A Christian Minority?

[B]elieving Christians are no longer what they once were — an overwhelming majority in a self-consciously Christian nation. The question is whether they can become a creative and attractive minority in a different sort of culture, where they’re competing not only with rival faiths but with a host of pseudo-Christian spiritualities, and where the idea of a single religious truth seems increasingly passé.

Or to put it another way, Christians need to find a way to thrive in a society that looks less and less like any sort of Christendom — and more and more like the diverse and complicated Roman Empire where their religion had its beginning, 2,000 years ago this week.

-- Ross Douthat for The New York Times

It is difficult to see American Christians as being chastened by new demographics and a new post-Christian culture, but a little more humility might be a good thing for an earnest Christian. Power obviously corrupts Christians as much as anybody else. Worldly power was one of Satan's temptations in the desert, and while Jesus overcame it and spurned the offer of worldly power, our right-wing Christians, as well as the Catholic Church it might be added, have not been so successful in that. Maybe they ought to think less about being our lawmakers and more about the virtue of their souls.

A Christian Minority?

[B]elieving Christians are no longer what they once were — an overwhelming majority in a self-consciously Christian nation. The question is whether they can become a creative and attractive minority in a different sort of culture, where they’re competing not only with rival faiths but with a host of pseudo-Christian spiritualities, and where the idea of a single religious truth seems increasingly passé.

Or to put it another way, Christians need to find a way to thrive in a society that looks less and less like any sort of Christendom — and more and more like the diverse and complicated Roman Empire where their religion had its beginning, 2,000 years ago this week.

-- Ross Douthat for The New York Times

It is difficult to see American Christians as being chastened by new demographics and a new post-Christian culture, but a little more humility might be a good thing for an earnest Christian. Power obviously corrupts Christians as much as anybody else. Worldly power was one of Satan's temptations in the desert, and while Jesus overcame it and spurned the offer of worldly power, our right-wing Christians, as well as the Catholic Church it might be added, have not been so successful in that. Maybe they ought to think less about being our lawmakers and more about the virtue of their souls.