Valuetainment - April 05, 2026


“Being Christian Comes With A Cost” - Atheist Turned Pastor REVEALS Truth Behind Religion's Decline


Episode Stats

Length

11 minutes

Words per Minute

162.41333

Word Count

1,835

Sentence Count

152

Misogynist Sentences

1

Hate Speech Sentences

4


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.840 Where's your playlist taking you?
00:00:03.640 Down the highway? To the mountains?
00:00:06.140 Or just into daydream mode while you're stuck in traffic?
00:00:09.560 With over 4,000 hotels worldwide,
00:00:11.960 Best Western is there to help you make the most of your getaway.
00:00:15.480 Wherever that is.
00:00:16.860 Because the only thing better than a great playlist
00:00:18.960 is a great trip.
00:00:22.680 Life's the trip. Make the most of it at Best Western.
00:00:26.220 Book direct and save at bestwestern.com.
00:00:30.000 So I want to read this to you.
00:00:31.260 I want to read some stats to you now.
00:00:32.480 I wonder how you're going to answer this.
00:00:34.460 Ten countries where Christianity is declining.
00:00:37.220 Australia has the largest drop of any country studied.
00:00:40.980 It went from 67.1% in 2010 to 10 years later, 46.8%.
00:00:50.120 This is a 20-point decline in only 10 years, and it's even lower today.
00:00:56.000 UK went from 62.4% during that same period to 49.4%, losing its Christian majority, Church of England closing 20 churches per year.
00:01:06.520 France, Catholic share fell from 81% in 1986 to 47%, almost a 40% decline from 86 to 2020, lost Christian majority among the eight countries projected to lose Christian majority by 2050.
00:01:21.660 Uruguay shifted to a majority unaffiliated, 52 nuns versus 44 Christian, used to be 61% Christian in 2010.
00:01:29.940 Netherlands transitioned to a religiously unaffiliated majority by 2020.
00:01:34.220 Roman Catholics went from 39% in 1971 to 23%, average of eight churches closing every year.
00:01:41.160 U.S., 78.3% to 64%, 14% decline during this same period.
00:01:47.640 Canada, 67% to 53%.
00:01:49.960 Chile, 86% to 68%, almost 20%.
00:01:52.640 Germany, 48% Christian in 2024, fewer than half belonged to two large churches.
00:01:58.700 New Zealand, 51% unaffiliated.
00:02:01.080 South Korea, no clear religious majority.
00:02:03.720 In 41 countries, the Christian share changed by five-plus percentage points from 2010 to 2020.
00:02:09.660 In 40 of those 41, the change was a decline.
00:02:12.800 Only one was a positive.
00:02:14.020 The sole exception was Mozambique.
00:02:16.820 That's increased.
00:02:17.640 was the only one out of all of them. Why is this happening? Why is the decline happening across the
00:02:22.380 world? I think there's a lot of explanations for that, a lot of factors that go into that. Number
00:02:27.600 one, I don't trust the stats. Because back when in 1966, when I met my wife, we were 14 years old,
00:02:35.880 91% of Americans would say they're Christians. Do you think we were a nation that reflected that
00:02:41.960 back then i don't think so and and so how do you know what do you mean by the reflected that like
00:02:47.940 another yeah do we live as if we're 91 followers of jesus christ no so people will claim in the
00:02:56.640 past it was a pot if you're a business guy and you wanted a bunch of clients um you know you
00:03:03.200 want to go to a big church in your community and become a member of that church and so forth so
00:03:07.540 you have an incentive to present yourself as being a christian are you truly born again are you truly
00:03:14.140 have a relationship with god those are two different things though right to me to say you
00:03:17.800 know at that time you know there wasn't social media there wasn't the accessibility and those
00:03:22.960 are those are other factors there was a billy graham we did have a massive billy graham would
00:03:27.640 be on uh johnny carson he was on the woody allen show he would go so at least they would still
00:03:33.080 invite nowadays, you know, when's the last time you saw, you know, Jimmy Fallon or Jimmy
00:03:37.280 Kemmel bring a Charlie Kirk or bring any of these guys, the late Charlie Kirk, they don't
00:03:42.040 do that.
00:03:42.400 So we were living in a different era.
