Customer Reviews

Exodus: Why Americans Are Fleeing Liberal Churches for Conservative Christianity

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The Nineteenth Century philosopher Renan once said that "no one has a faith until they have lost it". There is enormous truth in this pithy paradox and Dave Shiflett explains why in Exodus: Why Americans are Fleeing Liberal Churches for Conservative Christianity.

Others have chronicled the decline of liberal Christianity compared to the rapid growth of conservative Christianity. Dean M. Kelly's Why Conservative Churches Are Growing (1986) noted the obvious nearly 20 years ago to the consternation of the secular media elite. Then there was Thomas C. Reeve's The Empty Church: Does Organized Religion Matter Anymore? (1996) Reeve, a professional sociologist validated anew the problem with fresh empirical and normative evidence.

Most of us are not scholars who take easily to reading technical studies even when they are pitched to a lay audience. But we do readily understand what is explained in a personal way. Mr. Shiflett was not the first to provide us with an experiental picture of Conservative Christians. Colleen Carroll is but one of many to note the worship lifestyle of conservative Christians in The New Faithful: Why Young Adults Are Embracing Christian Orthodoxy (2002).

What is noteworthy about Exodus is that Shiflett interviews notable persons from the Mainline churches (Episcopal, Methodist and Unitarian), leaders from Conservative churches (Catholic, Orthodox and Baptist) and others who fled the old mainline protestant churches for one or more varities of orthodoxy.

You will learn many things. Traditional Christianity celebrates a God who is really there and active. By contrast, a 30% God or God lite demands little and does little when he is needed.

Imagine for a moment being in a seminary only to discover that you are the only one who believes in God. What does one say to an ordained minister who denies the solace of an afterlife to a dying patient? What is one to think when heretics become heroes and advocates of orthodoxy are derided? This is the ultimate dead end of Liberal Christianity and its anemic God.

You'll learn that vibrant Christians are hardly like what is portrayed in the New York Times and elsewhere. Orthodox Christians are surprisingly diverse, informed, educated and certain about what their purpose is.

As you read the interviews with Mainliners, Orthodox leaders and newly arrived refugees to the shores of orthodoxy, one reason alone explains the exodus: Authenticity. God is God. Truth is real and knowable. His message is his message. God lite is not real. Those profiled here--especially the refugees--understand what authentic faith means.

As one compares and contrasts the thoughts of each group profiled by Mr. Shiflett the conclusions become obvious.

A real faith calls us to account and asks us to be distinctively different. The tragedy of mainline Christianity is that it surrendered its patrimony to the culture. It simply lost its salty savor and has become a spent force.

I found Shiflett did a very good job explaining why liberal Christian denominations are losing their hold in America. And, contrary to what an earlier reviewer said, they are losing ground - fast. It is untrue that Shiflett used decades-old data to come to his conclusion. Right in the introduction, he quotes from the 2000 "Religious Congregations and Membership" study conducted by the Glenmary Research Center (the study in conducted every decade.) Here's a few of the numbers. The Presbyterian Church USA declined by 11.6 percent during the '90's; the traditionalist Presbyterian Church in America grew by 42.4 percent. The Evangelical Free Church was up by 57.2 percent, while the United Churches of Christ saw membership decline by 14.8, the Episcopal Church lost 5.3 percent and the United Methodists were down by 6.7 percent. Shiflett quotes the NY Times (and what liberal can doubt the Holy Writ of the NY Times?) as saying that "socially conservative churches that demand high commitment from their members grew faster than other religious denominations in the last decade."

So the facts are not in doubt. As a cradle Catholic who has returned to Mother Church after wasting a lot of time among the the Unitarians and Episcopalians, I can personally attest to the fact that there are more than a few refugees from what C.S. Lewis called the "Christianity-and-water" denominations.

Shiflett explained quite well what draws people to the traditionalist faiths is not a desire for "easy answers." In fact, easy answers are the specialty of the liberal denominations. "Be nice, help save the rainforest (or whatever the trendy cause du joir is)and don't bother about dogma or theology or sexual morals - God loves you just the way you are!" In contrast, those who try to live their lives according to traditionalist religion have a harder road to follow - a road that includes facing the disdain and ridicule of the secular world.

