A decade ago, in 2013, John S. Dickerson wrote an exceptionally prescient book, The Great Evangelical Recession: 6 Factors That Will Crash the Evangelical Church and How to Prepare. In his book, Dickerson outlines trends that will lead to the failure of the Evangelical Church. After discussing internal factors that will weaken the church, he states, “In addition to these internal sicknesses, the oak of evangelicalism will face, in the next fifty years, a hurricane force wind of external change. Humanly speaking, the combination of these forces may be too much.”[1]
Dickerson discusses rapid social change that is being encouraged through ubiquitous communication and social platforms. In an age of increasing secularism, the Church is increasingly viewed as a roadblock to the necessary liberalization of the culture. He argues that the Evangelical Church’s positions on abortion and sexual immorality (homosexuality, gay marriage, and trans issues) will lead to the demonization and oppression of Christians. Written a decade ago, the book provides numerous examples of this trend. For many, the Evangelical Church has become nearly synonymous with White Supremacy and the KKK. Well-documented studies show that a decade ago, a significant portion of sociologists would not hire an evangelical Christian but would employ a Muslim. Across the culture, there is a considerable bias developing against Evangelicals.
If you are not worried by these trends, you probably should be. A while ago I read an article explaining that the Richmond office of the FBI was found to possess a memo that inferred that “radical right-wing Catholics” were potentially violent terrorist and their views might lead them to develop a common cause with White Supremacists and other terror groups. As a result, the FBI had an interest in investigating them. This terror warning was based not on any information or evidence of violence. It was based on the Catholics’ conservative beliefs. They are traditionalists and oppose abortion and the LGBTQ movement. The FBI’s attitude is very much in line with recent news coverage that indicated that Pro-choice groups received robust protection from the Department of Justice. In contrast, Pro-life groups that experienced terrorist acts were met with a yawn.
The left has co-opted the government. Rather than being neutral, it has chosen to insert itself into the ongoing “culture wars.” As some commentators have said, the government has weaponized the continuing cultural debate through the Department of Justice. The government has demonstrated and proclaimed itself a proponent of abortion and the LGBTQ movement. This means that conservative Christians can expect the government to become increasingly hostile to their position.
What is developing is a battle for “rights.” Conservatives would insist that all people have the right to free speech and freedom of religion. The LGBTQ faction states it has a right to the unfettered expansion of its practices and beliefs. Any discrimination based on a religious claim violates their right to live in society. This clash results in Christian bakers or wedding photographers who disagree with gay marriage being sued unless they disregard their religious beliefs. Christian schools that insist teachers hold similar values to the institution and students adhere to student guidelines are being sued because people who hold antithetical values insist they have a right to work in that environment. This is a manufactured clash as people who buy a cake can go elsewhere with little or no inconvenience, and non-Christians have no inherent right to work in a Christian environment. The goal is to litigate settlements that determine that LGBTQ rights trump the rights found in the Constitution.
This cultural battle puts Christians and Christian churches in a difficult place. Christians believe that they must love those who oppose them. However, Christians also believe they are responsible for upholding Scripture, and both abortion and LGBTQ issues are opposed by Scripture. Therefore, Christians have no choice but to honor the teaching of Scripture even if it is contrary to the culture that they live in. This clash will ultimately keep people from the church and set Christians up for discrimination.
Not long ago, Christians were perceived as people who loved others and followed God. More recently, they are viewed as people who follow an unlikable God and who themselves are bigoted, narrow, and hateful. In all fairness, those who think poorly of Christians would or should acknowledge that the Christian’s behavior and actions have not changed significantly between the time they were viewed positively and when they began to be viewed negatively. The culture has changed, and many people now support viewpoints that the church cannot endorse because they run counter to the teaching of Scripture. Since the church will not embrace the new cultural trends, the church is fit for nothing and should be cast aside. This is the dilemma that we face for the foreseeable future. This is the hour for faithfulness.
[1] John S. Dickerson, The Great Evangelical Recession: 6 Factors That Will Crash the American Church…and How to Prepare (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2013).