We’re Less and Less a Christian Nation, and I Blame "Some Blowhards Some intolerant conservative evangelicals have tainted the faith"By Nicholas Kristof Opinion Columnist, New York Times

Perhaps for the first time since the United States was established, a majority of young adults here do not identify as Christian.

Only 49 percent of millennials consider themselves Christian, compared with 84 percent of Americans in their mid-70s or older, according to a new report from the Pew Research Center.

We don’t have good historical data, and the historians I consulted are wary of definitive historical comparisons. But something significant seems to be happening. The share of American adults who regard themselves as Christian has fallen by 12 percentage points in just the last decade.

“The U.S. is steadily becoming less Christian and less religiously observant,” the Pew study concluded.

Some on the religious right will thunder that this as a result of a secular “war on Christianity.”

“Christians and Christianity are mocked, belittled, smeared and attacked,” declared an essay on Fox News’s website, plaintively titled, “How Long Will I Be Allowed to Remain a Christian?”

This mockery of Christians is, as I’ve written many times, both real and wrong. But a far bigger threat to the “brand” of Christianity comes, I think, from religious blowhards who have entangled faith with bigotry, sexism, homophobia and xenophobia. For some young people, Christianity is associated less with love than with hate.

“Pompous right-wing political chest-thumping, and an unwillingness to listen on matters like climate change or racism, has contributed to a perception by millions that Christianity is irrelevant, or worse yet, a threat to progress,” the Rev. Richard Cizik, the leader of a group of self-described “new evangelicals” with moderate views, told me. “That’s a real burden to carry going into the 21st century.”

Cizik, who was fired from the National Association of Evangelicals in 2008 after he expressed support for civil unions for gay people, added that Christianity’s reputation suffers from backward views on women’s issues and from the unwavering support among evangelical hard-liners for President Trump.

“Trump has played them like a fiddle,” he said.

It would be difficult to imagine a president more at odds with Jesus’ message than Trump, a serial philanderer and liar who has persecuted refugees, divided families, exploited the poor and allegedly committed sexual assaults. When Trump in 2016 was asked to name a favorite part of the Bible, he muttered “an eye for an eye” — a reference to an Old Testament passage that Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, specifically renounced.

That is the opposite of the Christianity whose heroic side I’ve often praised: A Catholic doctor in Sudan’s Nuba mountains … a missionary doctor in Angola … nuns everywhere. If they were the face of Christianity, its reputation would be golden. Likewise, Christian organizations like International Justice Mission, Mercy Ships, Catholic Relief Services and World Vision labor to make the world a better place. Across America, a crucial safety net comes from churches organizing food pantries and emergency shelters.

Surveys find that religious Americans donate more to charity than secular Americans and are substantially more likely to volunteer. In a Pew survey in 2016, almost two-thirds of highly religious Americans said that they had donated time, money or goods to help the poor in the last week.

There’s nothing about faith that necessarily makes it a bastion of conservatives. Martin Luther King Jr. and many other liberal civil rights leaders were shaped by their Christian beliefs, Jim Wallis is a liberal evangelical writer with a large following, and Jimmy Carter is truly the unTrump, at age 95 still building houses for the needy. But today’s prominent evangelical leaders are mostly conservatives.

Pew’s latest report found that nonbelievers are gaining ground fast. “Nones” — those with no particular religion — now account for more than one-quarter of the American population. There are substantially more nones than Catholics.

The decline in religion is particularly evident among young people. Those born between 1928 and 1945 are only two percentage points less likely to identify as Christian than they were a decade ago, while millennials are 16 percentage points less likely to call themselves Christians.

“Adults coming of age today are far less religious than their parents and grandparents before them,” said Gregory Smith of the Pew Research Center.

Smith noted that the data seem consistent with the argument made by leading scholars that young adults have turned away from organized religion because they are repulsed by its entanglements with conservative politics. “Nones,” for example, are solidly Democratic.

The upshot is that a majority of white adults now attend church just a few times a year at most. Blacks and Hispanics are more likely to attend, although their attendance is dropping, too.

The central issue is that faith is supposed to provide moral guidance — and many moralizing figures on the evangelical right don’t impress young people as moral at all. Senator Jesse Helms said in 1995 that AIDS funding should be cut because gay men get the disease. The Rev. Jerry Falwell and the Rev. Pat Robertson initially suggested that God organized the 9/11 terror attacks to punish feminists, gays and lesbians.

God should have sued Falwell and Robertson for defamation. But, in some sign of karma, a survey found that gays and lesbians have higher public approval than evangelicals do.

.

