A Global Religious Shift Underway? What It Means for Christians and Israel

Christian Ellis
01-02-2019

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A strong voice for evangelicals around the world says Christians should expect some big changes in the world's religious landscape this year.

Rev. Johnnie Moore has worked behind the scenes with the US administration and other world leaders, including recent meetings with Saudi Arabia's crown prince and other leaders in Muslim countries.

He tells the Religion News Service we'll see changes in America's intersections with faith, along with some global transitions, dynamic alliances, and evangelical growth

For example, Moore pointed out a few days ago on Twitter that persecuted Christians in Egypt are beginning to see some positive signs from the government there. 

Moore, who's been called "a modern-day Dietrich Bonhoeffer," serves as a commissioner on the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, president of the Congress of Christian Leaders and an informal spokesperson for the evangelicals who advise the Trump administration. He is the founder of the KAIROS Company, a media relations company representing many influential Christian leaders and organizations.

In his interview with RNS, Moore highlighted the transition of power taking place in multiple historic institutions. Whether politically, academically, or theologically, Moore recognizes the power dynamic shift as "many older millennials will jump their Generation X siblings in being selected for those positions." 
 
He even feels historic institutions no longer carry the level of dominance they once had, citing the "digital age" as the cause for the major shifts.
 
"The organizations will continue to hold major sway but a different type of sway, which will largely be determined by how they adapt," Moore said.
 
The digital age – fueled more and more by the proliferation of mobile devices and other forms of technology – is catapulting the world to another dimension of independent thinking and expression. Of course, social media has played a significant role in institutions such as religion and politics. 
 
With individuals having access to more knowledge and methods of expressing their own views, Moore sees a growth in dynamic alliances as many move outside of cultural and institutional norms.
 
Moore cited the recent bipartisan agreement of conservative evangelical advisers to President Trump and liberal CNN host Van Jones about the First Step Act as an example of dynamic alliances taking place.
 
"More practically speaking, in light of the unprecedented bipartisan efforts (and success) of the First Step Act, there will be other such efforts because there is now a bipartisan playbook for our divided moment," Moore said. "The First Step Act, a justice reform bill, was actually only the most public of several of these successes made possible by certain Democrats who believe 'resistance' is un-American and of center-right evangelicals who believe in what the late theologians Carl F.H. Henry and Francis Schaefer called 'co-belligerency.'" 
 
Moore believes the dynamic alliances will carry over to religion as global interfaith efforts are gradually growing.

He's expecting increased interfaith exchanges between Christians, Muslims and Jews, and even the Hindu community, stating efforts may even include "the very real possibility that 2019 will likely be the year one or more majority-Muslim, and even Arab, countries — while remaining ever supportive of a Palestinian state — will decide that a resolution to the Israeli and Palestinian conflict is not a mandatory prerequisite for detente if not full-on diplomatic relations with the State of Israel."
 
Other predictions include evangelicalism becoming the second largest stream of global Christianity and Trump utilizing his Senate Republican majority "to stack the courts in the United States with originalist judges."
 
You can find more of Moore's prediction here.

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