It's Thursday, May 7, 2026.

I'm Albert Moller, and this is The Briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview.

Well, you had some big headlines coming out in recent weeks about statistics about religion in the United States,

in particular about Christianity in the United States, in particular about Christianity in the

United States. In some studies, Christianity and Judaism, but the big story here is the fact that

you have some credible reports indicating that church attendance has gone up for the first time

in many decades. So just looking at the period, especially since the end of the COVID pandemic,

there has been a significant increase in church attendance.

So, theologically, biblically, in terms of the Christian worldview, what in the world is going on here?

Well, for one thing, you have a big issue in the United States. And the big issue has often been

described as American exceptionalism. And then the debate is over how exceptional the United States is.

What's the exceptionalism? Well, in the modern age, the trend has been, especially from the midpoint

of the 20th century, toward a decline in religious influence, the binding power

of religion, and of course in the Western civilization, that means Christianity by and large,

the waning or the declining social force, social authority, moral authority of Christianity

in the culture. And of course, one of the ways that's measured is in

numbers. And church attendance is one of those numbers. Now, you also have self-identification,

and those studies have been all over the place. But secularization is a trend. Whether you're

liberal or conservative, Christian or agnostic, quite frankly, something is going on. And here's the

pattern. Secularization has really driven through.

And that's the thing you have to keep in mind. Secularization theory really emerged in the modern

age as the explanation. And it was actually a prophecy on the part of some. They wanted to see a

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