Requiem for a fiction

The New York TimesNicholas Kristof takes up the result of the latest PEW poll, which shows that Christianity continues to decline in the United States.

Perhaps for the first time since the United States was established, a majority of young adults here do not identify as Christian.

Only 49 percent of millennials consider themselves Christian, compared with 84 percent of Americans in their mid-70s or older, according to a new report from the Pew Research Center.

Kristof spreads the blame around, apportioning a large share to “blowhards” like James Dobson, Tony Perkins, Jerry Falwell, Jr., Franklin Graham, et. al.; it’s easy to compile a list of utterly repellent spokespeople for Christian piety that no decent adult wants to be identified with. Since I predicted before Donald Trump was even inaugurated that the Evangelical Right’s support for him would be fatal to their influence, I’m inclined to agree that the continuing failure of Christianity has much to do with its malign behavior.

He overlooks two important factors, though. The first is that the Christian narrative is incontestably false; how, after all, do you even have an educated conversation about whether or not Our Invisible Friend surreptitiously impregnated a pubescent teenage girl in order to make her the mother of … himself? It’s too crazy to even discuss. Second, the only contribution Christianity has made to ethical thought is Original Sin, which is no more than degrading nonsense meant to keep the lowly under control.

Christianity was doomed long before televangelists showed-up to clean-out the pockets of its insecure fools; Dobson et. al. are merely hastening the inevitable.

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