How to win a culture war and lose a generation

[SpartanDem]

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. The same was true for 80 percent of young churchgoers. (The next most common negative images? : “judgmental,” “hypocritical,” and “too involved in politics.”)

In the book that documents these findings, titled unChristian, David Kinnaman writes:

“The gay issue has become the ‘big one, the negative image most likely to be intertwined with Christianity’s reputation. It is also the dimensions that most clearly demonstrates the unchristian faith to young people today, surfacing in a spate of negative perceptions: judgmental, bigoted, sheltered, right-wingers, hypocritical, insincere, and uncaring. Outsiders say [Christian] hostility toward gays...has become virtually synonymous with the Christian faith.”

http://rachelheldevans.com/win-culture-war-lose-generation-amendment-one-north-carolina

[freshwest]

1. This is the rotten fruit of Reagan and the GOP. Nice job, guys.

[Skittles]

2. loving the younger generation!!

[ZombieHorde]

3. I know there are many, many Christians who are pro-gay rights,

but "anti-gay" is one of my first reactions when hear the word "Christianity."

[WCGreen]

5. When I hear the word Christian, what comes to my mind is an archaic way to look at the world...

that the refuses to accept change of any kind.

[raouldukelives]

4. Is it me or are the loudest Christians almost always

the ones who have done the least reading? Seems to me a large majority of them just take whatever they hear on Sunday to be good enough and to continue business as usual at the 9-5 M-F denying health care claims, trading stocks in companies that commit atrocities against nature or some other equally beneficial service to humanity.
Maybe being a Christian doesn't end at noon on Sundays. Perhaps the whole idea is that it continues into every facet of your existence. If it doesn't, that's not the responsibility of anyone but you. I've always kind of looked at it as a round of golf. It's up to you to decide what your score is when nobody is watching. Ah, I'll take a mulligan on this one. Deduct a stroke here or there and all is well but in the end you were only lying to yourself.

[eridani]

6. Probably. I've actually had a RW whackjob tell me that

--the Beatitudes weren't in the Bible.

[4_TN_TITANS]

8. "continue business as usual at the 9-5 M-F"

These are the 'christians' who use church as a networking ground for personal businesses and private gain. I've seen many a newcomer to the community use church contacts to springboard business ventures in a new community. I think it's part of the 1% playbook to fake christianity for personal gain.

[SpartanDem]

11. This is so true

in my experience the most conservatives RWers have the least amount of knoweledge of the bible.

[Odin2005]

7. When I hear "Christian" I think "bigot".

[Myrina]

9. When I hear it, I think

... "intellectually challenged lemmings".

Like, seriously, they BELIEVE that stuff? At face value? D'oh!