Editing Fourth Great Awakening (section)

==Trends==
{{See also|Dominion theology|Prosperity theology|Televangelism|Culture war#United States}}
Organized religion in the United States changed in the face of secularizing pressures after World War II. There was a proliferation of megachurches. Denominations such as the [[Assemblies of God]], [[Southern Baptists]] ({{abbr|SBC|Southern Baptist Convention}}), and [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (Mormons) became more popular. Three particular religious leaders were very influential: [[Martin Luther King Jr.]], [[Billy Graham]], and [[Pope John Paul II]]. [[Megachurches]] won attention for the simple reason that 10 churches with 2,000 members each were more visible than 100 churches with 200 members each. The populist denominations' growth coincided with the simultaneous decline of the mainline bodies. While the former trend did not come at the expense of the latter (it represented different fertility and retention rates, not switching), to the media and many ordinary observers those developments signaled the aggressive swelling of religious strength.{{citation needed|date=December 2012}}

The [[Mainstream Protestant|"mainstream" Protestant]] churches contracted sharply in terms of membership and influence.

After [[World War II]], some conservative Christian denominations including the Southern Baptists, the [[Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod]] ({{Abbr|LCMS|Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod}}), the [[Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee)|Church of God]], [[Pentecostal]]s, [[Holiness movement|Holiness groups]], and [[Church of the Nazarene|Nazarenes]] grew rapidly in numbers and also spread nationwide. Some of these denominations, such as the Southern Baptists and Missouri Synod Lutherans, went on to face theological battles and schisms from the 1960s onward. The LCMS had a split in the 1970s with the "moderate" minority eventually helping to form the [[Evangelical Lutheran Church in America]]. The SBC would faced its own battles resulting in the [[Southern Baptist Convention conservative resurgence]]. Many of the more conservative churches went on to become politically powerful as part of the "[[Christian right|religious right]]". At the same time, the influence of [[secularism]] (the belief that government and law should not be based on religion) grew dramatically, and the more conservative churches saw themselves battling secularism in terms of issues such as gay rights, abortion, and creationism.<ref>McLoughlin 1978, Balmer 2001</ref>

{{See also|New Apostolic Reformation|Seven Mountain Mandate}}

Byrnes and Segers note regarding the abortion issue, "While more theologically conservative Protestant denominations, such as the Missouri-Synod Lutherans and the Southern Baptist Convention, expressed disapproval of [[Roe v. Wade|Roe]], they became politically active only in the mid and late 1970s."<ref>Timothy A. Byrnes, Mary C. Segers, eds. ''The Catholic Church and the politics of abortion'' (1992) p 158</ref><ref>Mark A. Noll, ''Religion and American politics: from the colonial period to the 1980s'' (1990) p 327</ref> The SBC itself actually passed resolutions at two Annual Meetings in support of legalized abortion; not until 1980 (in the early days of the conservative resurgence) would it reverse its position and, from that point on, continually adopt resolutions opposing it. However, the political involvement of churches ranged from actively participating in organizations such as the [[Moral Majority]] and the [[Christian Coalition of America|Christian Coalition]] to adopting the much more indirect and unorganized approach of the LCMS.<ref>Jeffrey S. Walz and Stephen R. Montreal, ''Lutheran Pastors and Politics: Issues in the Public Square'' (Concordia, 2007)</ref>