Did Religion Become Obsolete?

Sociologist, Christian Smith, just wrote a book, Why Religion Went Obsolete: The Demise of Traditional Faith in America, where he argues that religion hasn't simply declined, but has become culturally obsolete for younger generations. Smith reports that alternatives have superceded religion, which has become less relevant and disappeared from people's considerations, similar to technologies becoming obsolete. He also says that traditional religion in America hasn’t just declined in numbers, but has become useless and irrelevant in the minds of most.

Due to long percolating forces deep in the culture, younger Americans don’t hate or oppose religion, but consider it irrelevant. One review reports: “Religion in the U.S. has suffered huge losses in recent decades. The number of Americans identifying as ‘not religious’ has increased remarkably. Religious affiliation, service attendance, and belief in God have declined. More and more people claim to be ‘spiritual but not religious.’” This mirrors another book, The Great Dechurching, where Michael Graham and Jim Davis show that more people abandoned churches since 2000 in America than the total of those who became Christians prior to that. Church closings overtook church plantings and the size of most congregations shrank.

What happened will require no easy fix. A lot got the country into this position. It won’t change with more of the same. More of the same is what churches are still doing today to attract and keep people, essentially feeding their lust. People now expect church to fit into their life as a convenience just to make their lives better. As long as they’re happy, they’re fine, even if God is non-stop, incessantly dishonored, disobeyed, and not truly believed.