanics find that their true kindred spirits are the social conservative Catholics and evangelicals in the Republican party? Might such a coalition be a potent counter-balance to social liberalism?
For this to happen, Republicans need to welcome them. And white conservative Christians need to forge some coalitions with their brothers and sisters from other cultures and sub-cultures.
But couldn’t this happen?
Photo: InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (evangelical campus ministry) via InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA. “Campus and student photos. . . may be downloaded and used by media for stories about InterVarsity.”
