The Rising Threat of a Flock of Sheep

Part 1: Background: The Emerging Protestantism in America

In many respects the modern world can trace its origins to the Protestant Reformation. It was early Protestantism that made it possible to challenge the foundations of Western Christendom. It was Protestantism that destroyed the one-world view of Christendom. For the first time since the Roman Empire before Christianity there was no single authority to pronounce what was to be understood as the religious truth.

In an ironic twist the Protestantism that replaced Catholicism in many regions in Western Europe was as intolerant and violent toward its critics as the Catholic Church had been to theirs. This intolerance; though, would be undone by the very nature of Protestantism itself.

Protestantism empowered individuals to interpret the Scriptures as they saw fit. Very soon there wasn’t one Protestant doctrine, but three, then a dozen, then a few dozen. Where Christendom had been able to rely upon the secular state authorities to enforce Christian doctrine (violently in many cases), the expansion of various doctrines made this increasingly difficult. States had to decide which doctrine they would hold as true and try to enforce. This rapidly became near impossible and soon the State authority could no longer enforce any Christian doctrine. Consequently, Christian sects could gradually become more diverse in the beliefs without the threat of state-sponsored legal penalties and torture.

The crucial turning point came with the American Revolution and the expansion into the frontiers of the American territories. The sheer vastness of the territory meant that religious groups could find an area to practice their beliefs without the fear of persecution. As a result, the first Christians to populate America were not Europe’s mainstream, but fringe groups.

In Europe there were two main branches of Protestantism: Luther based, and Calvin based, known as the “Reformed movement.” The other groups that developed were all critics or splinter groups off these movements. This included the Puritans, a break off from the Reformed movement who felt the Anglican Church was not Calvinist (Reformed) enough. It also included anabaptists who sprung up as critics of the Reformed movement in Switzerland, and the baptists, who emerged as critics of the Reformed movement in England. The Methodists were critics of the predestination of the reformed movement who, under the leadership of John Wesley, would teach that individuals had the free will to choose salvation, or lose salvation. These were the groups that would find safe haven in America.

They also brought to American and anti-authority bent. Most were “congregationalists” who believed the only church authority should reside within their own congregation. Each church was autonomous. This would transfer perfectly to the American frontier where communications among churches was more difficult. The congregationalists were not reliant on a mother organization to dictate theology.

The main development in all these Protestant sects in America was the decentralization of the source of Christian knowledge. How one knew something to be true became a question answered by individual congregations and individuals themselves. No longer was the Catholic Church the supreme determiner of this knowledge. In American, the organized Protestant Churches such as the Lutherans, Presbyterians and Anglicans (Episcopalians) entered America as the fringe.

This individualism and decentralization of knowledge would percolate back to Europe where it would be taken to new levels in Germany and England. In Germany individuals would begin to question the integrity of the scriptures themselves. Protestantism was born in an environment where the scriptures were still sacred. These sects asked all their questions within the context of the Bible. In 19th Century Germany the very context of the Bible itself came into question with the advent of textural criticism.

In England the attack on Christianity came from a different approach. individuals began to explore not only the context of the Bible, but whether there were better explanations for the natural world than those provided in the scriptures.

In the 19th Century the antithesis to the dominant religion was, for the first time in history, not another religion. Roman Paganism emerged by supplanting and absorbing the Paganism of the Greek Empire. Orthodox Christianity emerged by supplanting and absorbing the Paganism of the Roman Empire. Protestantism emerged by supplanting and absorbing the Catholicism of the Roman Church. Finally, in the 1800s, the antithesis of the dominant religion was not another religion, but an entirely new approach to answering the questions of origins, existence, and the natural world. Modernity was born and it would look to the scientific method as its source in answering the “how do you know” questions. From this point to today Christianity would be on the defensive, no longer the monopoly as the source of knowledge. Christianity began to struggle in search of ways to remain relevant within this new world.

Part 2: Christianity Does Battle with the Modern World

For nearly two millennia Christianity had developed its doctrines in what it thought was a rational manner. Its doctrines were almost universally based on deductive logic models.

Deductive logic was first developed in ancient Greece as a means for determining (deducing) the truth. It is based the making assumptions and drawing a conclusion based on these assumptions.

Lassie is a dog.
All dogs have 4 legs
Conclusion: Lassie has 4 legs

Going back to the Apostle Paul Christian doctrines followed this method.

1. Man exists in a state of sin derived from the original sin of Adam and Eve disobeying God's commandment about eating the forbidden fruit.
2. All men, as descendants from the union of Adam and Eve inherit this sin and are born in a sinful state.
3. Mary's pregnancy did not result from a union with man; but rather, with a union with God.
Conclusion: Mary's offspring, Jesus, was not born with original sin.

Christian doctrines all following this basic pattern and the test for their truth was their validity. Could the conclusion be deduced from its assumptions? However; the new modern mindset recognized validity as only one of two tests for a deductive argument. For a deductive argument to be true, its assumptions must also be true. This is known as the “soundness principle” The modern mindset is a search for soundness.

