A wave of pastors including some in and around Fort Smith are encouraging their church members to sort of do battle against political enemies. They're reinforcing you know their own worldview on things like January 6 on Trump, on election fraud. Y'all today we live in a time when we Christians it is now time for us to quit being passive," he said.
Evangelicals make up about a quarter of the population in the United States and are part of the nation’s largest religious group. But lately the movement is in crisis.
The biggest issue is church attendance. Many churches closed at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic and struggled to reopen while congregations thinned.
But a smaller audience isn’t the only problem: Pastors are quitting, or at least considering doing so.
Guest: Ruth Graham is a national correspondent covering religion, faith and values for The New York Times.
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