The Rt. Rev. Julian Dobbs told some 300 delegates representing 43 congregations and 121 clergy, with three bishops with ministries in Ghana, Haiti, and Japan, that all is not well in America and that debates are particularly fierce when they concern freedom of conscience, freedom of expression and the proper relationship between church and state.

"I'm wondering how the future with Jesus, the future of the Anglican Church and the future of our nation will all intersect? For unless God intervenes, or the church regains confidence in proclamation, we can almost certainly expect a rise in disorganized religion," he said.

Citing the Washington POST, Dobbs said, "America will look different. This doesn't mean that [America] will be atheistic or agnostic; it simply includes the wide body of people who don't categorize their belief systems into an existing practice. These projected changing demographics in our society will result in changing attitudes to Jesus Christ."

Dobbs said that globally in 2050, the number of Muslims will nearly match the number of Christians (and that should concern us on several levels).

"Jesus will still be there in 2050 in America, but he will be rendered privatized or irrelevant. Even today, Jesus is being pushed out of our memory and imagination. This is not just an organic development."

"People seem to know so little about Jesus that they are unwilling or unable to refer to him explicitly in a discussion about our present circumstances."

"Many people have been taught that truth is offensive and that no one should criticize their lifestyle choices. They are sensitized to the accusation of sin and closed off from the opportunity to repent."

"Sadly, at some recent juncture, sin disappeared from our national lexicon and then other Christian doctrines followed suit and vanished from much of our national consciousness," he said.

In a swipe against presidential hopeful Donald Trump, Dobbs said that further intensifying these circumstances is the hijacking of Christ's message by individuals attempting to take ownership of Him to further their own personal and political agendas and advancement. "We serve Christ the King, not Christ the elected official."

"I would say that the U.S. is now secular, but in a Christian sort of way. I have now lived in his nation for almost 20 years. The novelist David Lodge noted the absence of hell by the decade of the 1960s. No one could say for certain when this happened. First it was there, then it wasn't."

Citing a former Virginia Bishop James Madison, Dobbs said; "The moment we drop the idea of God, the remunerator of virtue, the avenger of iniquity, the moment we abandon that divine system of equality, fraternity and universal benevolence, which blessed Jesus taught and exemplified; the moment that religion, the pure undefiled religion loses its influence over their hearts, from the fatal moment, farewell to all public and private happiness, farewell, a long farewell to virtue, to patriotism, to liberty'!

"I want to provoke a national conversation with the Jesus of the gospels. I want all of us to see what a surprising man Jesus is and to trace something of the impact in our nation and on the world. I want to see the trajectory which suggests that more is yet to come because we are not happier Suicide and depression rates together with our fentanyl crisis, tell a sobering tale. Something has gone ruinously wrong with our pursuit of happiness. And here is the truth: just like Archbishop Cranmer and Bishop Madison, we too can have the same confidence in the power and authority of Jesus."

"Brothers and sisters of synod, because of who Jesus is, we can speak boldly to those caught in the darkness of 2024 sin, despair and confusion. Jesus is still the source of life and light, the One in whom we can still hope and continue to trust."

END