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THIS WEEK

•        Americans lie about church attendance — new data shows only 5% actually show up

•        Sarah Mullally installed as the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury — first woman in 1,400 years

•        Global South primates push back; 16 of 42 absent from enthronement

•        ACNAtoo blasts ACNA’s hiring of LGBTQ+-affirming law firm Lathrop GPM to review Ruch decision

•        Bishop Edgar refuses ACNA discussions without diocesan representation

•        Did Bishops Edgar and Warner know of Archbishop Wood’s sexual misconduct and stay silent?

•        Vatican signals approval for Anglican Ordinariates

•        Ramadan, Iran, and the theology of Islamic war

Quotes to Remember

“The war creates no absolutely new situation: it simply aggravates the permanent human situation so that we can no longer ignore it.”

— C.S. Lewis

“Social responsibility becomes an aspect not of Christian mission only, but also of Christian conversion. It is impossible to be truly converted to God without being thereby converted to our neighbor.”

— John Stott

“What disturbs me most is that civilized, evangelical leaders hold much of the power and control in our nation and in our world. Yet our evangelical leadership is not creative or compassionate enough to deal with the truths that burst in upon us every day—the economic/social truths of race hatred, energy crisis, crime, hunger, and poverty—in light of the healing mandate of the Scriptures.”

— John Perkins, “Stoning the Prophets”

“President Trump needs to understand that efficiency in the White House cannot long survive the loss of dignity. Those of us who want the president to be successfully efficient need to be the very people who call on President Trump to recover the dignified part of leadership—and fast.”

— Albert Mohler

“Go on, in a full pursuit of all the mind that was in Christ, of inward and then outward holiness; so shall you be not almost, but altogether, a Christian.”

— John Wesley

Only 5% of Americans Actually Attend Church

A new study from the University of Chicago has done what self-reported surveys cannot: it tracked cell phone movement to determine where Americans actually spend Sunday mornings. The answer is sobering. Only 5% of Americans are in a place of worship on Sunday — not the commonly cited 20%.

The gap between what Americans claim and what they do has long been suspected. Now it is documented. You can read the full paper here:

https://bfi.uchicago.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/BFI_WP_2024-58.pdf

The data matches what I observe here in semi-rural Pennsylvania, near the New York and New Jersey borders. The local Lutheran church draws fewer than 20 on a Sunday and relies on an occasional visiting pastor it cannot afford to retain. The United Methodist congregation barely reaches 15, served by a retired part-timer. One Catholic priest covers four parishes. My own congregation numbers close to 30, served by a three-quarter-time pastor — and we are growing. The local Congregational church struggles to reach 15; its pastor volunteers without pay. Across five churches in two states, drawing from a combined population of roughly 3,184 people, attendance runs at approximately 3%.

Gallup corroborates the trend from a different angle: in 2025, only 47% of Americans said religion is “very important” in their lives — down from 58% in 2012 and 70–75% in the 1950s and 1960s. Across the 38 OECD nations, the median stands at 36%, and the United States is converging toward that figure faster than at any point in Gallup’s tracking history.

Nearly 30% of Americans now identify as religiously unaffiliated — the so-called “Nones.” Pew Research reports their numbers have doubled since the early 2000s. They are not uniformly atheist; many believe in a higher power but reject organized religion. Millennials and Gen Z lead the trend, frequently citing institutional distrust as their reason for opting out. Politically, the Nones lean progressive and are increasingly a decisive voting bloc.

Meanwhile, a Church Answers poll found that only 1% of churches maintain an ongoing evangelism effort — the lowest health score across all denominations in a longitudinal study running since 1996. As goes evangelism, so goes discipleship, so goes the church. The gates of hell will not prevail — but that promise is not a guarantee about America. The Global South is rising in evangelistic fervor, discipleship, and growth. The center of gravity is shifting.

A Historic — or Infamous — Enthronement at Canterbury

Dame Sarah Mullally was installed this week as the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury, the first woman to hold the office in its 1,400-year history. Two thousand attended the ceremony at Canterbury Cathedral. Many called it historic. Others will mark the date as one of ecclesiastical infamy.

