Was just doing some casual internet browsing and came across this. It’s a couple years old but, with Trump now elected to another four years, is undoubtedly relevant once again.
A (gay) ex-pastor of a Baptist church did some of his own research on why so many people are leaving Christianity. What he came across is quite interesting. Unsurprisingly, most of the major reasons have to do with politics and things related to politics — in particular, distaste for conservative politics and accompanying attitudes.
But it also turns out that Trump himself was the last straw for compelling a lot of people to quit the church:
I asked people why they’re leaving Christianity, and here’s what I heard
Trump: The last straw
To better understand why people are leaving, it’s important to look at the final reason, what the survey referred to as “the straw that broke the camel’s back.” While much of the data remains the same, it’s important to note that one reason moved from seventh place to third: politics.
For many respondents, politics is what finally motivated them to leave Christianity. Specifically, many referenced the election of Donald Trump and the support he received from the evangelical community. In fact, the name “Trump” was mentioned 81 times in the survey responses as a key reason someone left Christianity. For example, these were some respondents’ experiences:
- “A culmination of events over the course of a few months starting in the summer of 2020. I had a fight with my father-in-law over the Confederate flag being a symbol of racism, he stopped speaking to me for months and it became a whole thing. The rise in glorifying Trump and fascism disguised as democracy.”
- “Seeing so many friends and family that claim to love and follow Jesus pledge their allegiance to nationalism and Trump.”
- “The 2016 election. I wanted nothing to do with a group that supported Trump and his insane ideology under the pretense of faith.”
- “Trump was the last straw for me. Seeing a person who should be the opposite of what Christians are called to be, being supported by evangelicals everywhere, really woke me up to some harsh American/conservative realities and how we’ve bastardized Christianity like others before to push not love or Christ but instead Republican dogma steeped in racism, sexism and greed with the Bible as a manipulation tool to get people to conform to these particular ideals that have nothing to do with the Gospels.”
You can be sure that most of the exodus here is from Evangelical churches, since most Mainline Protestant churches do not suffer from this same excessively-conservative affliction.
Indeed, according to the 2023 PRRI Census of American Religion, in 2006, white Evangelical Protestants outnumbered white Mainline Protestants among the population by 23% to 17.8% — a gap of more than 5 points. As of last year the gap is down to 13.4% to 12.2% — just over 1 point. It’s true that non-white Evangelicals are making up for some of the decline in white Evangelicals, but Evangelical populations are still declining nonetheless.
Expect that with 4 more years of Trumpism, this trend will accelerate.
