And here we go, to steal and reformulate a quote from Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country:
Christianity has roughly 50 years of life left to it.
That is, if evangelical Christians and right wing Catholics don’t change their stances and ways pretty soon. Rachel Held Evans explains why:
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.”)
You would think, if a religion’s hierarchy and its followers are doing their job correctly, that the most common words first thought of when talking about Christianity would be “Jesus Christ, forgiveness, love, compassion.” And I bet you the Catholic “Raping Children and Covering Up” scandal is not far from people’s minds as well. Indeed, it may explain why people are leaving the religion in droves.
The once near-universal brand of American Christianity is being associated with an ever-shrinking size of the American public. Like Burger King and Axe Body Spray, you may wake up one day and find that the overwhelming majority of the public has simply tuned out everything you have to say. Now, it’s always possible that the leaders of the major American churches may want it this way. But for those who don’t, the window of opportunity where people might be willing to consider a more relevant form of modern Christianity is closing.
In general sense, Christianity has pretty much lost three whole generations over the last few years. If Christianity wants to survive, perhaps Christianity should focus on, you know, the teachings of Jesus Christ, rather than hatred.