Although the conversion of Charles Colson and the interview with high-profile priest Fr. John McCloskey make for fascinating reading, I too wish Shiflett had included a few more interviews with ordinary refugees from mainline Protestantism. And the chapter on evangelicalism was a moving account of witnesses to and victims of the Columbine shootings, but I wanted to know more about evangelicalism itself.

In fact, I wanted the book to be longer - which is why I'm only giving it 4 stars! However, I recognize that Shiflett's intention was not to write a scholarly thesis, but a quick overview of religion in America, circa 2005, which is why I am not troubled by the lack of footnotes.

Using interviews with numerous church and public leaders, as well as church members, Shiflett attempts to find out why the country has been moving in recent years towards a much more conservative Christianity than we'd known in the past. These interviews are very telling, and it's a great way to get a more "first-person" perspective. When Shiflett injects his view, his opinions are obviously biased (although, to his credit, he doesn't try to pretend towards objectivity), so the interview format works well in balancing the book.

No church really comes off badly in this work, and the Baptists are the ones who are most surprising, coming off very well, especially given the portrayal the more left-leaning media often gives of them.

My biggest complaint about the book is that there's really no new ground broken. Shiflett makes his points well, but this is stuff we've all heard before. A more minor complaint would be the fact that, as the PW review mentions, there are some poor editing errors in the book - not just words, but getting names of people wrong. Really, this is something that should have been caught.

While Shiflett makes his points clearly, it's unlikely that this books is likely to change many minds one way or the other. Your existing religious beliefs are likely to be the greatest influencing factor in how you feel about this book. As a middle-of-the-road type, I think he's done a pretty good job of getting a handle on a tough subject.

Dave Shiflett starts with the premise that Americans are leaving the liberal mainline denominations in droves and asks the question "why"? His answer is that Americans prefer churches which adhere to biblical doctrine and make demands upon their members. He contends that the Episcopal Church USA is rapidly losing its distinctiveness as a Christian church much as the Unitarians did before them. He supports his conclusion by providing examples of people who left the mainline churches, primarily the Episcopal Church USA, and reporting where they went and why they made their choices.

Shiflett's perspective is unique. He does not have a personal stake in the trends that he reports. As an occasional Presbyterian, he is part of the group that has not left the mainline denominations. He is a reporter rather than a member of the clergy or a religious activist. As a result, his story-telling has an outsider's viewpoint.

His presentation is not heavy-handed. If anything, it is too light. He provides many viewpoints, including those of clergy who enthusiastically support the liberal direction of the Episcopal Church USA, clergy who have left the Episcopal Church USA and laymen who have migrated to the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Southern Baptist and evangelical churches. Basically, he provides the dots and lets the reader connect them to see if they agree with his conclusion. This is an anecdotal rather than an exhaustive book.

Shiflett's book is definitely thought provoking. The persons he interviews on multiple sides of the religious divide are intelligent and articulate. The book is also worth reading because he provides a snapshot of different varieties of American religious life, including the relatively obscure Orthodox Church.

The theme of this book is self evident: Liberal churches lose members essentially because they don't give people much reason to be there. Why get up early Sunday morning to hear messages of relative truth and "you're okay" when you can get that from a television screen in the comfort of your own home? Public education, especially higher education, preaches the same message. People join their religious instituions to get a DIFFERENT message. But if a church is going to give you the same message you can get from the world, why bother? I mean, seriously.

The book was very readable and enjoyable. I suspect someone who is not a conservative Christian would find it distinctly less enjoyable. The author is remarkably fair to liberal churches, but there can be so doubt which side he's pulling for.

But as someone familiar with social science methodology, I would have liked to have seen at least one chapter or appendix showing rigorous research done in this area; more detailed hard numbers.

What little reference to research that makes it into the book, combined with what I can hear and see with my own eyes out in the real world, is enough to convince me. But because anyone can "prove" anything with the right "spin" on statistics, an appendix showing the actual study involved would have been a great help. That way, I could have looked at the methodology of the study and the polling questions involved (if any), and decided for myself if the researcher was being biased toward his own conclusions.

