{"id":1654965,"date":"2022-09-23T11:04:23","date_gmt":"2022-09-23T15:04:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1654965"},"modified":"2022-09-23T11:06:15","modified_gmt":"2022-09-23T15:06:15","slug":"from-the-inspiration-of-scripture-to-gender-identity-evangelicalism-sees-a-massive-leftward-shift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/from-the-inspiration-of-scripture-to-gender-identity-evangelicalism-sees-a-massive-leftward-shift\/","title":{"rendered":"From The Inspiration Of Scripture To Gender Identity, Evangelicalism Sees A Massive Leftward Shift"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffrom-the-inspiration-of-scripture-to-gender-identity-evangelicalism-sees-a-massive-leftward-shift%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1654965&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>American evangelicalism experienced a seismic shift toward theological and social progressivism over the past two years.<\/p>\n<p>As revealed by Ligonier Ministries and LifeWay Research\u2019s most recent <a href=\"https:\/\/thestateoftheology.com\/\">State of Theology Survey<\/a> \u2014 a biennial poll that tracks the beliefs of professing evangelicals and the overall adult population \u2014 the winds of the social justice movement appeared to sweep through the pews equally as strongly as the culture at large.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe frightening results only reveal the fact that many who claim to be evangelical in America are not, indeed, truly evangelical,\u201d G3 Ministries Executive Vice President Scott Aniol told The Daily Wire. \u201cAt the very least, this should cause us to think twice when we read statements in the media about what \u2018evangelicals\u2019 do or believe, and above all, the results should motivate pastors to be sure to faithfully teach their people core biblical doctrine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Two years ago, for instance, only 22% of evangelicals agreed that \u201cgender identity is a matter of choice\u201d \u2014 a figure that has since increased to 37%. Only 11% affirmed that \u201cthe Bible\u2019s condemnation of homosexual behavior doesn\u2019t apply today\u201d \u2014 a figure that has risen to 28%.<\/p>\n<p>The results correspond with a rising tolerance of homosexuality and transgenderism in the broader American culture. Toward the beginning of 2021, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/majority-of-gop-voters-support-same-sex-marriage-for-the-first-time-poll\">majority of Republican voters<\/a> for the first time indicated that they support same-sex marriage. As officials consider the Respect for Marriage Act, a bill that would codify homosexual marriage into federal law, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/gop-establishment-leaders-call-on-senate-to-enshrine-same-sex-marriage\">several high-profile Republicans<\/a> publicly endorsed the legislation.<\/p>\n<p>For a handful of issues, however, evangelicals became more conservative. <\/p>\n<p>The share of evangelicals affirming the statement \u201csex outside of marriage is a sin\u201d increased from 90% to 94%. On the sanctity of life \u2014 \u201cabortion is a sin\u201d \u2014 evangelical support also rose from 88% to 91%. \u201cWhile the reasons for this positive trend are unknown, it is encouraging to see more evangelicals affirming the personhood of human beings in the womb,\u201d Ligonier remarked.<\/p>\n<p>Cultural battle over wokeness <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/how-the-battle-over-wokeness-has-infiltrated-the-church\">cascaded into evangelicalism<\/a> after the death of George Floyd and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. <\/p>\n<p>Many pastors and high-profile evangelicals spoke in favor of critical race theory and posited that the United States is systemically racist, requiring patently unbiblical responses such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/warnock-america-must-repent-for-its-worship-of-whiteness\">repenting of whiteness<\/a>. As Ibram X. Kendi and Robin DiAngelo became household names, evangelical volumes such as \u201cWoke Church\u201d by Eric Mason and \u201cHow to Fight Racism\u201d by Jemar Tisby began circulating in many church circles.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps most concerning of all is an apparent rise in postmodern tendencies among evangelicals; agreement with the notion that \u201creligious belief is a matter of personal opinion\u201d rather than \u201cobjective truth\u201d soared from 23% to 38%.<\/p>\n<p>Professing evangelicals likewise folded on historic Christian teaching with respect to matters of doctrine. Two years ago, 15% said that \u201cthe Bible, like all sacred writings, contains helpful accounts of ancient myths but is not literally true\u201d \u2014 a figure that increased to 26% in the most recent survey. \u201cA rising disbelief in the Bible\u2019s literal truth may help us understand why American evangelicals also increasingly believe that religious faith is a subjective experience rather than an objective reality,\u201d Ligonier continued.<\/p>\n<p>Rather than affirming that salvation is available through Jesus Christ alone, the share of evangelicals claiming that \u201cGod accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam\u201d rose from 42% to 56%. Meanwhile, the proportion of evangelicals agreeing that \u201cJesus was a great teacher, but he was not God\u201d rose from 30% to 43%.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/how-the-federal-government-used-evangelical-leaders-to-spread-covid-propaganda-to-churches\">closure of churches<\/a> as a result of government lockdowns is a possible explanation for declining affirmation of orthodox Christianity \u2014 especially since many former attendees stayed at home on Sunday mornings even after the lockdowns ended. For the first time in American history, church membership <a href=\"https:\/\/news.gallup.com\/poll\/341963\/church-membership-falls-below-majority-first-time.aspx\">fell below half of the population<\/a> in 2020 \u2014 an overall decline of nearly 30% since the end of World War II.<\/p>\n<p>Although evangelicals in the United States have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/more-dangerous-than-the-crude-tyrannies-of-the-past-a-profound-theologians-prophetic-warnings-about-government-education\">long faced the temptation<\/a> to prioritize social activism and capitulate to theological liberalism, the turmoil of the past two years appears to have accelerated such a shift \u2014 and manifested that the sons of the present age are alive and well within the four walls of the church.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese results convey the ongoing need for the church to be engaged in apologetics, helping unbelievers by providing a well-reasoned defense of the Christian faith, and helping believers by strengthening their clarity and conviction regarding why they believe what they do,\u201d Ligonier concluded. \u201cThe need is great, but the power and promises of God can equip the church to bring truth and light to a deceived and dark world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>American evangelicalism experienced a seismic shift toward theological and social progressivism over the past two years. As revealed by Ligonier Ministries and LifeWay Research\u2019s most recent State of Theology Survey \u2014 a biennial poll that tracks the beliefs of professing evangelicals and the overall adult population \u2014 the winds of the social justice movement appeared &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1654967,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1654965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1654965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1654965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1654965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1654967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1654965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1654965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1654965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}