American Protestantism Continues to Decline

The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is struggling to keep women out of the clergy, and has already lost a major bid to block it.

The SBC is part of the Evangelical side of the Baptist tradition. Evangelicals are usually more doctrinally and politically conservative. However, the SBC has been struggling to keep itself that way, as liberalism tightens its grip. Evangelicalism, in general, is shifting in a more doctrinally liberal direction, and as we’ve seen in both Mainline Protestantism and Catholicism, this is the kiss of death for church membership. Once liberalism takes hold, church membership plummets, donations taper off, and the church goes into decline.

America’s three largest Christian traditions are (1) Catholic at 64.6 million members, (2) Southern Baptist Convention at 13.6 million and (3) the United Methodist Church (UMC) at 10.2 million. The UMC is undergoing a major schism right now over same-sex “marriage” and gay clergy issues, and the SBC won’t be able to stop female pastors forever, and it looks like they may have already lost. Traditionally speaking, when female pastors become the norm, denominations tend to take a hard turn to the Left on at least doctrinal issues, if not political issues as well. This will cause the SBC to split just like the UMC.

The bottom line is it’s over for the two largest Protestant denominations in America. The UMC is already splitting up, and the SBC is not far behind. Protestantism is dying in the United States. Not even the Evangelical colossus in American Protestantism is immune from the reach of religious liberalism, which destroys everything it touches.

As for the U.S. Catholic Church, however, there is still time. The Catholic Church still does not (officially) accept female clergy or same-sex “marriage.” While many in our Catholic clergy are as gay as a circus train, it’s still a bit taboo for them to be open about it, in spite of the best efforts by Fr. James Martin SJ., and others. So while we have serious leadership problems (due to homosexuality, liberalism and marxism in the clergy), the structural and doctrinal edifice of the Church remains intact for now. Thus, it can be salvaged with good leadership. If holy priests will continue to step up to the plate, and continue to lead in a pastoral sense, we should start getting some more good bishops in the years ahead. All internal studies show that younger clergy are far more doctrinally (and even politically) conservative than their religious predecessors.

So start fasting and praying this Lent. Be unapologetically Catholic. Develop your relationship with Christ through his Catholic Church, reading a Catholic Bible and praying the Holy Rosary. Ask God for good Catholic leadership, and maybe, just maybe, God will send us some.

The fracturing (and future breakup) of the SBC does present a golden opportunity for Catholics. The SBC currently dominates the American South, and this has been the case since shortly after the American Civil War. Already the American South is the largest region of Catholic growth in the United States. It’s deceptive, because the region is large, and is heavily dominated by Baptists. Still, more Catholics live in the American South than in any other region of the United States.

Approximately, 20% of Catholics live in the Midwest, 26% live in the Northeast, 29% live in the South and 25% live in the West. This means the American South is positioned to become the Catholic center of the United States, and with the potential breakup of the SBC, that means Catholics will solidify that hold, as the largest faith among other religions. The liberalization of the SBC, which always comes with female pastors. is sure to drive away many Southern Baptists and scatter them among a cacophony of smaller Baptist denominations, Pentecostals and Nondenominational organizations. If we Catholics can just get our act together, especially in the South, and present Southerners with a strongly conservative option, we can (and we will) pick up a lot more converts in the years ahead.

Shane Schaetzel is an author of Catholic books and he is an Evangelical convert to the Catholic Church. His articles have been featured on LifeSiteNews, The Remnant Newspaper, Forward in Christ, and Catholic Online. You can read Shane’s books at ShaneSchaetzel.Com