00:03:44.160 So we were kind of like, we're a Christian nation.
00:03:46.500 So maybe TV, social media changed.
00:03:48.780 We're a Christian nation, but are we Christians?
00:03:51.480 Are we truly born again?
00:03:53.820 Have we received Jesus as our forgiver and leader in our lives?
00:03:56.860 What percentage is really born again, though?
00:03:58.080 It's a very small percentage, right?
00:04:00.120 But those are the true Christians.
00:04:01.640 I agree.
00:04:01.980 And so I think you're right. All these factors, social media, the mass media and so forth.
00:04:09.320 Those are all factors. I mean, I remember when Billy Graham was on the Johnny Carson show.
00:04:13.560 Right. I mean, are you kidding me? Great show.
00:04:15.120 Can you imagine Franklin Graham being on Jimmy Kimmel? I don't think so.
00:04:19.760 Yeah. So, yeah. So we did have those those positive influences.
00:04:23.360 We have a rise in Islam in some places that has created a culture where it's uncomfortable for people to publicly defend their faith.
00:04:32.520 Just to give you that number, during that same period, 2010 to 2020, fastest-grown major religion, plus 347 million, is Muslim.
00:04:41.060 Now 25.6% of the world versus Christians, 28.8%.
00:04:44.680 Projected to be the majority by 2050 is what they're looking at.
00:04:48.460 And you look at the birth rate among Muslims versus the birth rate among evangelical Christians.
00:04:53.400 It's night and day.
00:04:55.000 So there are various factors that are involved.
00:04:57.680 However, I see pockets of good news.
00:05:01.520 I see outbreaks where God is doing amazing things among young people in our country.
00:05:08.000 The recent statistics show that young people are reading the Bible more than previous generations.
00:05:14.580 You're right, Rob.
00:05:15.180 Can you pull up that Gen Z stat?
00:05:16.600 You're absolutely right.
00:05:17.240 It's just amazing.
00:05:18.460 And so you saw what happened.
00:05:20.720 The chart that Conor sent Rob.
00:05:22.560 In Asbury, at Asbury College and Seminary, where you had an outbreak of the Holy Spirit.
00:05:27.660 You had people coming to faith right and left.
00:05:30.260 I see some positive things going on.
00:05:32.220 But, you know, I want to stay on this.
00:05:33.840 I want to challenge you a little bit, go a little bit deeper.
00:05:36.680 Because I think what people want to know is, I get all the positive.
00:05:41.080 And we're going to go to it.
00:05:42.260 Because the next thing I'm going to show is where my enthusiasm comes for Gen Z specifically.
00:05:46.660 Their level of interest in wanting to become Christians, wanting to learn about the Bible, you know, and we see that.
00:05:53.680 But the question I want to go to is, these countries, Australia was a Christian majority.
00:05:58.820 UK was a Christian majority.
00:06:00.100 France was.
00:06:00.800 Uruguay was.
00:06:01.420 Netherlands was.
00:06:02.800 Canada, a lot of these countries were.
00:06:05.020 What did the leaders, what did that country do?
00:06:09.000 What did they look away?
00:06:10.180 What did they do for them to all of a sudden be like, oh, let's just be tolerant.
00:06:14.240 It's okay.
00:06:14.820 I'll give you an example.
00:06:15.520 Please.
00:06:16.100 The Church of England, which is totally woke and has become soft on the gospel,
00:06:22.600 has become just, in many people's views, kind of a theological joke.
00:06:29.320 And that's a state-run church.
00:06:32.720 I think state-run churches are a mistake.
00:06:35.360 That's not how the church ought to be flourishing.
00:06:37.760 But that's one example that I think is influencing England.
00:06:41.440 But again, the factors that would encourage someone today to be an outspoken Christian are not what they were back in the 50s, 60s, and 70s.
00:06:55.820 Back then, it was socially acceptable to be a Christian.
00:07:00.400 Nowadays, you may run into some professional headwinds if you're an outspoken Christian.
00:07:06.840 And depending on where you work and what you do, it may not be the smartest thing to proclaim it.
00:07:12.860 They may kill you.
00:07:14.200 Charlie Kirk was the modern-day Billy Graham meets who was the big Rush Limbaugh.