Dave Shiflett, author of Christianity on Trial, and journalists for many conservative magazines and influential newspapers, takes his compositions skills in authoring this book on the decline of liberal Christian denominations and juxtaposing them against the growth in conservative Christian denominations. This book has taken some unfair criticism such as "there is nothing new" or he monoliths Christians; while these observations are true, they miss the point.

This is a popular polemic demonstrating statistically and anecdotally the rapid decline in mainline Christian denominations such as the Episcopalian, United Church of Christ, and Presbyterian USA. He interviews some mainline pastors and attends a couple of services, letting the reader observe the services through his lens. He admits that speaking about such a topic will leave many unsatisfied because of the enormous spectrum of Christian belief and issues; but nonetheless, he does a fairly good job in presenting a general view of the liberal problem. Why attend Church if one can get teh same thing in the secular world: A benign God (if one at all) release of every inhibition.

Then he shows the "three" branches of Christianity that are still conservative: Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodox and Southern Baptist/Evangelical Protestant Christianity. He shows that contrary to liberal notions, people in these groups do not want a theocracy and are actually very intelligent people who want an intelligent and demanding faith to practice. I was extremely happy to see Orthodoxy represented since often it is left out of American culture wars.

The biggest problem with the book is its size. It is too small. This he does anticipate as a problem, but neverless, it is a weakness (publishers, we can take larger material). Yes, these stats are not new. I did like that he does not give conservative Episcopalians a pass for leaving the denomination over the homosexual issue, because he is right to notice the problem didn't start there, but with people like Bishop Pike and the denomination denying essential doctrines like the resurrection of Christ over 40 years ago.

An easy read, and while he at times broad brushes and his insight is nothing new - it is still effective.

It is no surprise to anyone following demographic trends within the Church from the last quarter century or more that mainline Protestantism is in severe trouble. Having abandoned the Gospel for liberal social activism, the mainline denominations have seen membership rolls (and giving) decline precipitously while conservative churches have grown dramatically. Like the fictional emperor with his new clothes, the leaders of these decaying communions often wear their �grespectability�h proudly without realizing the world sees through the charade and laughs. It is as if they had eaten of the forbidden fruit and still did not know they were naked.

In Exodus, his study of the phenomena of reallignment within the Church, Dave Shiflett tries to get to the heart of why the mainline churches, following a trend they thought would keep them �grelevant�h, instead find themselves at the wrong end of a huge demographic shift within American Christianity. Much of the strength of the book is that Shiflett, an admittedly nominal Presbyterian, has no axe to grind in this battle. He simply wants to find out why some people have decided to leave mainline churches and why others have stayed. While the statistics speak volumes, his interviews give us a look inside the hearts and minds of people on both sides of the issue.

Shiflett begins his exposition with the epitome of the church gone wrong: the Episcopal Church. Once a body so conservative it was called �gthe Republican Party at prayer�h, the American branch of the Anglican Communion has veered away from its historic teachings and embraced the revisionist vision for the Christian faith. Shiflett takes a hard look at how the theological direction of the Episcopal Church has left it a shell of its former self both in terms of membership and in influence. Not content to take one side of things, he visits those who have left as well as those who embrace the new gospel of inclusivism. Those who follow this path at the local level are presented as caring individuals who are terribly misguided as to the direction the church needs to take to survive.

Shiflett does not treat revisionist leaders like Bishop John Shelby Spong quite so well. Deriding them as �gcelebrity heretics�h who endorse an �ginfantile version of God�h, they stand accused of reducing the omnipotent God of the Christian faith to what he describes as �gWD-30�� - a wee deity who is 30% of what God should be. This �gGod lite�h is a pathetic concoction that garners neither loyalty nor love and seems more likely to inspire pity than awe. This is illustrated by comparing the blandness of the statements of beliefs by Spong and other revisionists with the inspired and majestic prose of the Nicene Creed of the orthodox Christian faith.

Shifflett then turns his attention to those churches that still follow orthodox principles within their own traditions. Examining in turn Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, the Southern Baptists, and the Evangelical movement, he shows how churches who maintain their traditional beliefs can survive difficult periods and even grow during times of crisis. Each of these churches are very different in beliefs and practices and yet each is growing at a time when the mainline churches are imploding.

