Staying in a borrowed house in Savannah, I had only broadcast television. No cable. At 11:30 this Sunday morning I tuned in. On five of the seven channels was Christian broadcasting. Here's some of what I did not hear:
The findings in numerous national polls conducted by highly respected pollsters like The Gallup Organization and The Barna Group are simply shocking. "Gallup and Barna," laments evangelical theologian Michael Horton, "hand us survey after survey demonstrating that evangelical Christians are as likely to embrace lifestyles every bit as hedonistic, materialistic, self-centered, and sexually immoral as the world in general." Divorce is more common among "born-again" Christians than in the general American population. Only 6 percent of evangelicals tithe. White evangelicals are the most likely people to object to neighbors of another race. Josh McDowell has pointed out that the sexual promiscuity of evangelical youth is only a little less outrageous than that of their nonevangelical peers.
There's more, lots more, in "The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience" in Christianity Today. And what's the proposed solution?
Weeping and repentance are the only faithful responses to the sweeping, scandalous disobedience in the evangelical world today.
Okay. What precisely does that mean?
It is a deep, heartfelt sorrow for offending the Holy Sovereign of the universe and a strong inner resolve to embrace the conversion—the complete reversal of direction—that our forgiving Savior longs to bestow.... Daily, we can pray to the Lord to transform us more and more into the very likeness of Jesus.
Somehow, I don't think that'll do it. But there is hope. Read on.
The findings aren't nearly so bad for one subset of fundamentalist evangelical Christians.
George Barna has developed a set of criteria to identify people with a "biblical worldview." These people believe that "the Bible is the moral standard" and also think that "absolute moral truths exist and are conveyed through the Bible." In addition, they agree with all six of the following additional beliefs: God is the all-knowing, all-powerful Creator who still rules the universe; Jesus Christ lived a sinless life; Satan is a real, living entity; salvation is a free gift, not something we can earn; every Christian has a personal responsibility to evangelize; and the Bible is totally accurate in all it teaches....The good news is that the small circle of people with a biblical worldview demonstrate genuinely different behavior. They are nine times more likely than all the others to avoid "adult-only" material on the Internet. They are four times more likely than other Christians to boycott objectionable companies and products and twice as likely to choose intentionally not to watch a movie specifically because of its bad content. They are three times more likely than other adults not to use tobacco products and twice as likely to volunteer time to help needy people.
Here in the buckle of the Bible Belt, I know people like this. A good number of them. They are our neighbors and relatives and co-workers and students and dare I say friends. Doug plays organ in half the churches in town; he is openly gay, politically progressive and warmly regarded.
Unfortunately, for the time being these same people are squarely under the well-funded well-organized sway of the James Dobson, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson media machine. No one else is appealing to them. Maybe we should. Maybe instead of going after the "guys with confederate flags in their pickup trucks" we should try for some of them. I know it's not likely, but for those of us who live here, if they know us, gays and liberals and progressives and Democrats, and if we respect and reason with them, we may just win some over.
