Wednesday, August 22, 2012

What's wrong with Evangelicalism?


Something is wrong with the evangelical church in America. Let me be honest - lots of things are wrong with the evangelical church in America. It's not anything about Jesus; it's not a problem with historical, orthodox Christianity - though for a lot of people who've never known any other Christianity, it seems that way. But the problems don't involve anything central to our faith - the problems are with how we typically live out that faith, in America, in the 21st century. Said another way, I don't believe our problems are not rooted in our theological beliefs (and mine are probably pretty much the same as yours), they're in our behavior and our attitudes.
What problems am I talking about? Ask an atheist. Ask a non-believer, or someone who doesn't bother with church. Most of them will agree with the statement, "I like Jesus, it's his fan club I have trouble with." Their complaints, if they go into detail, might include disinterest in the plight of the poor & oppressed, favoritism toward the rich, self-righteous judgmentalism, hypocrisy, subtle (usually) sexism, anti-intellectualism, lack of concern for honesty when it suits our purposes, support for torture and war, regulating non-believers to live like believers, dismissal of those we disagree with, and our continual infatuation with the Republican party (to say it mildly) and disdain for Democrats (to say it even more mildly).
Of course, most of us don't line up with all the stereotypes. But stereotypes usually have some correlation with reality, and as a lifelong evangelical, who attended a prestigious evangelical Seminary, and pastored at a church with evangelical in the name, I'd say most of them are grounded in truth, and most of them have been true of me at one point or another - some probably still are.
So I'd submit that, much of the time, evangelicals are serving as a stumbling block to the spiritually blind, and it's something we need to recognize, confess & repent of. I don't know how to solve these issues, but I do know it usually helps to name the problems out loud, to other people. So let's get started.
But, before we do, let me say two things. First, I think there's a lot right with evangelism (read about it here), and my hope is to see reform, not throw the baby out with the bathwater. And second, it's been a long & multifaceted process for me to see things how I do today - please don't assume we're so different that we can't have a conversation together about where the church is and where it ought to be.

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