Watanabe, Akira. Translated by Jim Peterson. "9/11 and the American Evangelical Church: An Observation and Analysis" (・当時のアメリカの福音派の状況と分析). Japan Evangelical Association Theological Commission Pamphlet 6 (May 2006): 75-88.
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IV. WHY IS THE ANTI-WAR FACTION SO WEAK?
During this time I was also following the anti-war movement. On March 20th 500 people gathered for an anti-war rally in Louisville. I conducted random interviews of the people in attendance and inquired of their religious background and their thoughts on the war. A young woman in her teens who claimed no religious affiliation responded; “Christianity is exploiting the children of third world countries. Christianity is just a tool of colonialism.” A Jewish woman in her thirties replied; “Americans revere the 10 commandments even though one of them is 'Thou shalt not kill.'” A Catholic man in his seventies said; “I think American Christians are actually serving themselves.” I was not able to confirm the presence of any conservative Protestants at the rally. Many were Catholic, Jewish and Quaker, as well as a good number who had no religious affiliation or said they did not attend church.
When surveys of religious affiliation are carried out in the U.S., those who say they don't attend church are referred to as “unchurched.” It is a documented fact in the U.S. that as social rank and level of education increase, people move toward increasingly liberal churches. Those who end up leaving the church altogether then become the unchurched. It is not necessarily the case that these unchurched people have no faith in Christianity, but rather that they have ceased to trust the church. In many cases even the conservative churches, let alone the liberal ones, are unable to get these unchurched people back into the churches. (Roof and McKinney; 1987, p.241)
I attended a prayer vigil for peace at the Smoky Hills Baptist Church in Louisville on March 16th. It was not officially sponsored by the church. Including myself, the vigil was attended by 16 people, most of whom were unchurched. They turned not to the Bible, but rather to an anti-war pamphlet authored by Mark Twain entitled The War Prayer, reading it aloud in unison. A middle aged, unchurched man shared his reflection on what we had read, saying, “Society just goes crazy when war starts.” He continued, “I'm really struggling with this. I just don't know how we can communicate the peace of God with people right now. The world around us is so insane that it just gets harder and harder. I am praying that God will sustain my optimism but…”
That small gathering was such a contrast to the large meeting at Blue Grass Church just days earlier. This was the dividing line in the struggle between the pro-war conservative Christians and the anti-war liberals. The liberals didn't even have their own churches where they could gather. The conservative Christians, on the other hand, had a place where they gathered regularly to exchange ideas and confirm the correctness of their opinions. Sociologists refer to the places of communication in which people can receive ongoing confirmation of their beliefs as “plausibility structures” (Berger; 1967, p.20)
During the latter half of the 20th century conservative churches in the U.S. experienced growth by focusing on and responding to people's personal problems such as family issues. Meanwhile, liberal churches neglected the personal needs of people and chose rather to focus on the Bible as a work of literary interest and issues of global social justice, and subsequently declined in numbers. One could say that the loss of power within the anti-war movement is the result of liberals letting go of the church as a plausibility structure.
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