Shiflett ends with a discussion about evangelism. Conservative churches grow because the news of their God is truly good news worth sharing. The revisionist gospel is one that cannot even inspire its own adherents to share with others. In the end, their religion is not one where God matters much, since God does not matter much in their lives.

Some might question Shiflett�fs lack of concern over theological correctness in formulating his arguments. However, this is not a study of what churches believe correct doctrine. Given his own lack of ecclesial commitment, it is doubtful Shiflett would engage in such an examination. Rather, this is a look at the paths different churches have taken theologically and whether they were succesful in gaining followers or even maintaining the membership rolls at existing levels. There is overwhelming evidence that embracing theological revisionism is ecclesial suicide. Shiflett gets behind the statistics and lets us see clearly why this is so. And for this, the reading of Exodus is essential to all who seek to understand the decline of America�fs mainline denominations and the rise of more traditional churches in their place.

There are certain immutable truths of life that all of us readily recognize. Death, for one. Another is taxes. A third occurs whenever a Republican enters the White House. As soon as this last point becomes a reality, we all know liberals will start shrieking about the "sinister" influence of fundamentalist Christianity. Back when Ronald Reagan won the presidency, the screams emanating from the media pulpits warned Americans about the evils of the Moral Majority. When George W. Bush took the oath of office, "evangelicals" suddenly wanted to turn the United States into a theocracy. CNN, I think it was, even ran a special program about President Bush's religious beliefs--replete with ominous narration and a musical score that sounded like they lifted it right out of a horror movie. Ridiculous, isn't it? I'm an agnostic and even I sit in open-mouthed awe at the hysterical propaganda that the mainstream media try to pass off as the truth about our religiously inclined fellow citizens. In fact, I'm downright tired of it. If this nonsense keeps up, I'm going to start sending money to organizations seeking to reverse the rulings limiting the display of the Ten Commandments and prayer in schools.

I firmly believe that a more religious America--not a theocracy, but a more religious America--equals a healthier America. I want people who believe in something beyond themselves and their selfish desires running the country, and I want those people to hold beliefs that don't drift in the breeze. Dave Shiflett, the author of "Exodus: Why Americans Are Fleeing Liberal Churches for Conservative Christianity," believes the same thing. And if this book is any indication, so do millions of other Americans. Liberals recognized early on that if they wanted to fundamentally change America, they would need a cadre of troops to infiltrate the Catholic and Protestant seminaries across the country. This occurred in the 1960s and 1970s (what a surprise there). Shiflett weighs in with this slender tome to measure the results of this infusion of liberalism in several religious dominations, among them the Episcopalians and the Unitarians. The author discovers that Americans are abandoning the liberal branches of these bodies in droves in favor of either more conservative strand of their respective faiths or for other denominations--the Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church, and the Southern Baptists among them--that better reflect their beliefs. "Exodus" examines the liberal and conservative sides in order to understand why.

Through numerous interviews with a variety of people, Shiflett finds that liberal Christianity lacks drawing power because the messages such denominations promote mirrors exactly the liberalism found in many other facets of American life. In other words, you can find the exact same messages on television as you can in a liberal religious organization. Many Americans don't like this; they want to attend and take part in a church that offers something that transcends daily life, something that makes demands on how they live their lives. Liberalism, not surprisingly, doesn't quite cut it. Mainstream Christian churches have just about given up on such critical Christian tenets like biblical inerrancy in favor of touchy-feely inclusionism that often goes directly against fundamental doctrine. The author discovers that many (not all) liberal pastors, reverends, and ministers reject the divinity of Jesus, the resurrection, and even a belief in God. Wow! How can such people call themselves Christians? The answer is that they can call themselves whatever they want; the problem is that members know they aren't. That sound the liberals hear is the sound of cars driving out of the parking lot, never to return.

