One can wrestle sincerely and with great effort about the definition of ‘Christianity,’ but net result of the culture wars seems to have been to associate a fair amount of toxicity with that word.
In June 2015, David Brooks wrote in the New York Times that
Christianity is in decline in the United States. The share of Americans who describe themselves as Christians and attend church is dropping. Evangelical voters make up a smaller share of the electorate. Members of the millennial generation are detaching themselves from religious institutions in droves.
His assertions are not without some controversy. But if most of them are true, as is probably the case, they are still not cause for despair.
The ‘culture wars’ have consumed too much attention - especially the attention of those who would be followers of Jesus. Discovering, articulating, and promulgating morality is not the central task in the life of a Jesus follower.
Disciples of Jesus are certainly called to ethical living, and are called to avoid amorality. But other tasks are more urgent.
We know that all humans have sinned; all are fallen; all are guilty; all stand condemned and are unable to help themselves in regard to their guilt.
Debating moral question is merely working out the details about who’s guilty of which sin. It doesn’t change the foundational reality that the entire human race needs forgiveness and redemption.
The words ‘church’ and ‘Christianity’ have accumulated a certain virulence because these institutions, originally founded to be the embodiment of the practice of following Jesus, have strayed from their original mission and gotten ensnared in the social conflicts of the era.
Perhaps Jesus followers might step back from the culture wars for a bit. They might be surprised to learn that others will engage. Among those who seek to protect the life from the time of its conception there are many who quite explicitly identify themselves as not Christian.
Stopping the poison of pornography, and protecting the institutions of marriage and family, are tasks which occupy many Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, and others.
While Jesus followers are not the only ones to advocate for a moral or ethical worldview, they are the only ones who are called to certain other tasks. Those other tasks, which are exclusively and uniquely theirs, are therefore of a greater urgency than those tasks which are shared with others.
The culture wars will continue, with or without Jesus followers. But the task of proclaiming the unconditional love of God toward each and every human, the task of proclaiming that unearned and unmerited forgiveness is freely given by Jesus to all people, is a task which only the the followers of Jesus do or can do.
If Christianity as a human tradition withers, but a true understanding of Jesus flourishes, it is really a loss? If churches as human institutions languish, but communities of Jesus followers go about their business of showing unconditional positive regard toward all people, is that a tragedy?
If ‘Christianity’ and ‘church’ are mere human cultural products, then they are expendable. If these words point to the authentic practice of following Jesus, and to communities which concretely express in deeds His care for people, then these words mean something different than, and apart from, a belligerent in the culture wars.
It may well be time for Jesus followers to take a break from the culture wars, indeed, to deliberately distance themselves from the culture wars, not to in any way compromise their morality, but rather to focus on tasks which are more important than morality.
Being a Christian should be something more than, and different from, simply being moral. Being a follower of Jesus certainly is something different than merely being moral.
Morality is important. But for the follower of Jesus, there are other things which are more important.
