Will Christianity Survive Diversity?

Increased attendance at services of other religions has caused a serious decline in attendance at Christian Churches in America. During his presidency, Barack Obama stated, “We are no longer a Christian nation…” Mr. Obama insisted that he meant to say “We are no longer ‘just’ a Christian nation.” But the omission of the word “just” doesn’t change his meaning that much.

Obama seemed to take pride in the growing number of other religious denominations in America. But a nation’s religious fervor shouldn’t be evaluated in the same way as industry and commerce.

America’s Christian church attendance is declining and Great Britain’s Church of England, the established state religion, is also experiencing a loss of congregants. Why are Christian churches in America and Britain no longer attracting parishioners to their services? There are various reasons but an important one is that few, if any, of these churches have priests or ministers capable of rousing a congregation.

But who today could develop a national following and potentially become America’s primary Christian minister. Bear with me as I’m going to suggest that Franklin Graham, son of famous evangelist Billy Graham, might fit the bill. Unlike his father, Franklin has no reservations about his involvement in politics and public affairs. He espouses Republican conservatism and even publicly endorses conservative candidates. His adolescent years were fairly typical and certainly didn’t presage a future religious profession. But in his twenties while alone in a hotel room, reading the gospel of John, Franklin Graham had an epiphany and was reborn as a Christian.

Rather than sermonizing the gospel like his father, Franklin’s religious endeavors primarily include feeding and clothing the poor with his organization Samaritan's Purse. Although Franklin Graham is a product of the secular world, his Christian beliefs are bona fide. Volunteers to his organization must hold conservative values and agree to oppose homosexuality and same-sex marriage

For England ‘s Christian leader, I would recommend Calvin Robinson. Robinson decided to leave broadcasting and become a theologian. He had hopes of becoming an ordained deacon in the Church of England. But he was turned down and consequently settled for a deacon-ship in the conservative Anglican splinter group. The son of a mixed race couple, Robinson’s opinions stem from Christian values, which he argues are the foundation of a moral and stable society.
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Calvin Robinson opposes critical race theory, the ordination of women, same sex marriage and pre-marital sex. But he has defended colonialism and the British Empire and maintains that reparations for slavery have essentially already been made. Robinson’s conservative opinions come at a time when Church of England attendance is declining.

Graham and Robinson already have influence within the Christian community. Hopefully they could reduce the excessive social activity and secularization of services.