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> trac ki n g s p i r i t u a l t r e n d s i n t h e 2 1s t ce n t u r y

v o l u m e 2 6 : 2 6 ( 1,5 3 1 ) / j u n e 2 9 , 2 0 2 1

In this issue:
CULTURE came the psychoanalysts and psychologists,
CULTURE - “Why something you Focused on “rebuilding the Catholic ethos,” the Freuds, Jungs, and Campbells, whose
said that was fine 72 hours ago is Steve Skojec’s OnePeterFive released “Woke- popular exploration of human consciousness
now an unredeemably racist, sexist, ness and the Current Religious Revolution” and the unconscious mind, and of common
excommunicable offense” on May 3. It helped us think through the mythical/archetypical religious experiences,
current morass of media-fueled confusion, served to both open a new frontier for ‘ratio-
SPIRITUAL HEALTH - paradoxes in even though it also tends to confuse some nal’ exploration (‘what really makes us tick?’)
the vibrancy of Christianity of the terminology — at least as many evan- and break down, in the public imagination,
gelicals understand it. the separation of the Christian from the
“A priest friend on social media sent me generically ‘spiritual.’” On the heels of that,
Publisher: Apologia • www.apologia.org a fascinating article” — (“The Upheaval”, a “growing philosophical obsession [was]
Contact: ar.feedback(at)apologia.org <www.bit.ly/2STMFyF> by N.S. Lyons). further inflamed by the impact of Buddhist
Post Office Box 9646 It begins: “We are living through an era of ideas that captured the counter-cultural
Pueblo, CO 81008 epochal change. At few times in history imagination during the 1960s — along with
Phone: (719) 225-3467 have so many currents of civilizational the influence of psychoactive drugs.
transformation coalesced and crashed into “Meanwhile a revolution in communica-
Editor: Rich Poll
us at once, and at such speed. tions technology ... served to democratize
Contributing Editor: Paul Carden “The world is being forcibly reconfigured religious messaging and break down hier-
Copyright ©2021 by Apologia. All rights by at least three concurrent revolutions: a archies of informational authority [and]
reserved. geopolitical revolution driven by the rise of beginning the process of splitting apart
Apologia (the biblical Greek word for “defense”)
China; an ideological revolution consum- extended nuclear families.” ...
is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the ing the Western world; and a technological “Then came the culture wars,” which sub-
proclamation and defense of the gospel of Jesus revolution exacerbating both of the former.” stituted and renamed terminology via “the
Christ. Apologia’s mission is to equip the body In particular, “this ideology seemed to emergence of a global, instantaneous media
of Christ for spiritual discernment by providing emerge so suddenly, and is in its stark irra- infrastructure [in which] mass communica-
timely, accurate religious research information tionality so alien to the modern liberal mind, tions plays a bigger role than most people
within the field of Christian apologetics and to
that surprised observers and hapless oppo- realize.” The result, writes Tickle, was “a
advance apologetics in Christian missions.
nents so far struggle even to settle on a name new faith structure [that] dedicated itself to
Apologia Report surveys widely to identify the for it: ‘Cancel Culture,’ ‘Identity Politics,’ taking ... a ‘priesthood of all believers’ to its
most valuable resources for its readers as they ‘Social Justice,’ ‘Wokeness,’ ....” maximum extent. Like Pentecostalism, [it]
encounter competing worldviews. Since 1997, This new belief system “rejects nearly believes everyone has a direct connection
AR has been published roughly 44 times each
every fundamental principle of liberal with God, or whatever they like to think of
year via e-mail.
modernity — the existence of an objective as God-like, and no one gets to tell them to
The archiving of Apologia Report (in whole or and immutable reality that can be discovered believe differently.”
in part) is permitted for the private use of its by reason; the scientific method; an endur- As it turns out, these followers “are post-
subscribers alone. This data file is the sole prop- ing human nature; the primacy of the sover- modern,” and “Despite all that rationalist
erty of Apologia. It may not be used without
eign individual over the collective; impartial science [logic is] ‘not to be trusted as an
the permission of Apologia for resale or the
equality before the law; secular pluralism and absolute, nor are its conclusions to be taken
enhancement of any other product. In cita-
tions, please give the following source credit: the value of freedom of speech; the separa- as truth just because they depend on logical
“Copyright ©2021, Apologia (apologia.org)” tion of the private and political spheres....” thinking.