More interesting are the interviews Shiflett conducts with conservative Christians. He doesn't pull any punches with these folks, either. A section on the demise of the mainstream Episcopalian church provides a good example. The break revolved around a specific and very sensitive issue, but the growth of liberalism within the church had gone on for decades before. Why didn't the Episcopalians split when the first signs of trouble emerged? It's a tough question that isn't easy to answer. So where should people who disagree with liberal Episcopalians go? Why, off to the Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church, or the Southern Baptists. Interviews with members of these organizations reveal a lot about how a growing number of Americans view God and his representative institutions on earth. They believe that God is all-powerful, omnipresent, and demands that his followers tow a tough line. Their God does not change the words laid down in the Bible to accommodate temporal fads. The message is the same message it was two thousand years ago. One Episcopalian refugee, the journalist Andrew Ferguson, sums up his impressions concerning the breakup of the liberal mainstream: "It's good to see these puffed-up Episcopalians humbled. They became creatures of the world. This is what they deserve." There it is in a nutshell. Those of a conservative faith believe drifting away from scripture brings fragmentation and destruction.

I had a few problems with Shiflett's study. Where, for example, is an examination of the Mormons? Mormonism is one of the fastest growing faiths on the planet, and has been for a number of years if I'm not mistaken. Perhaps refugees from the Episcopalian imbroglio aren't signing up with the Mormons, or maybe none of the people Shiflett knows thought about joining the Mormon faith. Whatever the case, I'd like to know if this particular church is reaching out to those leaving other denominations and, if so, how they are doing it. Anyway, "Exodus" is a nifty little read, a book you can read through quickly but one that makes you think. In some spots, it is even downright inspiring. Give it a shot.

As a lifelong "mainline Protestant," I found the topic (the growth and dynamism of conservative/orthodox churches and the decline of liberal/progressive churches) to be a very interesting topic. The ironic conclusion of the book is that the churches that demand the most of their members are thriving while those that are the most relaxed in their rules and requirements are in decline. The book contains a number of insights derived from interviews with clergy and laity of various denominations, both liberal and conservative. The only disappointment I had with the book is that it could have been more thoroughly researched. Conclusions and themes are derived from interviews that are in-depth but lacking in breadth. Typically, only one or two people are interviewed in the effort to understand the direction or their respective churches. They may or may not represent the general sentiment of their denomination. The book is a good starting point upon which I hope other authors build.

As an Evangelical, born-again Christian, this book caught my attention and the subject matter of this book is therefore of great interest to me.

This book is well researched and documents and focuses primarily on the mainline denomination, The Episcopalian Church and how it has strayed away from The Bible and from absolute truth. Consequently, The Episcopalian Church has seen a steady decline in their membership to the point that they are an insignificant Church (which once was one of the largest mainline denominations).

The author, Dave Shiflett also gives many interesting (but sad) anecdotes of the fallacy of the liberal churches and how they have gone too far. Among the most notable ones are 1. How a seminary student was told that the problem with him was he actually believed in God. 2. A chaplain at a hospital refused to comfort a dying patient with the promise of afterlife because he/she did not believe in one.

Next, the author explores the various traditional, conservative, Bible believing Churches where the "refugees" of the mainline liberal denominations have gone to. Mr. Shiflett examines the various conservative Churches, The Catholic Church, The Orthodox Church, The Southern Baptist Church, and Evangelical Christian Churches.

Overall, this book is very interesting, very factual, and brings to light this consistent trend of the decline of liberal Churches, as Americans increasingly want to be in Churches that teach absolutes and orthodox, Biblical teachings. Most interesting is that this book is written by a non-Christian, in which the author readily admits in the book. Thus, one can consider that the author has examined this issue from a third party, "objective" point of view, with no bias for or against any particular Church denomination. On the other hand, as an Evangelical Christian myself, I did notice that the author often misuses Christian terminology and demonstrates in his writing that he does not completely understand Christianity.

Also, the book contains a major factual error where the author writes that Unitarians, Mormons (Church of Latter-Day Saints) and Jehovah's Witnesses are Christian denomintaions. These three sects are not considered by any Christian scholar to be Christian because they do not believe in one of the main tenants of Christianity, that Jesus Christ is part of the Trinity, let alone the Trinity (a triune God, One God revealed in three separate but distinct personhoods, God- the Father, Son- Jesus Christ, and The Holy Spirit). He places Mormons (in Chapter 8) and Jehovah's Witnesses (in Chapters 7 and 8) in the same category as Evangelicals and Evangelists, which is factually incorrect.

I would recommend this book to both Christians and non-Christians alike. This book is a good source of information about this trend in modern Christianity, although it must be read with "a grain of salt" and with discernment, due to the aforementioned factual errors.