Is Christianity a victim of its own ubiquitous nature in the "Western World"?

[Humanist_Activist]

I was thinking of this since reading about the Aslan interview on the Daily Show. And I wonder, what is a cultural Christian?

As far as I can tell, and I say this with no small amount of resignation, but I would argue that nearly every American in this country who was born and raised here is a cultural Christian, at least to some extent. This is completely removed from their actual religious beliefs, and doesn't involve syncretism at all. The only exceptions I can think of are recent immigrants and insular groups(Amish, Mennonites, Hasidic Jews, etc.).

The issue is this, we have a whole calendar of holidays and celebrations that are, at least in source, from Christianity, most adopted from older, pagan sources, but the point is that many of these holidays were Christian, but now, in many cases, are not. Even Easter is like this, my family celebrates it every year, the Easter bunny and colored eggs take precedence, Mass isn't involved, nor is Jesus.

Part of this would be the fact that Christians make up the majority in this country, as a result, their holidays take precedence, and for the longest time, were considered the default. I wonder if this explains the reason why Christianity is falling so sharply in numbers lately in this country. Could it be people just shedding the label? Realizing that the religion they identify with has no relationship to their actual beliefs?

[Yorktown]

1. The answer is rather simple IMHO

It just so happens that Christianity at the time of the Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution was roughly speaking that of Europe (West + East). So, the map of Christianity expanded with the European and American dominions, leaving in its wake rich countries with increasing levels of education after the decolonizations and poorer ex colonies in the South (S. America, Africa)

(1) Rich countries -> lower birth rates
(2) Rising education level -> growing skepticism

(1)+(2) = decreasing Christian population in the rich western countries.
In the Pew 2100 projection, the Christian populations will be in the South (S. America, Africa)

[xfundy]

2. "nearly every American in this country who was born and raised here is a cultural Christian"

Except for Jews. Other than that, I agree completely.

[edhopper]

4. Well as someone who grew up Jewish

I would say a lot of Christian culture was part of our life.
Christmas season wasn't ignored, we still had things like Easter eggs, etc...

[Humanist_Activist]

8. I've known quite a few secular Jews, and most of them celebrate Christmas and Easter...

just not religiously.

[edhopper]

10. More like partake in the trappings

rather than celebrate. We ignored the Jesus stuff and stayed with the candy and presents.

[cbayer]

3. I'm not sure.

Most of the christians I grew up with with much more than cultural chritistyans, and I also grew up with a significant number of practicing jews.

But that definitely changed over time with less people actually attending services but still identifying as something.

I agree in large part with what you are saying, but rather than losing actual beliefs, I think many have just lost the desired for the ritual.

[Humanist_Activist]

7. Most of the people I grew up with were cultural Christians, of possibly various denomination...

there were a few religious people, here and there, but it was always somewhat unusual. But I grew up in the midwest, and it was considered impolite to ask people what church they went to.

I would say that losing interest in the ritual is greatly related to losing belief. Also, more liberal the Christian beliefs may lead to further skepticism of those beliefs.

[cbayer]

9. It's such a mixed bag.

I wish they would do more research on the nones. From what I see, belief is important for some while ritual is important for others and for yet others, neither is important.

I do agree that more liberal churches and denominations are more amenable to allowing people to question and explore, but I'm not sure where that necessarily leads them.

[Bluenorthwest]

5. Amish and Mennonites are in fact Christians, so any culture they are in, their own or the larger US

culture or both, are Christian cultures.

[Humanist_Activist]

6. True, but very different in character from the larger, generic...

Christian culture of the majority of the country. They would be insular sub-cultures of Christianity.