Archives For Christianity

The Jury is in.

America is officially a Post-Christian Nation.

Just a few decades ago, it would have been unspeakable to mock someone for a public act of faith.  But the severe reactions that have been inspired by Tebowing show just how uncomfortable America is with the Christian religion.  Not that long ago, declarations of faith were a required part of the school day.  But just a few weeks ago, the New York supreme court decided to kick out churches that rent school cafeterias on Sundays.

There’s no denying it-

American Christendom is dead.

Here’s a rough history/definition of Christendom:

  • Constantine begins to make Christianity a national religion with the Edict of Milan in 313.
  • With the fall of the Roman Empire, the structures of Roman Church try to hold Europe together.
  • Catholic/Protestants further the Christendom model by carving Europe, and eventually the world in to state run religious kingdom.
  • In the US, Christendom is more subtly spread through civic institutions use language that propagates the idea of the U.S. as Christian nation.
  • In short, by Christendom, I mean the idea that the Church is a ruling socio-political entity, whether by official statement or unofficial social expectations.

So, for a very long time this “Christianity” has been the litmus test of one’s American-ness.  But recently, a combination of forces including everything from post-modernism to birth control to globalism has knocked Christianity from it’s position as the bedrock of America.  Europe got there about 40 years earlier.

And while it spells the death of Christendom, it could very like be the best thing that could happen for the movement of Jesus in the US.