Nicholas Kristof has been a columnist for The Times since 2001. He has won two Pulitzer Prizes, for his coverage of China and of the genocide in Darfur. You can sign up for his free, twice-weekly email newsletter and follow him on Instagram. His next book will be published in January. @NickKristof • Facebook

A version of this article appears in print on Oct. 27, 2019, Section SR, Page 9 of the New York edition with the headline: Less and Less A Christian Nation.

"A Bigger Role for Women in the Catholic Church? 185 Men Will Decide" By Elisabetta Povoledo, New York Times, My Response

My Response: This is hair on fire time! 

To be credible Pope Francis has got to walk the walk toward equality for women in the church, not just talk the talk about the value of women in ministry who are doing diaconal service.   As usual there was plenty of talk at the Vatican about expanding women's roles and/or affirming what Amazonian women leaders are already doing in leading vibrant communities of faith there. Yet, no action. Worse yet, Amazonian women were not allowed to vote at this Synod no matter how much service or leadership they provided to their indigenous communities there.   "Discussions at the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon," according to the NY Times below, "have acknowledged that women must get recognition of some sort. But few expect real change." 

A first step could be to offer public recognition of women's pastoral ministries that are already led by women. This includes, as Sister Nilma Do Carmo De Jesus, describes diaconal and priestly ministry in Brazil:  

 "In Brazil, most Catechists are women, the leaders of local communities are women, women animate the liturgical aspects of the Mass, through song and celebration, these women bring the ministry forward,” she said. “They are very important, but they are not visible because they don’t have institutional recognition.”

 Bridget Mary Meehan ARCWP

Pope Francis walking in procession on the occasion of the Amazon synod at the Vatican this month.Credit...Claudio Peri/EPA, via Shutterstock

·        Oct. 25, 2019Updated 4:54 p.m. ET

ROME — The Vatican’s extraordinary three-week meeting of bishops from the Amazon region, which ends this weekend, has generated intense debate within the church over the possibility of ordaining older, married men in remote areas.

But those gathered will also make important proposals about the role of the region’s women in the Roman Catholic Church. While a handful of those women have been present for the conversation, as usual, none of them will actually have a say.

That imbalance at the synod, as the meeting is known, has disappointed women from organizations that have been lobbying for the church to give women more decision-making power.

Instead, the decisions will be left to 185 men, who are discussing the possibility of women sharing pastoral responsibilities with priests or even the potential ordination of women deacons, a decision with broad theological implications.

Continue reading the main story

The final report, which will be presented Saturday to Pope Francis, will contain a series of proposals that the pope could endorse for the Amazon, but also apply to the entire church.

Those voting on the proposals include bishops, priests, and one religious brother, but no women, though nearly three dozen women were invited to take part as experts and auditors.

“A vote in the synod” for women “would be a first, and a huge change,” said Kate McElwee, the executive director of the Women’s Ordination Conference, who joined other Catholic women activists on Tuesday as they marched toward St. Peter’s Basilica.

They carried a banner that read, “Empowered Women Will Save the Earth, Empowered Women Will Save the Church.”

“We are here to remind the church hierarchy discussing what kind of ministry women could be doing that women are already working in priestly ministry,” said Miriam Duignan, one of the delegates from the Women’s Ordination Worldwide campaign, which organized the protest. The time has come for women deacons, she said.

“If we start in the Amazon, it will go elsewhere,” she said.

The Tablet, a British Catholic news weekly, reported this week that a proposal to ordain women deacons was included in the final report that will be put to the vote on Saturday. The proposal will require a two-thirds majority of the participants to pass.

Catholic activists working for greater gender equality in the church say that the bishops who are meeting to formally define women’s roles in the church in the Amazon need look no further than the reality on the ground.

That was the view of Sister Nilma Do Carmo De Jesus, a Brazilian-born Comboni missionary who is in Rome for a series of events highlighting the challenges facing the region.

“In Brazil, most Catechists are women, the leaders of local communities are women, women animate the liturgical aspects of the Mass, through song and celebration, these women bring the ministry forward,” she said. “They are very important, but they are not visible because they don’t have institutional recognition.”

Throughout the Amazon, many nuns are active fighting human trafficking, a common side effect of the large-scale logging and mining projects that are destroying the area’s natural resources, a major focus of the meeting.

“It’s a place where you can touch with your hand, the connection between the exploitation of human lives and the environment,” said Sister Gabriella Bottani, the international coordinator of Talitha kum, a global network of nuns working to end human trafficking. The group has been active throughout the pan-Amazon region.

