[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

It’s because Christianity requires you to govern yourself. Atheism allows you to run hog wild and do whatever floats your boat. So whichj do you think a bunch of fat, lazy, decadent American slobs are going to choose?

[RobbyS]

I don’t think that atheists generally run wild, because this world is all that they have. Having accepted, in theory, the idea of oblivion, they choose instead the “gods”, small goods that allow them to get through from day today: their careers, the accumulation of money, Instead of religious rituals, they have routines, which give them a sense of security. Instead of faith, they have the “truths” of modern psychology, which rescues them from depression and allows them merely to be unhappy in a world that is, untilmately, meaningless. Life as pain management.

[Goldsborough]

I don't think that is it. There are, and have been plenty of "pagans" and atheists over time who have conducted themselves at an acceptable level of personal conduct.

I believe that part of the deterioration of the Christian, particularly Protestant Christian movement over time is the increase in the average education level of the congregations. Simply declaring "absolute truth" ain't as easy a sell as it used to be to the great unwashed masses who couldn't even begin to question authority with any level of self-confidence and with an entire repression apparatus ranging from war, to physical torture, to shunning, available to it.

Many pastors are not inclined, either by natural intellect nor by training, to lead anything, let alone the spiritual lives of others. The whole "pastor" and "flock" metaphor breaks down badly when many consider the pastor to be a lightly credentialed idiot who couldn't defend the faith against even the least profound of the classical inconvenient questions that give rise to doubt. Many divinity schools are little better than diploma mills for the talentless.

The Catholic Church escapes this somewhat with a more rigorous training program and an overall less educated following, but undermine that with lax recruitment of priests and an unconscionable lack of turning over sexual offenders to the civil authority.

It is small wonder that institutions that cannot put forth first rate personnel as "leaders" cannot also recruit or retain "followers."

[RedDogzRule]

That is why I’m choosing to leave my cradle denomination and join the Orthodox Church, where I have found humility, spiritual growth with historical roots, and a true reverence to the Triune God. I’m tired of the “I’m going it alone” and “a’ la carte Christianity” that we’ve chosen as a society.