![]() One strand is the conservative and populist Protestant tradition that goes back to Cane Ridge and the Second Great Awakening. For most of our history, it was a battle between two strands of Protestantism. I submit that this struggle is longstanding. ![]() Polarization in the United States is rooted in a struggle between the Faithful family culture and that of Engaged Progressives. But I would have been nervous about friends whose parents put “Hate Has No Home Here” signs in their front yards. I can report that I was happy to have my children become friends with peers of different ethnic and religious backgrounds. Homeschooling reflects an effort to prevent one’s children from falling under the influence of schools dominated by Engaged Progressives. I’m fairly confident that the Faithful parents harbor a reciprocal hostility. There is one striking exception, however: Engaged Progressives do not want their children to befriend Evangelical Christians! Engaged Progressives champion “diversity” and “inclusion.” Parents want their children to have friends of different races and ethnic backgrounds. Among Engaged Progressives, the opposite obtains: Democrats outnumber Republicans 4-to-1. Among the Faithful, Republicans outnumber Democrats 4-to-1. I won’t go into detail here, but some data points are informative. If you dive into the survey data provided in this study, you can see that the culture wars of recent decades are rooted in the conflict between these two family types. This leaves the Faithful and Engaged Progressives family types, both of which are confident and assertive-and at loggerheads. This family type is highly functional, but parents take their cues from the dominant culture rather than contend for control. Often immigrants, these parents want their kinds to move up the ladder. Obviously, this family culture is not capable of cultural leadership and political influence. These families are unstable, burdened by poverty, and debilitated by violence, drug abuse, and other destructive behaviors. The Detached family culture is dysfunctional. The study identifies four distinct family cultures: the Faithful, Engaged Progressives, the Detached, and American Dreamers. Titled “ Culture of American Families,” this study illuminates what underlies today’s political polarization, realities that are tied to the history of Protestantism in America. That won’t end, but it will be supplemented, perhaps eclipsed, by a Nietzschean vitalism and cult of power that blames Christianity for the suicide of the West.Ī decade ago, the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia produced a detailed report on family life in the United States. For most of the modern era, Christianity been criticized by Enlightenment rationalists and those committed to progressive moral causes. There are many factors pushing the churches in this direction.Ī growing challenge to Christianity from the anti-Christian right is the third trend. The second trend will be toward a more conservative Christianity. Here I see continuity: the battle between conservative Protestantism and the secularized liberal Protestantism represented by the progressive left will be ongoing. ![]() The first concerns Christianity and politics. Thus, to make my topic manageable, I will restrict myself to speculations about the future of Christianity in America. I lack his command of global trends in Christianity.
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