00:07:19.460 I've always said Charlie's the combination of Rush and Billy, and they killed him.
00:07:24.540 They killed him for it.
00:07:25.620 That's right.
00:07:26.480 So there's all these negative headwinds.
00:07:29.560 And I think it's a pruning process where the people today who are proclaiming that they're followers of Jesus probably really are followers of Jesus.
00:07:39.580 You know, George Barna, who does a lot of surveys and so forth, did a study.
00:07:43.260 He came up with five questions to try to determine, is someone a legitimate Christian?
00:07:48.520 Five theological questions.
00:07:49.820 Do you agree this, this, this, this?
00:07:51.660 We can't tell.
00:07:52.480 God knows the heart.
00:07:53.680 But five questions to try to discern.
00:07:55.440 Then he went to various denominations to try to figure out how many people in that church meet those five criteria and are true Christians.
00:08:02.720 What's his outcome?
00:08:03.420 What's he trying to solve for?
00:08:04.560 He's trying to figure out, you may have a thousand people at church, how many are really Christians?
00:08:10.200 And so he went to Baptist churches.
00:08:11.860 You know what he found out?
00:08:12.640 What's that?
00:08:12.980 About 29%.
00:08:14.040 That's my recollection.
00:08:15.940 It was like 29%.
00:08:17.200 Can you pull this up, Rob?
00:08:18.780 Baptist 29% from tracking.
00:08:20.540 Yeah.
00:08:21.120 Catholic.
00:08:22.200 About the same.
00:08:23.060 Okay.
00:08:23.420 Not much different.
00:08:25.020 I can't remember.
00:08:25.660 This came out a number of years ago, so I can't remember all the other ones.
00:08:28.620 But my point is he was trying to get beyond what people say versus who they are.
00:08:36.740 The incentive to be a Christian today is not what it used to be.
00:08:41.540 I'm getting death threats.
00:08:43.440 Who am I?
00:08:44.220 The risk of being a Christian today versus what it was back then.
00:08:48.140 You were safer back then.
00:08:49.220 That's right.
00:08:49.740 It was more popular.
00:08:51.500 Again, the question becomes, Lee, why?
00:08:53.880 What changed?
00:08:54.760 I think it's, A, social media.
00:08:56.520 I think it's mass media.
00:08:59.780 As you said, a guy like Billy Graham is not going to get the exposure today
00:09:02.640 that he got back in the 60s.
00:09:05.240 I think it's, in many ways, the rise of Islam
00:09:09.140 and a squelching of Christian beliefs, people expressing them.
00:09:16.320 Look at this NBA player you mentioned who lost his opportunity
00:09:23.120 because he was outspoken saying something that an average Christian would probably agree with,
00:09:28.880 that there's an unrighteousness to certain behaviors that culture says are fine
00:09:33.900 and we ought to celebrate and be prideful of.
00:09:37.560 So there's a squelching of Christian belief in that way
00:09:45.040 that I think makes it uncomfortable for some people to say,
00:09:47.720 oh, yeah, I'm a Christian, because now all of a sudden you go,
00:09:49.380 oh, well, you don't believe in choice?
00:09:52.480 You don't believe in abortion as being opportunity.
00:09:56.260 It's a women's health issue.
00:09:57.420 You want to come out against that?
00:09:58.740 Really?
00:10:00.240 And you're likely to get challenged today.
00:10:03.040 Well, you wouldn't be challenged back in the 60s.
00:10:04.840 You'd be celebrated.
00:10:05.860 I mean, everybody claimed to be a Christian, regardless of how many truly were.
00:10:10.940 Hi, I'm Lee Strobel, atheist turned Christian, author of several books,
00:10:15.120 including The Case for Christ and Seeing the Supernatural.
00:10:17.920 You might have questions about faith, about how we know that Jesus is who we claim to be,
00:10:24.060 and that there really is a realm beyond what we can see and touch and put in a test tube.
00:10:28.700 So I'd love to chat with you about that.
00:10:30.580 Just go to Manect, and then we can connect and talk about these matters of faith that
00:10:35.520 are so important to our lives.
00:10:41.840 If you enjoyed this video, you want to watch more videos like this, click here.
00:10:44.820 And if you want to watch the entire podcast, click here.
00:10:47.920 We'll be right back.