- Apr 30, 2013
- 30,894
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- US-Democrat
Oh, absolutely. To reverse the decline, it has become relevant to peoples' lives again.
In my experience, people are put off by the corruption, being told who to vote for and who to hate, and that every cultural fad is caused by demons. They need to focus on messages of hope, humility, and forgiveness.
You pretty much nailed it here. Christianity became weaponized by the Right to use against the counter-culture and social liberation movements of the 60's and 70's.
I don't suspect it will ever be less political, but I suspect it will change tactics because politicians won't be able to openly cater to Christians as the numbers of nones increase. Their goal isn't to be less upsetting to non-Christians, it's to have people in the pews when the collection plate goes around.
I suspect as the younger generations phase out the older, Christianity will be re imagined and before you know it, they will be the ones proudly announcing that it was Christianity that fought for the acceptance of the LGBTQ community.
That's my fear, and why I left my church denomination (ELCA). Despite their relative liberalism on the issue (they permit a plurality of perspectives), there has not been a "Truth and Reconciliation" moment, and much of the language of their statements on sexuality, official and otherwise, is setting up just the sort of scenario you imagine. That is a betrayal of the historical memory of all LGBT people that were harmed by the religion.
I have had so many LGBT friends and had to counsel enough young people that I just realized the Church hasn't begun to account for the pain and suffering it inflicted on that community. The worst thing is many liberal Christian institutions simply want to engage in revisionist history and make themselves look like the good guys for doing so.
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