DLGP

Doctor of Leadership in Global Perspectives: Crafting Ministry in an Interconnected World

Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics

Written by: on April 9, 2014

Two things happened last week. The first was that World Vision made a bold decision in recognizing same-sex marriages among their employees. The second important thing that happened was that what seemed to be hours later, World Vision changed their minds and retracted their support. Now, there is a lot to be said about their position, and there is a lot to agree or disagree with, but my problem with this situation is that once again a Christian Organization, who for better or worst bears the name of Christ put out a picture of Christ that is not necessarily accurate or fair. No wonder we loose our credibility. No wonder that non-believers look at us and wonder what in the world we’re doing and thinking. No, World Vision doesn’t speak for all Christians, but it did reaffirm the things that the world says about us… and sadly it’s true! We are divided. We don’t know what we stand for. We don’t have courage and we rather say what we’re against than what we’re for. Sad!

Anyways, I was reading Bad Religion by Ross Douthat while the World Vision controversy was taking place. It was interesting to see the book playing out before my eyes. Douthat does a pretty good job of pointing out the failures of American Christianity. He pretty much says that we have it wrong. We have changed our focus from Christ to all the things that don’t matter. Christianity today has lost its focus and its power and its credibility. He is harsh in the things he says but to some extent he is right. As a whole, we’re not who we’re supposed to be.

At the same time when you break this picture down and look at the individual pockets of Christians around the country, you can see how hard they fight to be Christlike, to do justice and to love people. There are many of us out there who are fighting. The problem is that those on the fringes with loud voices seem to speak for the whole of Christianity. This is the problem. I wish that someone would take the time to speak of the things that we are doing right. Criticizing the church is a sport these days. People make money doing it… and everyone has an opinion. Reading Bad Religion left me longing for some good news.

About the Author

Stefania Tarasut

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