Christianity Used to be an Intellectual Challenge

I have recently been looking through my scribbled notes from Bible studies back in the 1970s. Pages and pages of them, now barely decipherable. They were based on a close reading and analysis of many scriptural passages (avoiding, of course, the strange ones such as the fifth chapter of Numbers). We thought about, and discussed, everything, and analyzed our own lives in great detail. We had Friday night Bible studies and weekend conferences and retreats. These Bible studies were sponsored by Turnpike Road Church of Christ near Santa Barbara, a church that still exists. The youth ministers put a lot of thinking into the study sessions. Even though I now consider many of their assertions to have been incorrect, I remain amazed at the careful thought they put into it.

Those days are gone at most evangelical churches in America. Today, for many if not most white evangelical Christians, Christianity is very simple: Just worship Donald Trump. Even after Trump lost the election, evangelical support is still strong for Him. If you are a Republican—and very few centrist Republicans questions a single word from Trump—then everything is fine. You don’t have to worry about your materialism or your sexual morals, since God has given Trump and presumably His worshipers a blanket forgiveness for everything. You do not need to develop anything remotely resembling what we used to call a Christian character or an attitude of holiness. No longer do you have to wonder what sort of response you should have to immigrants; just kick them all out. No longer do you have to think about how a Christian should be a steward of God’s creation; the environment is nothing more than a source of raw materials for rich people to exploit. No longer do you have to consider that someone who disagrees with you might be partly correct; just assume that they are totally evil and treat them that way.

Perhaps the difference between then and now is best illustrated by what evangelical Christians are supposed to pay attention to. Back then, we read and discussed C. S. Lewis. Now, many evangelical Christians subsist on a fare of pure Fox News.