Authenticity, as a concept, isn’t part of the vocabulary of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). With their latest metrics revealing yet more declines in membership, affiliated churches, and donations, this denomination is bleeding relevance. Today, we’ll cover one big reason why: Zero authenticity within evangelicalism in general. And it’s about as obvious as my cat Squeaky trying to claw her way into my pantry for dried catnip.
(Note: Someone who “deconstructs” takes apart their beliefs to examine them, then discards whatever isn’t true. Afterward, they may leave their faith to join another adjacent one, like leaving evangelicalism to become mainline or progressive, or they may even remain in their original faith if they become satisfied that it’s true. Those who “deconvert” deconstruct, then lose all faith in their religion.)
(This post first went live on Patreon on 5/6/2025. Its audio ‘cast lives there too and is available now!)
SITUATION REPORT: ‘Authenticity’ is the strange new buzzword for evangelicals
The key to success is sincerity. If you can fake that you’ve got it made. [George Burns]
Evangelicals are buzzing lately about authenticity. A Gen Z Calvinist insists his flavor of Christianity has it. In Portugal, evangelicals feel certain that revival is around the corner if they can radiate it. Crossway thinks they’ve got a bead on how to learn it.
On April 9, Focus on the Family ran a radio interview with some apologists who dishonestly mischaracterized those who deconstruct or deconvert in quite an interesting way:
Alisa Childers: Because the whole idea in the deconstruction movement as we see it online, which is mainly where it’s happening, is that you have to free yourself from the oppressive, uh, mentality that is this idea of biblical authority.
Like, if you still think the Bible is your authority, then you haven’t really come into your true, authentic self, you are just being handed beliefs. These aren’t really your beliefs. So the virtuous thing to do is to deconstruct the root, you know, whatever that paradigm of truth is that you were given by your stream you grew up in, and then figure out what you think is most healthy for you.
Very clearly, this apologist believes that through her flavor of Jesusing, she has already found her “true, authentic self” —while those who deconstruct/deconvert have lost theirs! Unfortunately for apologists like her, a lack of authenticity is baked into evangelicalism from the inside out.
This buzzword isn’t unique to evangelicals, of course. Even Christians in mainline denominations and Catholicism use it. But lately, evangelicals seem particularly focused on it—even though they fail at showing it on any level.
Defining authenticity for a religion
First and foremost, let’s define authenticity itself.
When we’re talking about a person’s authenticity, we mean that their behavior and attitudes line up with their beliefs and passions. They don’t behave in a way that contradicts their beliefs and passions. They don’t hide who they really are or put on a false front.
Even when we have to do that for our own comfort or safety, it’s rough for most of us. The bigger the disparity between our mask and our real self, the more emotionally upsetting it can be to maintain it.
For a religion, I’d expect authenticity to look like believers who—in the main—behave in ways that are congruent with their stated beliefs. In evangelicalism, one definition might look like the one we see from Focus on the Family: “Living out the gospel.” Here’s one from Christian Standard: “An environment where we can be real with one another.” Maybe this 2025 post from Christianity.com captures the situation best:
We now see young evangelicals walking away from evangelicalism not because they do not believe what the church teaches but because they believe the church itself does not believe what the church teaches.
Belief isn’t worth much to anyone if the believer doesn’t act like they believe what they’re saying. What’s really funny here is that the person writing that 2025 post focused primarily on Gen Z, because Zoomers might just be the first generation to really understand authenticity and what it looks like in a group setting.
Unfortunately for evangelicals, though, authenticity doesn’t look like evangelicals—at all. Evangelicals actually look like the opposite of authenticity: Fakers preaching a “gospel” they know isn’t true, hucksters putting up facades that hide the deep rot inside.
The funniest inter-generational bickering ever
When I was a teenager in the 1980s, I often heard elderly preachers speak admiringly of how finely-tuned Gen X’s bullshit meter was. They’d say things like “They only want what’s real, so we have to be sure to offer them the truth.” And everyone cheered “Amen!” Of course we did. After all, what we believed was “something real.” It was totes for realsies true.
But I don’t think those preachers really meant their compliments. After all, none of them altered their preaching style in response. They knew we weren’t that different from Boomers.
No, those preachers had only figured out our weaknesses. They deployed an arsenal of manipulation techniques that all too often succeeded. Indeed, the sheer amount of bullshit I believed in my teens could have been seen from upper orbit. And I was nowhere near as wackadoo as others in my church. I wasn’t ever even a Creationist!
Looking back, I suspect denominational leaders felt a great deal of contempt for Gen X. But they could never beat how much we felt for ourselves.