Skojec finds that Lyons relies heavily on “Narrative, on the other hand,” is for these
the book The Great Emergence1 by the late new believers “the song of the vibrating net-
Phyllis Tickle <phyllistickle.com> as a lens work,” because it “circumvents logic, speaking
for interpreting this phenomenon.” Lyons truth of the people.” What we wind up with
also does an interesting job of compress- is “Story over substance. Pathos over logos. ...
ing “the story of our societal decay” which “Secular Social Justice activism dove-
begins: “The Enlightenment took hold in tailed perfectly with both the strong histori-
the West and its emphasis on reason began cal emphasis on social justice work within
to undermine religious certainties. Then many Christian denominations (including
science ... began to systematically destroy the Social Gospel movement) and the post-
traditional collective story and imagination modern seeds already present.... But more
about how the universe functioned. ... Next importantly it offered [its followers] nearly
APOLOGIAreport
culture (continued)

everything they had been missing and long-

ing for. Suddenly they had a new source of v o l u m e 2 6 : 2 6 ( 1,5 3 1 ) / j u n e 2 9 , 2 0 2 1
authority (the doctrines of Critical Theory
and the hierarchy of intersectional identity),
a clear metaphysics of good and evil (the paradox of pluralism, the paradox of privi- Caesar when it too experienced exponential
oppressed and their oppressors), an ultimate lege, and the paradox of persecution. ... growth.” Indeed, Chinese Protestants “even
objective (to perfect the world by the elimi- “Just as iron sharpens iron, competition witnessed sizable growth by the end of the
nation of evil), and a grand narrative of how hones religion. ... Cultural Revolution. Sociologist of religion
to live in the world. “Our study finds that as a country’s com- Fenggang Yang <www.bit.ly/3dq2JPL> notes
“[N]eo-Marxist Social Justice offered mitment to pluralism rises, so too does its that since 1950, Protestant Christianity has
them revolutionary struggle, and so they number of Christian adherents. ... grown by a factor of 23. At least 5 percent
prostrated themselves immediately. It’s not “The strongest increase of Christian- of China’s population of nearly 1.5 billion
entirely surprising, given that “white guilt ity over the past century has been in Asia, people now subscribe to Christianity.” And
has never found a satisfactory answer in where the faith has grown at twice the rate Yang predicts that “the percentage will grow
Liberalism” and needed “a comprehensive of the population. ... exponentially over the next several years so
plan of action for how to address this sin.” “Africa is the other world region where that by 2030 China will have more Chris-
Indeed, “The concept of sin … implies Christianity has seen breathtaking growth, tians than any other country. By 2050, half of
that progress can be made through a sort particularly in recent decades. ... China could be Christian.”
of personal moral transformation (say by “Christianity has made inroads into On the other side of the world, “Christi-
acknowledging one’s privilege and ‘uncon- Africa not because it enjoys a privileged anity in the United States, and in particular
scious bias’ and moving from ‘racist’ to position with the state, but because it has to the evangelical movement, stands today at a
‘anti-racist’) which anyone can achieve if compete with other faith traditions on an very precarious crossroads. ...
they ‘educate’ themselves and ‘do the work.’ even playing field. ... “As Christianity has become increasingly
Until utopia arrives, this religious infusion “When Christians perceive a threat stem- intertwined with partisan politics, the US has
helps allow members of this new belief sys- ming from religious minorities, they may been undergoing a simultaneous decades-
tem “to taste that sweetest of nectars: being look to the state to give them a leg up on long decline in religiosity - a trend confirmed
both intellectually and morally superior to the competition. ... Paradoxically, though, in a number of scholarly studies. ...