The church, Sister Bottani said, had to begin treating women as equals, especially at the decision-making level, “otherwise the church is going to lose us.”

“It’s very clear that without the contribution of women, the church isn’t going to go very far,” echoed Sister Mary Agnes Mwangi, one of 10 religious women taking part in the synod with no voting rights, though their one male counterpart has them.

Often, she noted, ordained priests who ventured into remote areas found Catholic communities that had been fully formed by women. “Before the priest even gets to it, there have already been vocations for the seminary,” she laughed.

Some said the prospect of ordaining married men to the priesthood in the area would present challenges for the region’s women.

“If married priests go to displace women who are in leadership, then that’s very problematic,” said Deborah Rose-Milavec, the executive director of Future Church, an organization committed to advancing women in leadership roles in the Catholic Church.

Image

Cardinals attending a Mass led by Pope Francis to open a three-week synod of Amazonian bishops at the Vatican.Credit...Remo Casilli/Reuters

The church hierarchy, including Pope Francis, has made it clear in recent decades that ordaining women as priests is not on the table.

But some church historians have argued that there is evidence that women served in the role of deacon, an ordained minister, in the early church. Scholars have noted that in some countries and dioceses, women were ordained as deacons and considered clergy until the 12th century.

The Second Vatican Council of the 1960s allowed married men, generally over the age of 35, to be ordained as deacons. The pope has suggested in the past that he is open to discussing the issue, setting up a commission to examine the history of female deacons in the church.

But he has also indicated that it is unlikely to happen. In May, he told religious sisters meeting in Rome that further study was required.

There have been some timid signs that change may come.

Cardinal Cláudio Hummes of Brazil, whom Francis appointed as relator general, or chairman, of the synod, acknowledged the service of women in his opening address to the plenary.

Without elaborating, he asked that “there be an attempt to consolidate it with a suitable ministry for them,” drawing applause from the hall.

Others, like Erwin Kräutler, Retired Bishop of Xingu Brazil, who helped draft the working document of the synod, have gone further, openly advocating for a female diaconate.

“There’s a lot of support for it” among fellow bishops who find themselves short-handed, Bishop Derek Byrne of Brazil told the National Catholic Reporter.

ADVERTISEMENT

But many were doubtful that any change for women in the church would follow the synod.

“The indigenous women in the Amazon are already the leaders and ministers of their communities,” said Chantal Goetz, the founder of Voices of Faith, a movement that wants women to fill more leadership roles in the church.

For the church to not recognize that fully by ordaining women was unjust, she said.

“Honestly, I do not expect much outcome of this synod, only that we might get a new wave of exodus again,’’ Ms. Goetz said. ‘‘More women will leave the Church.”

Women's Ordination Worldwide Witnesses to Women Priests and Deacons at Amazonian Synod in Rome, "Empowered Women Will Save the Earth and the Church," Excellent Articles from Future Church

Congratulations to Women's Ordination Worldwide For Witness to Women Priests and Deacons in the Church at Amazonian Synod. Empowered women in the Roman Catholic Women Priests Movement -women deacons and priests- are serving inclusive Catholic communities and ministries in 12 countries like empowered women in the Amazon who perform baptisms, marriages, hear confessions without official Vatican endorsement. Indeed, empowered women are saving the Earth and Church by setting a table for justice for all especially the poor, oppressed and the indigenous who suffer the devastation of Earth's resources. Activists who plundered statues that depict  feminine divinity cannot hinder the rising of Holy Mother in the hearts of God's people leading us to revere and care for her handiwork, Earth. The indigenous people are leading the way especially the women of the Amazon! Bridget Mary Meehan ARCWP

