By Jim Wallis

The Religious Right was a Christian mistake. It was a movement that sought to implement a “Christian agenda” by tying the faithful to one political option—the right-wing of the Republican Party. The politicizing of faith in such a partisan way is always a theological mistake. But the rapid decline of the Religious Right now offers us a new opportunity to re-think the role of faith in American public life.

Personally, I am not offended or alarmed by the notion of a post-Christian America. Christianity was originally and, in my view, always meant to be a minority faith with a counter-cultural stance; as opposed to the dominant cultural and political force. Notions of a Christian America quite frankly haven’t turned out very well.

But that doesn’t mean a lack of religious influence--on the contrary. Committed minorities have had a tremendous influence on cultures and even on politics, just look at all the faith-inspired social reform movements animated by people of faith. But Martin Luther King, Jr. did not get the Civil Rights Act passed because he had the most Bible verses on his side but because he entered into the public square with compelling arguments, vision and policy that ultimately won the day. Those faith-inspired movements are disciplined by democracy, meaning they don’t expect to win just because they are “Christian.” They have to win the debates about what is best for the common good by convincing their fellow citizens.

And that is best done by shaping the values narrative, as opposed to converting everyone to their particular brand of religion. Rather, they are always looking for allies around their moral causes, including people of other faiths, or no religion at all. The story of Christianity in America in the coming decades will be defined by a multi-cultural shift as well as a generational one. “New” Evangelicals and Catholics, along with Black, Hispanic, and Asian churches will now shape the agenda. But also included are the millions of American’s who say they are “spiritual but not religious,” finding homes in non-traditional churches, mega-churches that teach that true religion is found in care for “the least of these.” Making a real impact on the values and directions that a democracy will choose is, perhaps, a more exciting kind of influence than relying on the illusory and often disappointing hopes of cultural and political dominance.

The shift that Jon Meacham describes may be the best news in a long time.


Wallis is president of Sojourners and author of "The Great Awakening, Seven Ways to Change The World"

By The Rev. Chloe Breyer

By Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr

By Lisa Miller

In his cover story, “The Decline and Fall of Christian America,” Jon Meacham argues that the ten-point dip in the number of Americans who call themselves Christian, together with the rise in the number who say they’re “unaffiliated” is a good thing – for politics and for Christianity. Political culture, Meacham writes is “as the American Founders saw…complex and charged enough without attempting to compel or coerce religious belief or observance.”