White Southern Evangelicals Are Leaving the Church
“Already, 30 percent of Southern Baptists ‘seldom’ or ‘never’ attend church….The southern Bible Belt is quickly becoming a region of unchurched or lapsed Protestants who may still hang onto their evangelical identity to some extent but who don’t think going to church is necessary.” - CToday
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Being a southerner now having lived in Indiana for 28 years, some comments:
Christianity in the South has been a cultural association, without any genuine or deep belief, for a long time.
Much of the influence of the Bible comes from past knowledge/associations and not genuine salvation. The social/political beliefs which they hold (as the article discussed) come the lingering influences of their past. Their children and grandchildren will not hold these beliefs.
The cultural influence of the unbelieving world has been affecting Christians in the South gradually, to the point where many are now indistinguishable from unbelievers in many ways.
Changes are most noticeable in the children and grandchildren of genuine believers. These 1st and 2nd generation descendants of these believers are partly the result of churches which used secular methods to attract and keep them in church. Now that they are older, they have found more interesting amusements.
Wally Morris
Huntington, IN
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