• (Photo Credit: Women's Ordination Worldwide) WOW's Witnesses to Women Priests and Deacons in the Amazon Women's Ordination Worldwide witnessed to the priestly and diaconal ministries of women in the Amazon, and like those women, helped heal the sting of the thieves and plunderers who, just the day before, desecrated an indigenous, feminine, and sacred icon by throwing it into the Tiber. Thank God for these women! Kate McElwee, Miriam Duignan, Kathleen Gibbons Schuck, Pat Brown, Alicja Baranowska, and Therese Koturbush carried the banner, "Empowered Women will Save the Earth, and Empowered Women Will Save the Church." They prayed, proclaimed readings by Sr. Theresa Kane, Pope Francis, Cardinal Claudio Hummes, and Sr. Simone Campbell. They sang "Sister Carry On", and explained their position to the many press outlets who covered the event. Their message was eloquent and comprehensive: Women are already serve in priestly roles and to demand that they too are recognized as equal leaders of the Church. The all-male voting delegates behind the Synod Gate are discussing the priest shortage in the Amazon region, but WOW wants to remind them that women are already leading sacramental ministry across Amazonia and around the world. Their vocations are recognized by the communities they serve.  As momentum to ordain married men increases, WOW cautions against adding yet more men to an already imbalanced church without addressing the injustice of excluding women. WOW is encouraged by the new Pact of the Catacombs, signed by 40 Bishops from the Synod on October 20, demanding that the church: ‘Recognize the services and real diakonia of a great number of women who today direct communities’ and for ‘an adequate ministry of women leaders of the community’.  Without women, the Catholic Church would not exist in the Amazon and it is a matter of justice that they too are finally empowered as equals rather than being supplanted by local men whilst women continue to do the work of serving the communities. WOW called on Pope Francis to publicly acknowledge that a majority of attendees of the Synod support women deacons and witness their ministries daily in the Amazon region and asks that the Synod take a first step towards equality and justice by restoring women deacons in the same rite as men.  The call for ecological justice cannot be separated from the call for spiritual and sacramental equality.  Yeah, that is me in the photo too -- so happy to join! I love my sisters in the faith! And I'm grateful everyday for their creatively and courage. Sisters, carry on! Get the Twits My grandkids love lying in bed with Grandma and reading a bedtime story. They love Roald Dahl with his funny, frightening tales and I love the social commentary in child size bites. When I get home, the first story I am going to read to them is "The Twits", the story of a nasty couple who keep caged monkeys and make bird pies with real birds. And of course, there will be a moral to the story. "Yes, little ones, there are still twits in our world. And Grandma hopes they catch all the little twits who disparaged a beautiful people and their culture and stole a precious feminine sacred symbol and threw it into the Tiber River." I hope I can report to them that the thieves are caught by the time I go home because they bear the responsibility for this egregious act. Still, in this sad and ugly tale, there are smoking guns, fake news, and complicity. Too many in the Catholic media world have been hard at work stirring their followers by generating doubts, calling names, and inventing conspiracy theories. In the search for those who may have created the world of words where this egregious act manifested, I have been particularly grateful to Heidi Schlumpf who has been following the money and rhetoric for a long time. The trail sheds light on Francis media critics such as EWTN, The Catholic Herald, and big time funders of anti-Francis elements such as Tim Busch. The National Catholic Reporter has also helped Catholics understand the shadowy side of the media world with articles about ChurchMilitant and the Lepanto Institute, two orgs that even Archbishop Charles Chaput wrote off. I have also been curious about the initial report by Catholic News Agency and to what degree it helped steer a wave of doubt by casting the opening ceremony with indigenous participation as something that stirred silence in Pope Francis implying that the feminine symbolism had to be overcome with an "Our Father." They also reported that other Vatican officials attended but denied any responsibility for the ceremony. That may have been true, but what do the questions imply? Then there is the power of Lifesite to hold a press conference hostage by repeating doubts and demanding answers about the sacred symbol of life -- a symbol that was finally stolen and plunged into the Tiber. I don't accuse them of plundering the altar, but did their words contribute in any way to this act of vandalism? Other players stirring the pot are the men who are losing their grip on power and are in a perpetual state of dissatisfaction about the direction of the Church. And this pack have been working hard stirring followers to action.  The 40 Day "Crusade of Prayer and Fasting" initiated by U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke and company asked people to pray that the synod won't get drunk on “error and heresy”, especially when respect for the Amazon's indigenous people, culture, spirituality, and love of their land is taken seriously. Cardinal Walter Brandmüller insisted that the synod document is "heretical." Cardinal Gerhard Mueller has spent a lot of ink characterizing aspects of the synod document as "false teaching." And, finally, as if they share one clericalist mind, the Voice of the Family sees the "egalitarian and ecological minded society" framework for the Amazonian Synod, along with the proposal for married priests to be an "attack on the family."  