I KISSED DATING GOODBYE AUTHOR JOSH HARRIS SAYS HE’S NO LONGER A CHRISTIAN: Get Ready For A Flood Of Christian Defections.

Sadly, I could add a lot more Christian celebrities to the list. Expect to see more and more of these defections in the coming years as Christianity wanes in popularity and influence and it becomes increasingly costly to remain a follower of Christ. There will be a high price to be paid for those who remain faithful to Christ and the teachings of the Bible. People will lose their jobs, they’ll be denied professional credentials, they will be banned from popular social media platforms and essentially exiled from polite society. Christians will no longer be able to “hide in plain sight” (a phrase recently highlighted by Rod Dreher in describing how all Christians will soon be forced to publicly declare their views on LGBTQ issues). We’ll be asked at work, at our kids’ schools, at Boy Scout meetings, and even in some churches as the culture rallies around sexual minorities, elevating their rights above all others and quashing religious liberty in the process. There will be severe consequences for those who give the wrong answer.

When all is said and done, years from now we will point to some fads that became widespread in Christianity in the 90s and early part of the 21st century (particularly in evangelicalism) that contributed to the falling away we’re seeing: Seeker-sensitive church growth models, Christian celebrity culture, and the prosperity gospel to name a few, along with the rise of social media and the militancy of the LGBTQ movement. The generation coming of age now, for the most part, has not been taught a robust theology that urges them to take up their cross and follow Jesus. Instead, they’ve been taught to elevate their feelings over doctrine (which, they’re told, divides), to satisfy their felt needs over and above obedience to Christ, and to embrace the world rather than reject it in pursuit of holiness. American churches—packed out with kids who walked the aisle and repeated a prayer and were told they were saved—sent a whole generation out ill-equipped to forsake the world and suffer for Christ. The whirlwind we’re reaping will be borne out in empty churches and increasing apostasy.

Speaking of which, it’s come to this: The Church of England’s Rochester Cathedral installs an astroturfed miniature golf course (!) in its nave. “The Rochester Cathedral is England’s second-oldest. There has been Christian worship on this site since the year 604, though the present cathedral building dates to 1080. Miniature golf in the nave dates to A.D. 2019. Who ever thought that Christianity in England would expire not with a bang, or even a whimper, but with a bogey on the ninth hole?”