David French writes:

For all the talk of religious revival in American evangelicalism, there is an odd disconnect. Evangelicals might be growing in political power, but there is not much evidence that they are growing in devotion.

For example, Ryan Burge, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis’s John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics, analyzed data from the Cooperative Election Study and found that the percentage of self-identified American evangelicals who “seldom” or “never” attend church has been increasing since 2008. In 2024, half of all evangelicals attended church once per month, or less.

Political evangelicalism can look quite godless. In the past 10 years, Donald Trump has influenced the culture of the church far more than the church has influenced Trump. When a pastor declares at a ReAwaken America rally that he has “come ready to declare war on Satan and every race-baiting Democrat that tries to destroy our way of life here in the United States of America,” he is imitating Trump, not Christ.

When a right-wing radio host takes to the stage on the same tour and taunts Fani Willis, the Fulton County, Ga., district attorney who filed criminal charges against Trump, by shouting, “Big Fani. Big fat Fani. Big fat Black Fani Willis,” he is imitating Trump, not Christ.

Similarly, when a pastor named Doug Wilson calls transgender Americans “trannies,” or gay Americans “gaytards,” or women he doesn’t like “lumberjack dykes” and “small-breasted biddies,” he is imitating Trump, not Christ.

In the Book of Galatians, Paul contrasts the fruit of the spirit with what he called the “acts of the flesh,” the sins that can destroy the soul. Those sins include the very characteristics that mark America’s religious revolution: “hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions.”

The fruit of the spirit — “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” — in contrast, are present when Christ is present. This is the fruit of a real revival.

How will we know when revival sweeps America? It won’t necessarily be when the stadiums fill or even when the churches burst at the seams. The will to religious power can draw a crowd, at least for a time.

We will know when revival comes because we will see believers humble themselves, repent of their sins, and then arise, full of genuine virtue, to love their neighbors — to help them, not hurt them — and in so doing to heal our nation. [Continue reading…]