Musings: Notes From My Daybook

Last week, the Pew Forum released a major report on church affiliation.  The big news is that many people are changing churches.  The study found that 44% of Americans have changed churches or for 28%, they have changed religious faith.  By changing religious faith, that would include those who cease to go to church at all.

Certainly it is not the best of news for those of us who practice the Christian faith.   In fact, among the great diversity in religous groups in America--Protestant, Catholic, Jew, Muslim, and eastern religions--the single biggest gainer is the group the report calls the "unaffiliated!"  But is this really new news?  I am not so sure.  It seems to me that what is happening now really has seeds in what has occurred before.  In a culture that emphasizes liberty to pursue whatever you desire and resists the impulse to consider virtues as a public conversation and need, then religious practices suffer.  Likewise, when wealth and freedom excel, when humans can seemingly solve our own problems, then the idea that religion has something meaningful to offer suffers.

Of course, this doesn't mean that Christian people should go around thinking of ways to make the world look bad.  Humans (including Christians) seem to have a way of  doing that all by themselves.  And, it might be good to keep in mind that Christian affiliation has been through numerous shifts from one denomination to another and one degree of fervency to another through much of America's history.  Martin Marty points this out in his comments (to be posted here) earlier today.

However, one thing is clear.  Christianity in North America has some significant challenges ahead.  In the middle of the "competition" going on among various religious groups that the Pew Forum identifies, the questions that really begs an answer is whether the church in North America can rise above competition and move toward  authentic, compelling discipleship.  The significant increase in non-affiliated people in American life today, are not going to be impressed with an new ad campaign.  Besides   if Jesus were interested in market strategies, he would have gone to Madison Avenue instead of Via Delarosa.

A striking and potentially watershed moment occurred earlier this year with the publication of a document A Common Word Between Us and You published by 138 Islamic leaders to Christian leaders.  Rooted in exegetical work in both the Bible and Qur'an, the authors state that the common link between Christianity and Islam is the double command to love God and to love neighbor.  The Islamic leaders understand that there is much between us.  Indeed, they state: "Whilst Islam and Christianity are obviously different religions--and whilst there is no minimising some of their formal differences--it is clear that the Two Greatest Commandments are an area of common ground and a link between the Qur'an, the Torah and the New Testament."

It is a place to begin and for Christians it is a place that stands at the center of our faith.  Can Christian people come to this place and stand?  One clear signal can be found in a Christian response penned by several people at Yale.  Called Loving God and Neighbor Together this response acknowledges the commonality between Christian and Muslim in the demand to love God and neighbor.  It is signed by perhaps 130 plus Christian scholars, pastors, and leaders.

By acknowledging this common word Muslims and Christians can find a place to stand together.  I do not think standing in the same place will make difficult issues or matters of theology and ideology go away.  And how Christians understand love may well differ from our Islamic friends.  For example, Christian love finds its greatest disclosure in and through Jesus' sacrificial death.  Jesus actions and Christian understanding of those actions are certainly different than how Islam has understood them.  However, there is great hope that interfaith dialogue can give rise to a new hearing and to a new way of acting toward one another.

That is great news indeed!

Dave Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons (of the Fermi Project in Atlanta) have taken on something that strikes right at the heart of Christian witness today--the reality that all to often Christians are perceived as unchristian!  Based on the research conducted by the Barna Research Group, Kinnaman and Lyons identified six themes that non-Christian people between the ages of 19-29 connect with Christian people.

Before I list them it is important to know that this about perception, not reality.  But before you breathe a sigh of relief on that point, please note that all perception is rooted in something.  And, in many cases, these themes find their root in commonly held actions by some Christian people.

 Here they are:

1. Christians are hypocritical--carrying around a superior attitude.
2. The Christian community is only interested in converting others.  If a Christian can't "save you" then he or she doesn't have any more interest in you.
3. Christians are antihomosexual.
4. Christians are sheltered and out of touch with reality.
5. Christians are motivated by political agendas.
6. The Christian community is judgmental.

As I said above, sadly, much of this is rooted in the practices of many today.  Of course, Kinnaman and Lyons note other factors at work.  For example, in America, Christianity is so well known that it isn't really known at all.  We live with a cultural understanding of the Christian faith that often is more aligned with traditions and reactions to what someone heard from someone else.  Indeed Chesterton's  (para)-phrase is true: "Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; Christianity has not been really ever tried."

Yet the reality remains.  In our day 87% of the 19-29 year olds in our country who are outsiders to the Christian faith believe we are judgmental.  Do we have the fortitude and the spirit of Jesus to prove otherwise?

 For more reading see:

Scot McKnight 

Fermi Project 

unChristian 

Thinking Christian 

Two notes on how Christians are faring these days.  First comes from the Martin Marty Center and the email paper that arrives twice a week in my email box.  Mark Pinsky, who wrote The Gospel According to The Simpsons: BIGGER and Possibly Even BETTER! Edition (Westminster John Knox, 2007), and who serves as the religion writer for the Orlando Sentinel, offers a review of Christianity from Hollywood.  You can read his piece here.

Pinsky does not find a lot of strong or positive Christian models out there.  However he does note that at least people are talking about faith and religion--even if it does look a little unorthodox.  A case in point is TNT's Saving Grace!  And, as Pinsky notes, the most likely identifiable Christian on TV today is probably Ned Flanders.  So we can lament it and ignore it--or we can find some way to engage in the various currents and themes that are being raised by a culture that is willing to poke fun at faith in one moment but is also engaged enough to continue to long for answers.

The second note is about a newly released book by David Kinnaman called  unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity... and Why it Matters.  Published by the Barna Group, the book offers insight into how a new generation of people who do not have a church background perceive Christians.  It isn't a pretty sight!

A remarkable debate on science and faith.  Thanks to Pat for noting this account of a debate between Richard Dawkins and John Lennox--two Oxford professors who had never met.  Naomi Riley posts a review in the WSJ here.  The debate, held on October 3, highlights  growing conversations and dialogue between people of faith and science.

Recent years have brought new apologists for atheism to the public eye.  Dawkins is perhaps the most famous; however, persons like Christopher Hitchens with his recent book, God is Not Great, reflect this growing group.  Yet  Christian voices are responding.  In addition to John Lennox, Francis Collins, one of America's leading scientists and Alister McGrath who also teaches at Oxford with two doctor's degrees (science and theology) are offering cogent alternative views.

I find it all quite welcoming.  Christians have nothing to fear and much to gain in civil, public discource about matters of science and faith.  The Christian faith offers the best vision of how to appropriate and understand life and experience.  Let's talk!