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    The Fall of the Evangelical Nation: The Surprising Crisis Inside the Church
    The Fall of the Evangelical Nation: The Surprising Crisis Inside the Church
    The Fall of the Evangelical Nation: The Surprising Crisis Inside the Church
    Ebook255 pages4 hours

    The Fall of the Evangelical Nation: The Surprising Crisis Inside the Church

    By Christine Wicker

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Evangelical Christianity in America is dying. The great evangelical movements of today are not a vanguard. They are a remnant, unraveling at every edge. Conversions. Baptisms. Membership. Retention. Participation. Giving. Attendance. Impact upon the culture at large. All are down and dropping. When veteran religion reporter Christine Wicker set out to investigate the evangelical movement, her intention was to forge through the stereotypes and shed new light on this highly divisive religious group. But the story soon morphed into an entirely new and shocking tale of discovery, as Wicker's research unearthed much more than she originally bargained for.

    Everywhere Wicker traveled she heard whispers of diminishing statistics, failed campaigns, and empty churches. Even as evangelical forces trumpet their purported political and social victories on the national and local fronts, insiders are anguishing over their significant losses and preparing to rebuild for the future. The idea that evangelicals represent and speak for Christianity in America is one of the greatest publicity scams in history, a perfect coup accomplished by savvy politicos and zealous religious leaders who understand the weaknesses of the nation's media and exploit them brilliantly.

    With her trademark vivid, firsthand reporting, Christine Wicker takes us deep inside the world of evangelicals, exposing the surprising statistics and details of this unexpected fall. Wicker shows us how the virtues of evangelicals are killing them as surely as their vices and that, to fully comprehend how and why this is happening, we'll need to understand both.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 13, 2009
    ISBN9780061850394
    The Fall of the Evangelical Nation: The Surprising Crisis Inside the Church
    Author

    Christine Wicker

    Christine Wicker was raised in Oklahoma, Texas, and other parts of the South. Her mother's grandfather was an itinerant Baptist preacher, and her dad's father was a Kentucky coal miner. During her seventeen years at the Dallas Morning News, she was a feature writer, columnist, and religion reporter. She is the author of several books, including the highly acclaimed New York Times bestseller Lily Dale: The True Story of the Town That Talks to the Dead.

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    • 4/5
      I found this very interesting and engaging (although as to her thesis, I suppose I'll believe it when I see it). That said, I thought this had some bias problems, where the author literally couldn't fathom why some things about the evangelical lifestyle wouldn't appeal to people: "Before salvation, the Tauzins had to figure out what was riht and wrong every day, mostly by using their own reasoning and values. There wasn't much help....Now everything is different" (35)."After their conversion, they had no idea how much better life was going to get. [Their new church would make everything easier and provide help and comfort.]...If the Tauzins ever begin to fear that their son is more interested in boys than girls--which is unlikely, of course, since he would have heard how sinful homosexuality is since childhood and would be sure to hide any such inclination if he had it--they will have lots of help in trying to turn him toward a different direction" (35-8)."While the rest of us only have the puny aid of good energy or positive thoughts [in response to needing protection or to protect others, or sensing misery], she will access a link with limitless power" (46).Yes, I have no idea why that might not immediately turn everyone onto evangelical Christianity.
    • 5/5
      I must give this book five stars, not because I find in it orthodox, spiritual guidance, but because Christine has done an outstanding job of research and clear presentation. While I am not a fan of a few of her endorsers, I am of others. I will join that chorus as well, but in the context of what I present below.I would break the book into three parts. The first part describes the ethos of many evangelical churches. The second part is her explanation of how a 21st century secular person sees these evangelical people and the strange rules and perspectives that are not only strange to them, but irrelevant to them. The third section of the book is her continued personal disclosure of where she goes with this information. The first two sections of this book are simply outstanding. I, too, grew up in the Southern Baptist world in the southwest. Her detailed imagery of the operations, lifestyles, church cultures, and especially the motivations she describes brought cold chills down my arm. She expressed these details with unparalled congruency with my own experiences. I believe that anyone reading this section of the book would have a superb grasp of what it is like in that world. She chronicles many stories of people’s lives who have been transformed by their faith in God through Jesus Christ and connection with evangelical communities that are loving and reaching out to help others at their point of need. She has no tone of mockery and never questions the sincerity or integrity of the persons about whom she is reporting.The second section is equally well researched and written in so far as it addresses the widespread secular understanding of truth. She explains the way of thinking of millions of Americans, sadly, including many people in America that consider themselves “spiritual” but not necessarily “Christian.” The reason I think this is important is that I don’t think many passionate evangelical church pastors or church attenders have a clue about this nearly universal way of thinking – without any need for God in their lives. If one does not understand the culture, they cannot connect with the people who are of that culture. What I felt was lacking in this section of the book was a critical assessment of the weakness in this perspective. This might be somewhat beyond the scope of what she wanted to cover, yet she seems to ultimately embrace most (but certainly not all) of this point of view. “Truth became provable, a verifiable proposition, not a tablet of rules, not a private vision, not a dream, not a proclamation from someone in power.” (p. 153) She does not challenge the assertion that truth can be proven through reason and science and instead pits faith against reason. Completely absent are the historic facts that the founders of modern science were most typically committed Christians who saw science as the discovery process of God’s handiwork. Certainly Kepler and Newton would have felt strongly this way. Also absent were the recounting that significant Christian teachers and leaders were also greatly educated about science. Isaac Watts not only was a prolific hymn writer and prominent London Congregational preacher but also published many treatises on mathematics and science. John Wesley did countless experiments in science as well. It would be helpful to have this balance included rather than simply accept that an absence of faith meant one now must look to the physical and psychological sciences for truth.In the third section of the book Wicker presents a very candid view of how she has rejected much of her evangelical upbringing, yet she remains a deist. I realize that Wicker is telling her own story at the end of the book and I cannot fault her for that. She even gives credit to those whose stories are different from hers, such as those who maintain their Christian faith tradition. I believe this would make a thinking Christian come to understand how educated non-believers discern truth and morality. It does not speak in theological truths, rather it describes the culture of the transformational processes she observes. As a Christian, I trust that this book will raise many important questions, whose answers must be find elsewhere. I believe that without the best informed questions, we do not advance our learning as we seek the answers.

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    The Fall of the Evangelical Nation - Christine Wicker

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