Today I’m excited to announce my selection for November’s book club: unChristian: What a New Generation Thinks About Christianity…And Why it Matters, by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons.
unChristian examines a boatload of research that shows young Americans are skeptical about Christianity. Full of interesting facts and figures, as well as thoughtful responses from the authors, the book shows that a majority of young Americans think that Christians are 1) judgmental, 2) anti-homosexual, 3) hypocritical, 4) overly political, and 5) sheltered. (The negative responses are even worse for “evangelicals” specifically.)
Do you agree? And is this simply a PR problem for Christians, or do these numbers reflect a systemic problem with the way the Gospel is being interpreted by its followers in today’s culture? We’ll talk about all of this during the month of November…as we join in a collective sigh of relief that the election is finally over and we can move on to new topics!
With this book in mind, finish the following sentence….
When people ask me about my religious affiliation, I say that I am a…
I’ll start: When people ask me about my religious affiliation, I say that I am a follower of Jesus Christ. The irony of how often I fail to adhere to His teachings is not lost on me, but I feel like it’s the most accurate response I can give. “Christian” is so vague. “Evangelical,” for whatever reason, has an extremely negative connotation for me…(as we have discussed so often on this blog!) And “I’m a neurotic skeptic who thinks she’s a Christian most of the time, but hates so much of what Christianity stands for, yet loves the teachings of Jesus, but struggles to actually follow them” tends to frighten people a bit.
What do you say?
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