Pastor Shel shepherds us toward the latest findings from the Barna Group, which studies religion in America. The group distills six major patterns from its 2010 research:
- The Christian Church is becoming less theologically literate. I apparently lucked out with my increasingly well-read and intentional Lutheran wife: only a minority of American adults are clear on a principle as simple and obvious as the association of Easter with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If I have to hang around Christians (and yes, in South Dakota, I do), I at least want them to know their stuff.
- Christians are becoming more ingrown and less outreach-oriented. Barna finds Christians keeping their light under a bushel and not engaging in open conversations about their faith, even with trusted friends.
- Growing numbers of people are less interested in spiritual principles and more desirous of learning pragmatic solutions for life. Americans are "practical to a fault," says Barna. That's why a lot of church services and popular religious books (think Joel Osteen) look and sound more like self-help sessions than serious engagement with the Divine.
- Among Christians, interest in participating in community action is escalating. That's a good sign, unless you buy the line that social justice is Hitler and Stalin rolled into one. This increased community action fits with pragmatism but appears inconsistent with that inward turn mentioned above in #2. However, Barna notes that an increasing focus on community action isn't always conneted with a strong spiritual basis. "Simply doing good works because it's the socially esteemed choice of the moment will not produce much staying power"---there's a point good Lutherans should appreciate.
- The postmodern insistence on tolerance is winning over the Christian Church. Evidently South Dakota is behind on that postmodern curve. But I have to agree with Barna's concern that "The idea of love has been redefined to mean the absence of conflict and confrontation, as if there are no moral absolutes that are worth fighting for."
- The influence of Christianity on culture and individual lives is largely invisible. Again, I get the impression that this is more the case somewhere beyond our fair prairie, where Christianity seems to remain the visibily dominant culture.
By Barna's reading, these themes point toward a weakening of Christian influence in our culture. Even as an atheist, I don't necessarily celebrate that prospect. I can agree with Barna's position that Christianity done right adds value to American culture. But Christianity done right requires study and intellect, not just good works and happy feelings.
Just one tiny quibble.
"Christianity done right requires study and intellect, not just good works and happy feelings."
Amen
Several decades ago, I requested a "red-letter edition" of the Holy Bible as a birthday present. The priest at my parents' church said that he wished more people would request birthday presents like that. If he'd known what I was up to, he might have retracted that statement.
I read all the red letters before I read any other part of that book. Then I read "Proverbs." I began to get the uneasy feeling that all organized religions are cults! In retrospect I must observe that if Christ were here among us today, we'd call him a radicalized Democrat, and he'd call us hypocrites.
Christ our Lord, the Son of Man, advocated the equivalent of a 100-percent tax as the price tag for admission to His Father's kingdom. He told a rich man to give away everything and follow him -- not 35 percent, not 65 percent, not even 95 percent, but all of it. The rich man, as we recall, "went away sorrowing." He was probably a Republican like me.
Christ was a rabble-rouser who hung out with thieves, prostitutes, and tax collectors because they needed him the most. One might speculate as to the extent to which he consulted with his father concerning the theoretical aspects of his faith, as one might consult a college professor about the finer points of axiomatic set theory. I have no clue as to how such conversations actually might have gone, and I don't think any of the organized religious elites have a clue, either.
Anyone want to call me an idiot? I won't deny it.
Got the preview button, now, Cory. Thanks!