Written by: Telile Fikru Badecha on March 21, 2014

A couple of years ago, I was invited to share about my ministry with a mission committee at one of my ministry partner churches in the area. I gave them an overview of what we do and how their generous support helps us provide our communities with basic physical needs by building elementary schools, for example, which in return gives us opportunities to share about Jesus.  When I was sharing this, one of the ladies asked if we are teaching Bible in our schools. I said, unfortunately we cannot share about Jesus in the classroom. And she said “That is good!” She was glad that we do not teach Bible in the classroom. That was something I would never expect to hear from someone who serves on a missions committee. My assumption was that everyone on the missions team is somehow on the same page in terms of their theology and understanding about how critical it is we share the kingdom message to others. I was wrong. The incident certainly taught me not to have a generalized assumption about our American partner churches and their mission committees. I got the impression that whether one believes or does not believe in preaching the good news it does not really matter anymore in some American Churches, as long as they come to church and donate money to mission. I left the meeting wondering how someone would be allowed to serve in a church’s missions committee when they don’t even believe in sharing the Good News?

While reading Bad Religion: How We Became A Nation of Heretic by Ross Douthat I remembered the above story and found some answers to my questions.  I appreciate reading this book because it helped me become familiar with the history of American Christianity and how it is shaping the people’s religious, political, and social life. It is remarkable to learn the growth of American Christianity, especially the years which followed World War II, as the author call it “…an era of intellectual confidence, artistic vitality, pews full to bursting, and a widespread sense that traditional Christian faith and contemporary liberal democracy were natural partners” (p.14).  However, beginning in the 1960s traditional Christianity began to decline. Protestants and Catholics alike “have lost members, money and authority”(p.3).  “American’s problem” as the author says, “isn’t too much religion, or too little of it. It’s bad religion: the slow-motion collapse of traditional Christianity and the rise of a variety of destructive pseudo-Christianities in its place” (p.3). Douthat criticizes prosperity gospel preachers such as Joel Osteen, and considers many others heretics for their God-and-Mammon theology that “offer direct critiques of orthodoxy, and define themselves explicitly as alternatives to historic Christianity”(p.15). These pseudo-Christians are a fierce threat to American’s Christianity. They are “increasingly offering distortions of traditional Christianity, not the real thing ” (p.4).  Douthat criticizes Osteen not only for his prosperity gospel but also for his failure to acknowledge examining his theology (p.209). This reminded me of some preachers in my church who used to tell people if they were obedient enough to God, they would receive blessing from God. They preached that our suffering, sickness, and poverty are results of our sinful life style and/or lack of faith, and material blessings are signs that God is with us. They often lack humility and regard themselves as special people whom God share secrets of His people with them.  Similar to the Osteen audience who never questioned him for his God-Mammon preaching, people in my church are afraid of confronting those false prophets.

For that reason, I somehow can relate to Douthat’s concern that “a growing number are inventing their own versions of what Christianity means, abandoning the nuances of traditional theology in favor of religion that stroke their egos and indulge or even celebrate their worst impulses” (p.4). The anti-orthodox Christianity force has led the American society to “embrace the simplified vision of [their] culture, in which their children of light contend with the children of darkness, and every inch of ground is claimed by absolute truth or deplorable error” (p.4). In such sweeping challenges where Christians are faced with two paths—accommodation or resistance, Christians often prefer accommodation.

Another issue that the author is concerned with is the loss of a Christian Center that “has helped Mainline Protestants and Catholics “ bind together a teeming, diverse, and fissiparous nation ”(p.7).  I thought about churches in my country, and how we have never had any kind of connection between mainline denominations. Ethiopian Orthodox Christians have always considered their Christianity as authentic and treated Protestants as heretics. They call Protestants “sheep stealers” because the Protestants convert their members. The Catholics are the minority compared to Protestants and their presence is hardly noticed. For this reason, unlike the American churches that once had this common Protestant-Catholic connection, churches in my country never made such a contribution to our Christianity. They are best known for demonizing one another for not accommodating their differences.

On the other hand, I do see some similarity between the Christian churches in America and the ones in Ethiopia in their effort to be relevant and up-to-date with the current cultural trends.  As the author points out, the shift in Christian culture is “force[ing] the Christian churches to adapt to a wide variety of new and unexpected phenomena, from the electric guitar to blue denim to the drug culture. Also, the debate surrounding “the sexual revolution”, in Douthat’s opinion “diminished orthodox Christianity’s credibility”(p.70). Similar to some American churches, Protestants are not open for the discussion surrounding women in leadership, but certainly the drug culture is not common.

As a devout Catholic, Douthat invites his readers “to take a closer look at orthodox Christianity and to reflect anew on its potential relevance for contemporary life” (p.15). Although I do not come from organized Christian tradition, I do agree with the author that we should closely examine our contemporary Christian culture and how it is shaping our lives in light of Biblical teachings. As the author commends, in order “ to make any difference in our common life, Christianity must be lived…” (p.293). I am reminded first to look at myself, and  “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”  

About the Author

Telile Fikru Badecha