Is it, in fact, true that all mankind exists in a state of sin? What if the Genesis creation story is just a myth? What if the age and nature of the Earth proves humanity did not begin with one fully developed human couple? Is it possible to still hold the assumption that man exists in a state of sin to be actually true?
As modern scientific methods progressed in the Nineteenth, Twentieth, and Twenty-first Centuries the soundness of every single Christian doctrine came into question. Scientific knowledge evolved to a point that nothing within Christianity seemed true any longer. Christian doctrines still remained valid but none could withstand the soundness principle.

Part 3: Christianity Fights Back

In a bizarre backlash to modernity the Catholic Church at its first Vatican Council in 1868-1870 asserted that reason can, in fact, prove the existence of God. They were saying they did not need sound arguments because they had faith. Catholic theologians went back to the medieval writings of Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth century to argue that faith trumps soundness. This reliance on a medieval theologian to explain the modern world lasted only a few decades before it became obvious that few were buying into the Church’s assertions.
The forms of Christianity that have struggled the most in the modern world are those that have tried to embrace and reconcile with it. There is no better example than the Catholic Church which decided it needed a modern upgrade. This took the form of the Vatican II Council under the leadership of a very modern Pope. In many respects Vatican II radically modernized Catholicism. The end result has been nothing short of disastrous. In 1958 Seventy-four percent of Catholics in the United States attended Sunday mass. By the year 2000 that number had dropped to just twenty-five percent. These same results have played out all over the world.

The Catholic Church is not alone in this struggle. Every Protestant denomination that has attempted to modernize its doctrines to more closely align with scientific conclusions has seen its numbers decline, often dramatically. The implication is clear. If one accepts that the scientific method provides the best explanations for natural phenomena, there is no reason to continue adhering to Christian doctrines.

Conversely, the forms of Christianity that have persevered through the challenges of science and modernity are those that have turned away from science and ignore its implications for their beliefs. They share one other feature in common. They are all based out of the United States. They are all the children of the fringe movements of early Protestantism. Every mainstream Protestant denomination is on the decline, not only in America, but globally. The sects that are still growing grew up in the frontier of American as critics of mainstream Protestantism.

Among the Churches that continue to grow are the fundamentalist Churches and the apocalyptic Churches such as the Seventh Day Adventists, Jehovah’s Witness Churches, Evangelical Churches and the Pentecostal movement. What they share in common is a literal view of Biblical scriptures, and an apocalyptic view that the day of redemption is very near. They also share a return to spiritualism and an emphasis on a personal God directly interacting with individuals through prayer.

Part 4: The Repercussions and the Threat Posed by Christianity

The part of Christianity that is continuing to grow and expand is the part that is most critical of modern science. From their perspective this critical view is crucial because the one thing science thoroughly destroys is the literal truth of the Bible. A 4.7 billion year old planet that evolved from a molten rock to a point that humans could gradually evolve from lower mammals, has no room for Christianity. Fundamentalists Christians seem to recognize this more than the more modernizing forms of Christianity that are still trying to make Christianity fit in a scientific world.

This anti-science, anti-modern form of Christianity is based in the richest, most influential nation, and it radiates outward. The problem for the United States is the same problem that has existed for every dominant empire throughout history. Dramatic changes always cut into and weaken their power base. When you’re on top change destabilizes your precarious position. One need look no further than what happened to the United Kingdom when the concept of colonialism started to fall apart.

The United States is perched at the top of a very precarious world. There is little doubt that the climate is changing. There is plenty of uncertainty about what this changing climate will mean. One thing is certain; though, it will require dramatic changes in the way humans interact with their environment. Coupled with a changing environment is the simple fact that the non-renewable energy source, oil, is going to reach its peak sometime in the 21st Century. When it does it becomes more expensive to produce and less economically stable. Also in the 21st Century the human population level will reach and surpass the 8 billion mark. This is a significant mark as the arable land suitable to produce enough food for the planet reaches its limit at around 8 billion without significant inputs to the soil. Technologically these inputs are possible. Economically, producing this much food poses a whole range of problems.

The key to all these changes that are and will be occurring in this century is that dealing with them rests on scientific and technological advancement. Even more significantly, they will both produce and rely upon shifts in economic power. The economic power with the most to lose is the one presently sitting on top.

The driving force for obstructing all the necessary changes required for future survival and prosperity is the American economic power base. The army it depends upon for this obstruction is evangelical Christianity. If a growing reliance on scientific advancement is necessary for the future, challenging this proposition finds a welcome home among the groups who most oppose the conclusions of science and most distrust its methods.

A bleak future is a welcome sign among apocalyptic Christians who read it as a sign that the end times are near. Furthermore, they are facilitating this bleakness by obstructing the changes necessary to brighten the future. If one wants a future where the next generation of children do not face an overwhelming series of ecological and economic challenges, one will do well to recognize where the current obstruction exists. Marginalizing its political power is absolutely crucial to the future prosperity of the planet.