Here's a fascinating article on why the CRC, going mainstream liberal for decades, made an abrupt about-face and affirmed biblical sexuality, even resolving to discipline specific cases over it.
The whole thing is worth reading, but this paragraph especially caught my eye (I took out the graph and references):
But beginning in 2017, the quiet practices of personal piety have changed trajectory. The percentage of congregants who have been praying privately..., having family devotions..., reading the Bible daily..., and having personal devotions daily ... began to rise for the first time in 20 years....
Another shows that the mean number of children in households with children—that is, the number of children among parents of childbearing age—also began rising around 2012.
This correlation makes sense to me. The between personal piety and favoring traditional marriage has been well documented. It follows that a denomination of people who pray, read their Bibles, and go to church would favor biblical sexuality.
Less clear is why CRCers began praying and reading Scripture more after 2012. There wasn’t an organized push for quiet times. The denomination didn’t campaign for Bible reading plans. The pastors I talked to didn’t even notice it was happening.
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