4 Reasons You’re Experiencing Evangelical Burnout
Organized religion in the west is in the decline. Probably the most obvious observation in the world but intriguing nonetheless.
There’s a plethora of reasons for this. On the whole, the wealthy, western countries have enjoyed, for the most part (and when compared to the east) prosperity. Capital, in all of its forms, has a weird way of distorting then warping a society’s sense of autonomy, agency, and belief in one’s “godness.”
(Don’t worry, this won’t turn into a rant about how wayward this generation is, how we ought to go back to how it was, etc etc. Keep tracking with me.)
By “godness,” I’m describing both in the case of the religious right and secular left an abandonment of God being mysterious, awe-inspiring, and other than, ie “holy.”
Said another way, God “aint got no respect, NO RESPECT!”
Simply put, the religious right’s insistence on making a nation Christian belies a belief that God’s will itself won’t be installed in a nation via Christian character but rather, Christian legislation. On the inverse, the secular left wants as I heard in my Christian circles “the kingdom without the king.” In other words, invoking Heaven on earth without the Author of Heaven and earth being involved.
What does this have to do with evangelical burnout? Let me show you in _____ ways.
From the Religious Right — A Taxing Insistence on “the Faith Agenda”
As a person of the Christian faith, does it often seem there’s explicit (or implicit) requests from the pulpit/pews/holy TikTokers to overtly “witness” to your faith? I’ve had multiple insistences from those within the faith that “letting your life speak” isn’t enough. Boldly and often brazenly speaking your faith is not only seen as aspirational but subtly, it can be communicated that not doing so is sinful.
Swimming in these waters sure does burn a lot of spiritual calories. For one, in many ways, “boldly speaking your faith” has more to do with a person’s personality than someone’s faith. Extroverted, gung ho types have little issue communicating such things brazenly and it is neither good nor bad they can do so. If it’s not your mode of being in the world to bombastically speak your faith convictions, you shouldn’t feel guilty for not doing so.
2. From the Secular Left — A “Righteous” Insistence on the Woes of Religion
In my time in the “godless” PNW and now Bay Area, I’ve seen people carry zero qualms around mentioning of spirituality. If anything, as the branding and reputation of the religious right has declined and the country becomes less “Christian,” I’ve seen more folks curious about spirituality. However, what is often true is that spirituality is positive only when it promotes your way of being in the world and/or if it doesn’t have a whiff of traditional faith morality.
To put it another way, while there are many branches of evangelical Christianity that are rightfully denounced as unloving, unjust, and based in fear, there’s also many others branches that are love focused, justice minded, and built on dispelling fears. Having to “justify” one’s faith, not from the proselytizing near antagonistic method explained above but rather as an answer to someone’s curiosity around your religion can become daunting. Simultaneously, you don’t want to be identified with those “crazy aunts and uncles” over there, while also not wanting to paint those from your own faith as the enemy. By doing so, the next thought arises, “well why am I a person of faith then?” Wrestling with this often leads to a sense of exhaustion.
3. From the Religious Right — A Glaring Ignorance of Hypocrisy
Both those in the Christian world aware of the legitimacy of people’s deconstruction journeys and those who disavow the legitimacy agree that there are less Christians in the west then there’s been before. Yet, there is a deep and stark divide as to why this is the case.
On the more religious right side, the belief is that people are walking away due to “moral decline,” “increased worship of self and self desires,” “being social justice warriors,” and so on. There’s an inkling of this being true but I’d argue it’s definitely missing the forest for the trees.
Ask most people and they will have hardly any problem with Jesus. Even the most ardent anti-Christian folk you know will likely state the teachings of Jesus are worth listening to. Therein lies the issue.
Why in the modern world is there a deeply different conjuring for a Christian versus Christ? Why does the religious right speak more on property rights and guns then the Sermon on the Mount and the New Testament’s insistence on peace? It’s not in your head; it is very tiring to follow who you believe to be the Savior of the world who taught the rejection of power, wealth, and injustice in spaces where, a solid two thirds of the time, people adhere to the belief in power, wealth, and injustice for the sake of a certain kind of morality.
4. From the Secular Left — An Overt Disdain for the Rural & Traditional
I let the religious right have it so it’s only fair I go for the secular left. More traditional and rural spaces do not understand nor believe in many things the alt left is pushing as the “only way to be moral.” Said another way, while it may be troubling to see more conservative spaces responses to trans rights, racial rights, and women’s rights, it is not immoral for them to hold these views SOLELY through what they think. Now, it is fair to denounce or think it’s right to speak against bigotry, ignorance, and condescension, it doesn’t suddenly make it fair to carry bigotry and condescension for those you think are bigots and ignorant.
Furthermore, it is not just “rural Oklahoma” or “in the sticks” Kentucky who hold traditional and conservative values. Huge swaths of communities and cultures of color hold to more classic values and the secular left’s insistence on everyone accepting new and modern perspectives on sexuality, women, and other issues is often misguided and sometimes brazen.
Simply put, often in progressive spaces, one can note that a tearing down of “50s-60s era white Christian values” is often also a tearing down of traditional Indian values, black American values, and other traditional values from thousands of cultures. This then can get tiring as a person of faith to hear so much discussion on the woes of a certain kind of Christianity while omitting entire other communities which hold seemingly similar values and customs.
These are some reasons why you may be experiencing evangelical burnout but there are many, many more. What’s funny is that even as I write these all, note how little of the reason for the burnout is connected to God Himself, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit. In my experience communicating with people around their burnout/deconstruction, problems with the divine rarely come out; what most often arises is the lack of belonging in evangelical spaces and lack of acceptance from progressive spaces.
All in all, what’s becoming more true is that if you are someone striving to be open-minded, generous of others, and understanding of many perspectives leaves you far more exhausted than those opting for clean-cut ideologies and modes of being.
If you found yourself caught in the middle, you are not alone. This was written for you.