Then came Millennials, who got the same compliments. Some of these even came from Millennial voices! Rachel Held Evans wrote movingly about how evangelicals her age wanted to stop “waging war” and “start washing feet.” Jefferson Bethke hit it big with a YouTube spoken poem about “hating” religion but “loving” Jesus—and nobody realized he was actually a member of one of the worst-of-the-worst evangelical churches around. In 2009, Michael “Internet Monk” Spencer cautioned evangelicals about a coming “collapse” if they continued battling for temporal power.
Better get authentic, better get real, was the message. Or you’re gonna lose them.
But I still sensed contempt from evangelical leaders. Once again, they altered nothing in response. Obviously, they thought Millennials were easily fooled. To be fair, many were—as Gen X had been.
By the 2000s, though, decline was already peeking through evangelicals’ blinds. It had already begun rattling the doorknobs on their house.
Gen Z has exposed the charade for what it is
Suddenly that beloved compliment is true—and evangelicals have no idea how to deal with that fact.
Gen Z has grown up with social media. They’ve never known a time without always-online internet access. They had messaging devices like Sidekicks in their pockets before they hit double digits in age.
Along with all that connectivity, though, they’ve also endured endless marketing ploys and unwanted advertising. They’ve had to learn quickly and early to sidestep it all to figure out what’s real and what’s just hype.
These newest young adults might just be the very first American generation in my lifetime to actually understand what integrity, honesty, and authenticity all mean in terms of religion.
For evangelicals, that is unfathomably bad news.
When preachers talk about Gen Z’s bullshit meters now, they’re like little lost lambs who wandered into a boss fight by accident. They can’t understand why those compliments, once given to make marks feel oh-so-evolved and smart and discerning, don’t work anymore.
Authenticity within the self: Nonexistent in evangelicalism
Perhaps the first circle of authenticity lies within ourselves. Personal authenticity indicates behavior that falls into line with beliefs. It’s honesty within oneself—confronting our shortcomings, fixing what we can, and finding a sense of grace about the rest. When we have an authentic sense of self, our mental picture of ourselves is congruent with reality. We have self-awareness regarding our values and ambitions.
Most of us have met someone we’d consider fake. Such a person might suffer from a lack of self-awareness, put on airs, or behave hypocritically. They’re unable to map their beliefs to the real world. Worse than that, they can’t accept that fact at all. They turn away from the failures of their beliefs to embrace lies that sound more comforting.
Similarly, evangelicalism as a whole lacks authenticity. Evangelicals can’t even be honest with themselves about their decline. Someone like me sees a USD$469M loss in donations and 260k drop in members (local archive) and screams out the numbers in shock, but SBC leaders don’t dare dwell too long on them.
Nothing about that metrics report is good news for SBC leaders, but they still insist that their denomination’s turnaround is within sight. These evangelicals can’t face their decline, yet they promise revival—while selling their $35M headquarters building for the money to settle abuse lawsuits.
As my faith pool slowly emptied, I began noticing discrepancies between reality and my beliefs. Even my prayers had somehow changed completely in nature without my realizing it. But while I was fervent, I was completely disconnected from myself.
Deconversion means discarding a poorly-fitted mask
More than that, though, evangelicals insist that their god changes them upon conversion into better people. That doesn’t really happen, but it’s a core belief for these Christians. If a certain squeaky-clean, soap-scented piety doesn’t radiate out from them 24/7, they get judged hard by other evangelicals.
A few years ago, the Reddit community r/exchristian nailed the problem: Christians in general wear masks and play-act as “good Christians,” while hiding anything contradicting that image. Deconversion felt like tearing off a poorly-fitting costume.
Similarly, my parents felt a great deal of relief when I deconverted. They had been dismayed at my loss of individuality during my time in Protestantism (first in the SBC, then Pentecostalism). When I left Christianity, they felt they’d gotten their daughter back. I couldn’t disagree, either. Even I barely recognize myself in those memories. It took me a long time to finally get back to myself.
Authenticity within the ingroup: Nonexistent in evangelicalism
One phrase you often hear regarding evangelical congregations is “get real with each other.” It means for congregants to reveal their authentic selves to their ingroup—meaning their own church community.
That is never going to happen within evangelicalism. Authenticity means vulnerability. Within evangelicalism’s brand of dysfunctional authoritarianism, that in turn means weakness. Their entire social system exists to funnel power to their leaders, who wield that power to flout the group’s rules and satisfy their basest urges. Only those who prove themselves loyal to their group’s leaders can count on protection and advancement to leadership ranks.
The results: Evangelicals crave “getting real,” but their authoritarian snake pit destroys the trust needed to do that. That’s how SBC hardliners like Tom Buck freely betray confidences, then got betrayed in turn!
Within evangelical communities, someone who admits to flaws instantly marks themselves as untrustworthy, suspiciously un-Jesusy, and unreliable to leaders. When pastors consider who to favor and advance to leadership, they’ll go for the super-pious-acting person over the one who’s honest and authentic about their “walk with Jesus.”