The Church is moving toward a new way of being. It is slow, too slow. But, the force of that change can be charted by the growing pitch of the complaints of those who believe they are losing their power.  To that degree, even their symphony of conspiratorial tales and accusations can be counted as a genre of music that is marking the end of an era.  Ultimately, in "The Twits", the clever monkeys and birds outwit the cruel couple and win their freedom. Now that is my kind of ending! For My Grandchildren During my time in Rome reporting on the synod, I have been visiting the side altar in Santa Maria in Traspontina where the images of the martyrs, including Sr. Dorothy Stang, along with the sacred symbols are laid at the foot of the altar. As I listen to the stories from indigenous people and women religious and men, the plight of the people and the destruction of their land has penetrated my heart and mind more deeply. And that has me praying - for conversion to greater action. During a presentation about Sr. Dorothy Stang's life, martyrdom, and continuing legacy, I met women religious who were carrying with them "tucum" rings made of the wood of the Amazonian tucuma palm tree. The ring has a long history as a symbol of resistance dating back to a time when blacks wore them in opposition to Brazilian Empire. More recently, the the ring became a symbol of liberation theology and the "preferential option for the poor." Here at the Amazonian synod it has become a symbol of solidarity with indigenous people of the Amazon and their land and a sign of a pledge to struggle alongside the Amazonian people to end the violence against people and land, and to heal that which we have destroyed. So, I am wearing a "tucum" ring as a symbol my desire for greater conversion, and I am bringing home one small gift for each of my 14 grandchildren -- the same ring.. I want to continue to spend my life working for justice, living the Gospel more fully, healing what I and others in my generation have broken and destroyed, and somehow pass on to those I love most God's radical dream of a world where justice and peace reigns for all Her people, creatures, and the land. Thanks to all those who are sharing their insights with me!  What are your questions and your thoughts?  Send them to me: debrose@futurechurch.org. Prayer for the Burning Amazon Forest Loving God, the Amazon is on fire! We come before you with a heavy and contrite heart. We know Your heart must be deeply grieved as You hear the cries of the innocent trees, creatures, rivers and indigenous communities as their home burns. We pray that in Your mercy, You will forgive us For our way of life, for we have created the markets For beef, timber and minerals taken from the Amazon. We pray that You will forgive those who have set the fires in the Amazon, those who have cut down the ancient trees, those who plunder its precious resources, to fulfill human desire for things. Oh God, Your mercy is infinite And only Your power can save us from choosing destruction, Grant us Your grace to turn to better and kinder ways of living. Rain down your love to heal the scorched earth and its inhabitants. May Your love, justice and peace reign for all creation always. In the name of Your son, Jesus the Christ we pray. Amen. (Clare Westwood, adapted from the GCCM prayer) SIGN OUR PETITION:  VOTES FOR CATHOLIC WOMEN JOIN FUTURECHURCH'S PILGRIMAGE TO GREECE WITH EXPERT AUTHOR  SR. CHRISTINE SCHENK, CSJ PILGRIMAGE TO GREECE: March 4-13, 2020 "MEET" PHOEBE, LYDIA, EUODIA and MORE!Visit the sites of early Christian women leaders with expert author Christine Schenk, CSJ (Crispina and Her Sisters), spiritual director and co-director of FutureChurch, Russ Petrus, and Aliki, our wonderful Greek guide. MORE INFO/REGISTER CATHOLIC WOMEN PREACH: WOMEN'S WORDS FOR OUR TIMES Each week we have preaching by Catholic Women such as Shawnee M. Daniels-Skykes who offers a reflection on the sanctity of all bodies: "For there is no difference between Jews and Samaritans, disabilities and abilities, men, women, and children, black, brown, and white bodies. Yes, we are all one in Christ Jesus."  LEARN MORE SUPPORT A MARRIED PRIESTHOOD AND WOMEN DEACONS BY WRITING LETTERS TO THE EDITORS (AND COPYING YOUR BISHOPS) AS THEY BEGIN THEIR AD LIMINA MEETINGS WITH THE POPE IN NOVEMBER!  As the U.S. Bishops begin their Ad Limina visits with Pope Francis in Rome, make sure they take your message with them. Advocate for married priests, women deacons and full equality for women within the Catholic Church on every level.  DOWNLOAD A TEMPLATE HERE THE BRIDGEDIALOGUES Imagine a church where ordained and lay Catholics work in the spirit of true equality and partnership. Imagine a church where clericalism fades in the face of a vibrant ministry by the whole People of God.  Pope Francis has often spoke about the harmful effects of clericalism. Begin a discussion in your own parish to build awareness about how it might function there and how you might overcome it together. This project is a collaboration between FutureChurch, Voice of the Faithful, and the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests. LEARN MORE JOIN FUTURE CHURCH ON NOVEMBER 7 AS WE WELCOME JOURNALIST & VATICANISTA ROBERT MICKENS TO SPEAK ABOUT POPE FRANCIS AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH! Robert Mickens knows Vatican politics inside and out and he has never backed down from telling a story "like it is." He has confronted corruption, misogyny, clericalism, and the naysayers in the Catholic Church who want to see Pope Francis fail. Join us for a delightful night hearing Bob's insights about all the characters who make up the Roman church.  LEARN MORE