Can Churches and Religious Institutions Survive Sheilaism and Other Cultural Trends? Part II
In a recent post, Conversion Therapy: The Supreme Court Decides, Part I, we plumbed the depths of the increasingly popular effort to prevent Christian therapists from exercising their freedom of expression and freedom of religion rights within the meaning of the Constitution. The necessity of considering these vexed issues arises out of a world that is increasingly confused regarding moral, gender, sexual, and identity issues.
As Jennifer Bilek shows, confusion has accelerated ever since a handful of billionaires, including leading elites at Blackrock, Ernst & Young, Amazon, Microsoft, and Disney, deployed their financial power to fund transsexualism and to erase women from our society. Prompted by this ball of confusion, and reacting to progressive trends in politics and culture, this installment extends our analysis by answering the following question: How can churches, Christian schools, and institutions prepare for the political, social, and cultural battles ahead?
There are two steps in answering this critical question. First, we should embrace Abraham Kuyper’s extraordinary claim that “[t]here’s not a square inch in the whole domain of human existence over which Christ, who is Lord over all, does not exclaim, ‘Mine’!” Kuyper’s statement focuses on the necessity of individual spiritual formation as well as cultural and societal formation.
Second, we must ascertain what Christians and Christian employees at Christian institutions actually believe. George Barna offers a comprehensive assessment of what Americans actually believe by assessing whether Jesus would count you and me among his disciples.
This is a question that Christian institutions and all of us must consider. This is an essential question because millions of Americans embrace unbiblical perspectives. While more than two-thirds of Americans say they are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the United States, few pause to consider that many of our problems stem from “American adults making decisions based on shifting foundational beliefs and values.”
Americans' worldview preferences have been subject to wide-ranging pendulum swings that reflect their complicity—whether inadvertent or deliberate—in shaping America’s dominant religious view. Accepted by 92% of Americans, the dominant philosophy of American life is Syncretism.
Syncretism, representing the onset of spiritual dementia, describes a customized blend of philosophies and moral codes that individuals piece together for their own personal satisfaction. Standing in stark contrast with the willingness of Nigerian Christians to be martyrs for their biblical faith, Syncretism constitutes a rather eclectic collection of ideas that includes an admixture of Biblical Theism, Secular Humanism, Marxism, and Sheilaism.
Sheilaism is a shorthand term for people whose religious beliefs allow them to pick and choose strands from multiple religions, usually without much theological consideration. Sheila follows “her own ‘little voice’ in a faith she calls ‘Sheilaism.’"
Reflecting the sharp decline in orthodox Christian beliefs, Christian churches, Christian schools, and Christian institutions are filled with individuals—parishioners and employees—who practice some form of Sheilaism. Alternatively, some parishioners or employees have fallen for New Thought Christianity, which is made up of what Melissa Daughterty describes as Happy Lies disguised by biblical language.
Happy Lies include the Law of Attraction and the health-and-wealth gospel. Whether parishioners of churches or employees at Christian institutions are drawn to Sheilaism or Happy Lies, they are unlikely to be sympathetic to either a biblical worldview or the efforts of Christian counselors, pastors, or educators who wish to practice conversion therapy. Nor would they be sympathetic to those who oppose mandatory digital identification, transgenderism, or transhumanism.
Reflecting this overall picture, George Barna shows that most Americans (68%) consider themselves Christian. Yet within the born-again/evangelical populace, which makes up 33% of America’s population, a vanishingly small proportion holds a biblical worldview. That means that only 4% of America’s population holds such views.
Barna’s research shows that in 2023, 14% of the adult population were Emergent Followers, meaning that they lean in a Biblical direction. On the other hand, the bulk of the population—82%--see themselves as World Citizens. That is, they possess a worldview that opposes biblical principles.
And churches, Christian schools, and religious institutions are hiring individuals from a pool of workers with a shockingly low level of both biblical literacy and a biblical worldview. In other words, such institutions are headed for troubled waters, since they frequently hire individuals who claim to be Christians but are simultaneously drawn to worldviews rooted in Eastern Mysticism, Secular Humanism, Postmodernism, and Sheilaism.
George Barna’s dismal data confirms that churches and other Christian institutions face a daunting task in hiring and retaining workers with a biblical perspective. More likely than not, such institutions must do a better job of vetting prospective pastors, teachers, and other employees—including janitors and other service personnel—on what they believe and, secondly, how they act in public and private.
In other words, religious institutions need to require that all employees, including pastors, undergo an annual worldview assessment as a condition of employment. And this assessment should be viewed as non-negotiable.
Quite consistently with Apostle James’ injunction in James 4:4—"that friendship with the world [and its ideas] is enmity with God”—the political, social, and cultural battles ahead are likely to become increasingly challenging. Christian churches, schools, and academic institutions that refuse to face this gathering storm will reap a political, social, and legal whirlwind. If Christian institutions wish to remain Christian, being nice is not enough.