Andrew Sullivan has an excellent round up of reaction focusing on the religious aspects of President Obama’s historic endorsement of marriage equality.
This item by Nicholas Beaudrot, “Destroying the Christian Brand“, is especially insightful, in light of the data in this item by Rachel Held Evans.
Beaudrot writes:
This should really serve as a wake up call to church leaders. The once near-universal brand of American Christianity is being associated with an ever-shrinking size of the American public. Like Burger King and Axe Body Spray, you may wake up one day and find that the overwhelming majority of the public has simply tuned out everything you have to say. Now, it’s always possible that the leaders of the major American churches may want it this way. But for those who don’t, the window of opportunity where people might be willing to consider a more relevant form of modern Christianity is closing.
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How easily we forget that evangelism in its best sense is about invitation, not condemnation. But then power, real or imagined, has been so much more fun!
Amen and Amen. The reason people are dismissing us is that some of us have had too much to say about things we know little about. A period of respectful silence just might be in order before presuming to know what to say to the rest of the world.
The face and voice they see and hear is one of animosity, not love. Who can blame them for thinking the church has become irrelevant?
Amen, Jeff Mann. As I see it, to be dismissed as irrelevant is more disturbing than facing outright hostility.
June Butler
"The ancient Christian notion of chastity" cannot be imposed on people at large -- as "abstinence only" education is showing. And even within the faith, the travails of Roman Catholic clergy indicate that the concept is problematic.
At about age 45, I realized that I wasn't resisting temptations -- I was missing opportunities to love and to grow. The tradition offers the masochistic pleasures of guilt and shame to compensate for its smothering of healthy desire. People are wise to turn their backs on this irrelevant philosophy.
Perhaps the article should have highlighted the more concerning data that is quoted in Ms. Evans' piece.
"When asked by The Barna Group what words or phrases best describe Christianity, the top response among Americans ages 16-29 was “antihomosexual.” For a staggering 91 percent of non-Christians, this was the first word that came to their mind when asked about the Christian faith."
Regardless of one's stance on the issue of sexuality, the ancient characteristic, and defining quality of our faith should be love. Whatever we might think we are saying, those who are leaving the church in droves, or never approaching it at all are hearing quite another message. The face and voice they see and hear is one of animosity, not love. Who can blame them for thinking the church has become irrelevant?