Christian laypeople themselves think that their churches’ inauthenticity begins at the top. But they only want it if it confirms their beliefs. It reminds me of a recent YouTube video from Awaken With JP called “If Men Were Honest with Women”:
Interestingly, one pastor wrote in 2022 that authenticity must flow upward from the pews. I’m sure he’s not the only one who thinks so. Hilariously, he also seems to define “authentic” by how amenable a departing congregant is to his attempts to control the terms of their leaving. But I doubt those leaving evangelical churches feel obligated to accept these redefinitions.
Authenticity between self and the outside world: Nonexistent in evangelicalism
With no authenticity inside, evangelicals are jokes to outsiders—as is evangelism itself. Evangelists can’t reveal their authentic selves to potential recruits because nothing about their religion or group conforms to the promises given to those potential recruits. So recruitment becomes all but impossible.
Some years ago, I read a heartfelt (but long-lost, dangit) blog post by an evangelical about how hard it was to evangelize for his church. He loved his faith in general, but his church just wasn’t a good group to join. He recognized the congregations’ many shortcomings like gossip, backbiting, and constant jockeying for leaders’ attention and favor. Knowing what he knew about his church, he felt uncomfortable inviting anyone to visit it.
I could only wish for that level of self-awareness in evangelicals as a group—though of course he didn’t dwell overmuch on why so many church communities act that way.
By now, Americans hear about evangelical hypocrisy every single day. We hear constantly about evangelical sex and abuse scandals and their naked lust for temporal power. Little wonder Gen Z rejects evangelicalism the same way as a cringey TikTok. Gen Alpha is next, and they’re already bolting faster.
Despite all those dealbreakers, evangelicals must constantly be on the alert for recruitment opportunities. They can’t just be friends with people, or good neighbors, or model employees. Nope! No, instead they must consider all relationships with heathens as future recruitment opportunities.
That’s why it’s way easier to evangelize strangers than friends or family. Friends and family know the evangelist well enough to spot bullshit from a distance. When I was evangelical myself, I frequently heard my peers try to hand-wave away their hypocrisy: “Listen to my message, not to how I live it!”
Authenticity doesn’t hide behind a green curtain
Nor should you swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black. Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ Anything more comes from the evil one. [Matthew 5:37]
My keyboard just broke today. Its “w” key stopped working entirely in mid-sentence. My response? I got up, went to the parts closet, got the spare, and plugged it in. Deconstructing and deconverting both take more time, but ultimately (and ideally) it ends with discarding the false to replace with the true, just like a broken keyboard.
For generations, evangelicals have hammered at this idea of their flavor of Christianity being the only authentic one. They’ve told countless people that only their tiny corner of Christianity contains “something real.”
But none of that’s true. In reality, the chances are impossibly slim that evangelicals have somehow lucked upon the one single correct flavor of Jesusing out of some 1800 years of their religion’s existence. Similarly, Christianity is unlikely to be the only correct religion out of the many thousands that have ever existed over humankind’s history.
Nobody holds a monopoly on authenticity or the means to cultivate it. If anyone tries to claim that, they likely have no authenticity at all.
If they could only fake authenticity, they’d have it made
I fixed my busted keyboard situation in two minutes. Plugging in a new part doesn’t take long! But evangelicals’ lack of authenticity is a way bigger and more terminal problem.
In 2021, Russell Moore noted that “the church itself does not believe what the church teaches.” (Emphasis his.) He ascribed deconstruction not to old-style “scientism and hedonism but disillusionment and cynicism” over his tribe’s hypocrisy. He might be right. There might not be a more common experience in evangelicalism than disillusionment!
Evangelicals can’t fix that problem. They can’t magic authenticity into existence from thin air. Their rot goes to the core, and then it flows outward to poison how they relate to themselves and others. They may fool each other with their lack of authenticity, but it’s getting harder every year for them to fool anyone else. Evangelicals’ lack of authenticity is why they’re in decline, yes. But it’s also why they deserve to be in decline. Irrelevance truly couldn’t happen to a more deserving crowd!
Indeed, we know Christian claims are not true by how Christians themselves live out their beliefs. The more extreme and right-wing the flavor of Christianity, the less authentic believers are to themselves, within their groups, and in relating to non-believers. In a very real way, evangelicals lie to themselves, their communities, and to the world itself.
And that’s such a tragedy. This is the only life we know for sure we’ll ever get. It breaks my heart to imagine so many millions of people play-acting and mask-wearing their way through it in hopes of an eternal payoff that will likely never happen.
Don’t let evangelicals—or anyone else—police your boundaries. Don’t let any group gaslight you into thinking that inauthenticity is anything but a huge red flag. Be yourself, because you’re the only you we have—and we need you.
NEXT UP: The death of Pope Francis has made the tradcaths bold even more weird. See you soon! <3
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