other people. ... Suffice to say, our once-guilty the state’s privileging of Christianity in this “The intertwining of religion and poli-
feeling and confused secular suburban white manner does not end up helping the church, tics in this way, ... has repelled people from
lady has likely never felt this level of moral according to our data. Christianity who see the Christian faith
righteousness and fanatical zealousness “Christians attempting to curry the favor as supporting a certain kind of politics
before, and the result is intoxicating.” of the state become distracted from their they personally disagree with. As a result,
So here we are. “If you ever wonder why missions as they become engrossed in the politicized Christianity is able to appeal to
something you said that was fine 72 hours things of Caesar rather than in the things of an increasingly narrow group of individu-
ago is now an unredeemably racist, sexist, God to maintain their privileged stations. ... als, even as it drives liberals and moderates
excommunicable offense, it’s because [they] “Interestingly, some research even sug- away from the church. ...
crowd-sourced it from the swirling Id of the gests that missionaries from state-supported “The good news for concerned Chris-
mob on Twitter while you weren’t looking.” churches are less effective than missionaries tians is that, if our research and analysis
<www.bit.ly/3vECETh> whose commissioning churches are inde- are correct, it may be possible to reverse
pendent of the state. ... trends toward secularization.” In fact, “Our
“The relationship between political priv- research suggests the best way for Christian
SPIRITUAL HEALTH ilege and Christian decline is strongest in communities to recover their gospel witness
Writing for Christianity Today (May 6 ‘21 countries dominated by Eastern Orthodox is to reject the quest for political privilege
- online only), Nilay Saiya (assistant profes- forms of Christianity. ... as inconsistent with the teachings of Jesus.”
sor, public policy and global affairs <www. “Church attendance in these countries <www.bit.ly/2TISGOS>
bit.ly/3qeMVo9> Nanyang Technological remains the lowest in the Christian world, Saiya also presented his findings in the
University, author of Weapon of Peace: How despite the fact that the vast majority of May issue of the scholarly journal Sociology
Religious Liberty Combats Terrorism2) gives citizens in these states retain their official of Religion: <www.bit.ly/3gIhY7K>
us real encouragement with his “Proof That church memberships. ...
Political Privilege Is Harmful for Christian- “[D]espite the government threaten-
ity.” He outlines the fruits of his research, ing, pressuring, and coercing Christians, SOURCES: Monographs
wherein we read that “As governmental sup- the church in Iran has become one of the
port for Christianity increases, the number fastest growing in the world in terms of 1 - The Great Emergence: How Christian-
of Christians declines significantly. ... [O]ur conversion.” At one time Open Doors ity Is Changing and Why, by Phyllis Tickle
numerous statistical tests of the available data ranked the country as “the second-worst (Baker, 2012, paperback, 220 pages)
reveal that the relationship between state place to be a Christian,” behind only North
privilege of Christianity and Christian decline Korea. (Today it has apparently <www.bit. 2 - Weapon of Peace: How Religious Liberty
is a causal one, as opposed to only correlation. ly/3wcT2el> fallen to eighth-worst.) Combats Terrorism, by Nilay Saiya (Cam-
“Our study notes three different para- The Chinese church’s experience “mirrors bridge Univ Prs, 2019, paperback, 241
doxes of the vibrancy of Christianity: the that of the early church under the sword of pages) <www.bit.ly/3gGiFiT>
Apologia Report is a fantastic Multiculturalism. Diversity. Pluralism.
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community. I read every issue, and How can a Christian navigate the complex maze of spirituality in the 21st
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ministries that raises the level of they’re talking to? It’s not easy. But Apologia Report can help.
knowledge and understanding
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has a tremendous impact that of breaking news and developing spiritual trends. It is an invaluable time-
cannot be measured. saving resource especially for those in leadership positions, missions,
—Michael Jaffarian and education.
Missions Researcher, CBInternational
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