Mullally was raised evangelical but has governed as a progressive. As Bishop of London, she supported the introduction of same-sex blessings under the “Prayers of Love and Faith” framework and helped lead the Living in Love and Faith process that produced them. She has publicly acknowledged the Church’s harm toward LGBT people and described the blessings as an expression of pastoral responsibility. The Dean of Canterbury, who officiated portions of the installation, lives in a same-sex relationship. It was, as one observer noted, a clean sweep.

The Global South Response

GAFCON and Global South primates had already signaled their opposition before the service began. Sixteen of 42 Global South primates were absent — the most telling datum of the week. In Abuja, the GAFCON primates formally constituted the Global Anglican Communion, declaring themselves in impaired communion with the See of Canterbury. Their orthodox brothers, the GSFA  have not fully severed ties, but the direction is unmistakable.

The Anglican Communion’s fabric is torn. The Global North provinces are moving steadily and, it appears, irreversibly away from the authority of Scripture and the 39 Articles. Synods treat doctrine as contextual rather than authoritative; bishops redefine core beliefs without reference to the formularies. What was once a communion is becoming two distinct bodies sharing a name.

I have written more on this pattern of evangelical leaders losing their theological footing:

https://www.virtueonline.org/post/why-did-church-of-england-leaders-lose-the-evangelical-plot

The full story on the absent primates:

https://www.virtueonline.org/post/missing-primates-at-the-mullally-enthronement-tell-the-real-story-of-a-fractured-communion

Vatican Signals Approval for Anglican Ordinariates

The Vatican has published a significant new document on the Anglican Ordinariates, formally titled Characteristics of the Anglican Heritage as Lived in the Ordinariates Established Under the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus. The text emerged from discussions held at the dicastery March 1–3, following a private audience in which Pope Francis received Bishop David Waller and Bishop Steven Joseph Lopes, along with Cardinal Fernández.

The document is less a theoretical statement than a synthesis of lived experience across Ordinariate communities worldwide. It affirms that “a core shared identity is indeed evident” despite wide geographic spread, rooted in “a common path of following Christ that has led them into full communion with the Catholic Church.” The Anglican patrimony is described as “a worthy patrimony of piety and usage” and “a precious gift … and a treasure to be shared.” Rome’s tone is warmly affirmative.

ACNA Under Strain: Ruch, Edgar, and Unanswered Questions

The Anglican Church in North America is managing multiple crises at once, and none of them are resolving cleanly.

ACNAtoo, the advocacy group representing women who have raised abuse concerns within ACNA, is publicly criticizing the province’s decision to hire Lathrop GPM to review the Title IV process in the Bishop Ruch case. Their concern: Lathrop is an LGBTQ+-affirming firm. Why ACNA chose them is a question the province has not answered publicly.

https://www.virtueonline.org/post/acna-hires-lathrop-gpm-to-review-ruch-title-iv-process

Separately, the Rt. Rev. Chip Edgar, Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina, has formally notified the ACNA Executive Committee that he will not participate in private discussions about the province without his own representatives present. The letter from Bishop Edgar and the ADOSC Standing Committee sets out specific demands for transparency.

https://www.virtueonline.org/post/south-carolina-anglican-bishop-demands-transparency-in-acna

Then came a more pointed allegation. Bishop Ken Ross of the Anglican Diocese of the Rocky Mountains posted on X (formerly Twitter) that both Bishop Edgar and Bishop Christopher Warner of the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic were aware of Archbishop Steve Wood’s alleged sexual misconduct and “they never told anybody else.” “Why weren’t Bps Edgar & Warner disciplined for withholding credible claims of sexual misconduct for months?” Ross asked. It is a fair question. VOL reached out to Bishop Edgar for a response; none was received.

