Retreat or Crusade?
The Crisis of Christianity and the Danger of Fundamentalism
What is the future of Christianity as the largest world religion on the planet? Are the many internal and external crises that Christianity must overcome signs of its imminent demise, as some say? Parallel to the churches' loss of importance, there is also an increasing tendency towards fundamentalism in Christianity. There are growing minorities that believe themselves in the sole possession of the truth, all the way to the digital hate preachers and conspiracy movements like QAnon. What is happening here and how can it be explained? How strong are these developments and what could they lead to? Because Christianity has quickly accepted and embraced every new medium, it is exposing itself more than any other religion to increasing new spurts of expansion and crises. Do the positive innovations – which also very much exist – also provide an opportunity for countering the churches' radicalisation and decline? The religious scholar and media ethicist Michael Blume shares surprising and illuminating observations on the struggle for the path of believers in the 21st century.
- Decline or radicalisation?
- Observations from the perspective of religious studies
