photo by GAC "Typically, we see the success of churches measured by the numerical size of the church or the financial health of the church (often reflected in the condition and appearance of the church building). In more colloquial language, we focus on the ABCs of church success: Attendance, Buildings, and Cash. Or even more … Continue reading Quote of Note # 149: The Materialistic Values of the American Church
Tag: Evangelicalism
Pastor Note #102: Evangelical Fears and the Turn Toward Coercive “Christianism”: an Essay Part 3 of 3
Evangelical Fears and the Turn Toward “Coercive Christianism”: an Essay Part 3 of 3 In Part 1 of this essay, I laid out some examples of Evangelical fears, particularly in the form of their desire for a strongman-protector. I have also presented statistical evidence of significant shifts in the demographics of faith in America. In … Continue reading Pastor Note #102: Evangelical Fears and the Turn Toward Coercive “Christianism”: an Essay Part 3 of 3
Pastor Note #101: Evangelical Fears and the Turn Toward “Coercive Christianism”: An Essay Part 2 of 3
Evangelical Fears and the Turn Toward “Coercive Christianism”: An Essay Part 2 of 3 The Passing of the Christian Worldview in American Society The statistics I laid out in the first part of this essay have gotten a lot of attention over the years since they were first published, and so I think we can … Continue reading Pastor Note #101: Evangelical Fears and the Turn Toward “Coercive Christianism”: An Essay Part 2 of 3
Pastor Note #100: Evangelical Fear and the Turn Toward “Coercive Christianism”: An Essay Part 1 of 3
Evangelical Fear and the Turn Toward “Coercive Christianism”: An Essay Part 1 of 3 Can Christianity in America survive without a strongman-protector? Is the plight of Christianity in American such that it can only be preserved by the guardianship of a strongman-protector in government, particularly one who is not encumbered by scruples stemming from such … Continue reading Pastor Note #100: Evangelical Fear and the Turn Toward “Coercive Christianism”: An Essay Part 1 of 3
Quote of Note #33: Evangelical Fear
"Fear was a profound motivator for evangelicals. We carried a vestigial memory of being the little ramshackle clapboard church from across the tracks whose congregation couldn't pay its minister. We collectively carried a chip on our shoulders for being marginalized. Fear and revenge were far from the teachings of Christ, but we had practiced them … Continue reading Quote of Note #33: Evangelical Fear
Quote of Note #30: American Evangelicalism and Tribal Deities
"Something had gone terribly wrong with American evangelicalism, or, perhaps, I thought, it had always been wrong and I was simply seeing the problem only now. Over the forty-three years I had been a Christian, the orientation of American evangelicals had shifted from what many theologians call the ultimate to the penultimate. We had descended … Continue reading Quote of Note #30: American Evangelicalism and Tribal Deities
Quotes of Note #25: Political Homelessness
"As the Left adopted such concerns as gay rights and abortion as touchstone issues, those of us with strong religious convictions on these matters found ourselves essentially alienated from the parties to which our allegiance would naturally be given. The parties of the Right, while representing to an extent, and at least on paper, positions … Continue reading Quotes of Note #25: Political Homelessness
Pastor Note #68 — Franklin Graham Has Abandoned Biblical Authority
The wholehearted embrace of the candidacy of Donald Trump by evangelical Christian leaders has troubled me deeply. And in many respects, their embrace of Mr. Trump mystifies me. He is precisely the sort of man whose character these evangelical leaders should have been expected to denounce out of hand. In light of how the genuine … Continue reading Pastor Note #68 — Franklin Graham Has Abandoned Biblical Authority
Gary Chorpenning's Notebooks 