This new Evolve collection, “The Re-Churching of America,” begins with a seemingly simple question: Is America re-churching, or are our religious communities and institutions continuing to decline? Surely there are indicators that point in both directions.
If there is a resurgence—and that is what this collection is rooting for—what do we want the resurgence to look like, and not look like? How do we ensure that a re-churching of America doesn’t benefit fundamentalists, extremists, grifters, and those who appropriate faith to “sanctify” prejudice and inflict real harm on the people they tell you to hate?
Our tag line for the collection is “Reviving Religious Life With the Knowledge We’ve Gained.” There is no denying that over the past century, Americans have gained inordinate knowledge from science, technology, and cultural interchange. We’ve acquired wisdom and understanding from movements for economic and racial justice, women’s and gay liberation, environmental stewardship, and collective struggles against war, imperialism, and colonialism, both at home and abroad.
Although the series is rooted in a specifically Christian context, the goal of re-churching extends to mosques, synagogues, temples, gurdwaras, jamatkhanas, prayer halls, etc. We argue that a flourishing religious mosaic is vital not only to America’s soul but also to its security and success, and that any re-churching worthy of the name must reject fear and control in favor of love and healing.
In Part One, “Taking It To The Pews,” host Jamil Khoury reflects on the steep decline of religious participation in the United States. He asks what a healthier and more just resurgence of religious life could look like.
He posits that America’s passage toward building a more perfect union must also include a more perfect church. In “perfection,” he sees an aspirational, ever-advancing goalpost. He also insists that church is not an arm of the state or a partisan project, but a “hospital for the soul,” a big tent where people seek God and one another beyond left–right labels.
“Taking It To The Pews” is both a cautionary tale and an invitation: it names the trauma many have endured in religious institutions and affirms the right to leave any abusive community. At the same time, it urges listeners to consider seeking—or even building—houses of worship grounded in love, compassion, and belonging.