The cumulative picture is of a province that is increasingly adrift: active litigation between the Jurisdiction of the Armed Forces and Chaplaincy and Bishop Julian Dobbs, and an impending ecclesiastical trial of its own archbishop.

Ramadan, Iran, and a War That Cannot End in Surrender

I recently published a piece on Israel, Isaac, and Ishmael, tracing the religious dimensions of the current conflict with Iran. The response was substantial. Mgr. Michael Nazir-Ali offered his own assessment with characteristic directness: “Don’t expect Iran to surrender.”

His argument, distilled: Iran’s regime survives by projecting defiance, not by winning wars. Surrender is impossible for a system built on revolutionary mythology and martyrdom rhetoric. Escalation is a feature, not a flaw, of Tehran’s foreign policy. The West misreads Iran when it assumes rational cost-benefit calculations will restrain the regime. Deterrence, not diplomacy alone, is what constrains Tehran.

The pattern is long-standing: Iran’s leadership uses conflict as a tool of internal legitimacy. Backing down would be existentially humiliating. They simply will not do it. The apocalyptic theology embedded in Shia Islam makes surrender a theological impossibility, not merely a political inconvenience. I have written on that dimension here:

https://davidvirtue2.substack.com/p/irans-war-is-a-religious-war-against

Nazir-Ali’s full analysis:

https://michaelnazirali.com/articles/app/month/03-2026/title/don-t-expect-iran-to-surrender-suffering-is-the-ultimate-virtue-to-shias-tehran

Finnish MP Convicted of Hate Speech Over 22-Year-Old Pamphlet

Päivi Räsänen, former leader of Finland’s Christian Democratic Party (2004–2015) and interior minister (2011–2015), has been found guilty of hate speech by Finland’s Supreme Court in a 3–2 decision. The conviction stems from a pamphlet she wrote more than 20 years ago describing homosexuality as a psychosexual development disorder, as well as a 2019 tweet criticizing the Finnish Lutheran Church’s participation in LGBT Pride Month. She has been fined.

This is how freedom erodes: quietly, through incremental legal precedent. Orthodox Christians are being penalized for articulating convictions that were mainstream throughout Western history. The precedent, once established for speech about homosexuality, will eventually reach speech about Islam. Cries of Islamophobia will carry the same legal weight — and Christians who dare to name Islamic doctrine plainly will face the same fines, or worse.

Prince William and the Church of England: Sincerity or Positioning?

Prince William attended the Mullally enthronement this week and met privately with the new Archbishop of Canterbury for tea. Aides described the meeting as part of an effort to “build a strong and meaningful bond” with the Church of England ahead of his eventual role as Supreme Governor. He is not a regular churchgoer, but is said to be keen to signal commitment before ascending the throne.

Gavin Ashenden, former Chaplain to Queen Elizabeth II, was unsparing in his assessment. He called William’s announcement of a “quiet faith” insulting to serious Christians, strategic rather than spiritually authentic, and evidence of “vacant ideas about God” — a PR positioning exercise ahead of a constitutional role, nothing more. His full piece:

https://www.gavinashenden.com/p/too-little-too-late-the-warming-of-prince

METAMODERNISM IS COMING YOUR WAY

Have you heard of the term “Metamodernism”? If you haven’t yet, you probably will soon. The term is increasingly used to describe the unique dynamics of twenty-first century culture. We’ve moved beyond postmodernism and entered the metamodern era. But what does that mean? And why does it matter for Christians?

It matters because metamodernism helps explain the real postures, aesthetics, and sensibilities of 21st-century people—the people we’re trying to reach with the gospel; the people we’re discipling in our churches.

Metamodernism can be a heady concept, but it’s easiest to understand by looking at examples from pop culture. In this cohort we’ll primarily look at movies as an entry point for understanding what metamodernism is, how it feels, and what it looks like in the arts. We’ll also look at music, TV, and technological trends.

This cohort is for anyone seeking to grow in their grasp of our metamodern cultural moment, whether for personal edification or for practical application in ministry, apologetics, evangelism, teaching, or parenting the next generation.

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