By Richard Palmer
By Richard Palmer
Even before Charlie Kirk was assassinated, some on the right were experiencing a renewed interest in God, church and the Bible. The assassination turbocharged the trend.
Many realize their need for God. They see that they, and their nation, need a change in direction. They see the damage wokeness has caused. Chasing the latest fads has led to almost insane decisions that harm children and the nation alike. They yearn for eternal truths, tradition and a connection with the past.
But which denomination are these new converts joining? Consider the options available to them.
So many Christian churches have compromised with the woke movement. Some of America’s biggest church groups now conduct homosexual “wedding” ceremonies, including the Episcopal Church, United Church of Christ, Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and United Methodist Church.
These have gone to ridiculous and blasphemous extremes. God is “a drag queen and transman and genderfluid,” a prayer at Duke University’s Methodist-affiliated divinity school declared. One traveling male minister for the United Methodist Church goes by the name “Ms. Penny Cost.” The Church of England has a transgender priest, Bingo Allison, who dresses as a woman and wants to be referred to as “they.” The Methodist Church of Great Britain has told its ministers to use people’s “chosen pronouns,” sometimes addressing them as “Mx” and sometimes avoiding the use of “husband” and “wife.”
Meanwhile, the Church of England has emphasized its departure from tradition and the Bible by appointing a woman as the next archbishop of Canterbury. People have different views about women preachers, but the Bible’s view is clear. “Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection,” wrote the Apostle Paul. “But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence” (1 Timothy 2:11-12). The Anglican Church is forsaking timeless truth and is shifting with society.
For new conservative Christians surveying this hall of shame, one denomination stands out as constant, traditional, even beautiful: the Roman Catholic Church.
The Catholic Church isn’t the only one that sticks to tradition. There are many traditional parishes within the Church of England and other groups, though their hierarchies have gone woke. And other denominations haven’t blatantly compromised with the modern moral descent. But the Catholic Church is the biggest and most obvious. And, at least under Pope Leo xiv, its leaders aren’t regularly generating headlines that put people off.
“Among the young Christian converts I speak to, an overwhelming theme is a sense of disaffection with and even contempt for the triviality and banality of secular society,” wrote James Marriott in a lengthy essay for the Times. “A recent convert at St. Barts captures a widespread sentiment when he speaks of a yearning for ‘something huge and beautiful and awe-inspiring … for something bigger.’ At a Catholic church in prosperous west London—another remarkably young congregation, many of whom snap pictures of the high altar before Mass—I spoke to Emma, 23, who converted last year, attracted by the ‘beauty’ of the church. ‘Catholicism,’ she says, ‘has been rooted for so long’” (August 15).
The Catholic Church is not the only group to offer these things; there are other beautiful buildings and traditional churches. But it is the largest of many churches attracting new converts. And a growing number of Catholic influencers are sustaining the influx.
This summer the Catholic Church hosted 1,000 priests and friars for its first summit of digital missionaries. The Catholic Church even has its first influencer saint: Carlo Acutis, who was canonized in September. Acutis died of leukemia in 2006 at age 15, but he reached people around the world by blogging his ordeal.
Many books appealing to today’s God-seekers are by Catholic authors. G. K. Chesterton, an Anglican convert to Catholicism, is a major influence on the revived religious movement. His friend C. S. Lewis, who went from being “very angry with God for not existing” to a convicted Anglican, is another major influence. J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings gives a deep, though not immediately obvious, Catholic worldview, serving almost as a gateway drug. These three are probably the most influential modern authors to argue against atheism and secularism. And many readers see the Roman Catholic Church as the obvious antidote to the malaise of modernism.
Catholic art and architecture also seem to stand against the ugliness of the woke movement and to uphold timeless beauty. Other groups are destroying their heritage with wokeness. The Church of England, which also has a great architectural heritage and an even richer musical tradition, rejects its heritage. It recently decorated the 1,500-year-old Canterbury Cathedral, effectively its headquarters church, with graffiti. It looks hideous.
By contrast, Bishop Robert Barron, a popular Catholic YouTuber, built his following by highlighting the beauty in Catholic traditions.
Dan Hitchens, a senior editor at First Things, said, “In an age of instability, people are attracted to ancient traditions; in an age of therapy-speak, there’s something appealing about the tough demands of Catholic doctrine.”
Though hard numbers aren’t available, anecdotal evidence suggests that Charlie Kirk’s death boosted this trend. Matt Zerrusen, cofounder of the Catholic nonprofit Newman Ministries, said every Catholic college leader he spoke to in the days after Kirk’s death “told me they’ve seen bigger crowds” at their churches, including many attendees “they’ve never seen before.” “I have not talked to anyone who has not seen an increase in Mass attendance,” Zerrusen said. “Some schools are reporting increases of 15 percent” (Catholic News Agency, September 15).
The signs of a revival appeared even before Kirk’s death. Last Easter, the Catholic Church in France baptized nearly 18,000 people, the highest number ever recorded. The Catholic diocese in Westminster, at the heart of London, baptized 500. The diocese of Lansing, Michigan, baptized 633, up 30 percent from the year before and the highest number in a decade.
Other churches like the Eastern Orthodox, which shares the traditions and aesthetics of Catholicism, have experienced a similar uptick. Preachers also have an online following. “Young, single men are flocking to the Orthodox church after discovering the ‘masculine’ Christian religion through online influencers,” wrote the Telegraph in January. “Some converts said they felt disillusioned with the ‘feminization’ of the Protestant church and were attracted to the ‘authenticity’ of Orthodoxy, which they claim pushes them physically and mentally. Priests are now planning to open new parishes to accommodate the ‘tsunami’ of young men who have converted since the pandemic.”
In America, the Catholic Church is becoming strongly established in the halls of national power, with the majority of Supreme Court justices, the former president and current vice president all attending Mass, along with many prominent conservative commentators. More than one third of President Trump’s cabinet is Catholic. It’s the largest denomination by far.
This revolution will be hailed by many as a return to tradition. But tradition is not enough. Is it a return to the Bible?
In many ways, the Catholic Church, or its Eastern cousin, does look like the solution to America’s spiritual sickness.
But the Bible warns of “false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ”—men who look like “ministers of righteousness,” often sincere but deceived, who lead others astray (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). Christ Himself said that “many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many” (Matthew 24:5).
To avoid deception, Christians are told: “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21). In Acts 17:11, Christians in Berea were praised for their rigorous Bible study. They “were more noble … in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”
1 John 4:1 commands us to “believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”
True spirituality must be measured against the Bible. Don’t just look to ancient tradition. An organization can be ancient without the teachings of Jesus Christ as its foundation. Every individual has the responsibility to prove what he or she believes. That is the solution to woke Christianity: a return to the Bible and a reverence for what it says—no matter what.
In fact, the Bible warns specifically about an organization that looks like a lamb but speaks as a dragon (Revelation 13:11). Judge purely by appearance, and you will conclude that it represents Christ. You have to evaluate what it says and teaches. Could this prophesied organization be the Catholic Church? You need to prove that for yourself.
The Bible warns of the soon-coming rise of a great false church, led by a false prophet. The Catholic Church is poised for a historic revival. Could they fulfill this prophecy? It’s a critical question: Those who follow the false prophet are deceived and suffer horribly. Be sure you don’t judge by appearances.
E-mail
or Follow Richard Palmer on Twitter/𝕏
