The twenty-first century has brought unprecedented change to societal norms and global civilization, with few institutions left untouched. Christianity, credited with stabilizing and influencing much of the essential structure of the United States and Western civilization, is experiencing a significant decline. Despite its historical role in promoting morality, sacrifice, hard work, and ethical behavior since the first century, the basic tenets of mainstream Christianity, including those of Protestants, Evangelicals, and Catholics, have undergone a deteriorating transformation with the passing of the WWI and WWII generations. Surveys from 2020 reveal a severe erosion in fundamental beliefs, with nearly one-third of Evangelicals failing to recognize the divinity of Jesus Christ, sixty-five percent believing He was a created being, and forty-four percent of Christian respondents believing He sinned. Research also indicates that nearly fifty percent of Americans who claim to believe in God are not convinced of His existence, reflecting a shift from absolute moral truths to conditional truths and a focus on self rather than others. Among Catholics, a plurality now supports the legalization of abortion, marking a significant shift, while recent papal comments endorsing same-sex civil unions further highlight changing perspectives within the church. Secularization poses a grave danger, threatening Christianity not from external attacks but from within its own society and church. As nominal Christians increasingly abandon fundamental precepts, the modern church drifts into irrelevance, contributing to the continued disintegration of societal morality.

America was founded by Protestant Calvinist colonists who sought religious freedom and held a theological vision of building a new Israel under the sovereign God of the Bible. This foundation has disappeared from mainline Protestant denominations. People in those groups now perceive God much more closely to the thinking of a deist who created all things and then stepped back. The practical effect has been to detach them from God and to make loyalty to a spiritual cause disappear from their lives. Evangelical groups retain a stronger strain of the former approach yet remain the most divided group among Protestants. Born again Christians have largely embraced teachings of tolerance and inclusion. Twenty six percent of them believe that all religions are essentially the same. Fifty percent believe that a life of good works will enable a person to go to heaven. Thirty five percent do not believe that Jesus rose from the dead. These patterns show that many who call themselves Christian create their own religions by picking and choosing beliefs. The result is that the God of the Bible is not the god of both Christianity and Islam. Both sides are badly divided and warring within their own religions. The evidence indicates that they share the ruler of this world rather than the God of the Bible.