Why Is Christianity Declining In America

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what’s killing Christianity in America. I don’t think it’s the drag brunches or TikTok witches or the “liberal media.” I kinda think it’s the Christians.

Let me explain.

For centuries, Christianity grew because of what people saw in those who followed Him. They saw kindness. Integrity. Sacrifice. They saw someone who fed the hungry, healed the sick, sat with the outcasts, and asked His followers to do the same. They saw people living in ways that made others say, “I don’t know what that is, but I want it.”

That’s how faith spreads. Not by force. Not by law. By witness.

But something’s shifted.

More and more Americans—especially young ones—aren’t just walking away from church. They’re running. And not because they’re lazy or sinful or corrupted by culture. They’re walking away because the loudest voices in American Christianity no longer sound anything like Christ.

They hear cruelty. Smugness. Power grabs. Tax cuts for billionaires. Votes against feeding the poor and healing the sick. They hear talk of guns, walls, surveillance, punishment. They hear fear dressed up as faith.

And then they look around at the people in their lives—their friends, coworkers, neighbors. The ones who don’t believe. The ones who left church years ago. The ones who don’t talk about Jesus but somehow act more like Him than the ones who won’t shut up about Him.

And it gets awkward.

When your billboard says “love your neighbor” but your actions scream “just not that one,” people notice. When the folks claiming moral high ground are publicly more obsessed with bathrooms than hungry kids, it starts to feel like a parody of itself.

The problem isn’t that Christianity has failed. The problem is that too many self-professed Christians have become terrible advertisements for it.

And if you’re reading this and feeling defensive, maybe pause and ask yourself why. Are you following Him—or just following people who say they are?

Because at some point, if the church has become the leading supplier of hypocrisy in your town, you don’t get to blame the devil for the empty pews.