Cry Christian

Harlingen, Texas, February 21, 2007:  Christians across the United States could very well be shedding tears of sadness over the denigration of their faith if current attitudes and movements across the country continue throughout the remainder of the century.

Depending upon the pole numbers you select, 89% to 92% of Americans claim to believe in God.  Along with that primary belief, 85% believe in heaven and 82% believe in miracles.  Even belief in Satan has increased, with 71% believing the devil is real today, as compared with only 63% in 1997.

According to the latest demographics, 76.5% of the American population claim to be Christians, less than 2% claim the Jewish faith, only 0.2% Muslim and the remainder of those who profess a belief in God show no particular religious preference.  So, if the vast majority of Americans are followers of specific faiths and almost all believe in God, why should there be any Christian concern?

According to author and journalist Sean Scallon, writing last month in the Canadian Free Press, there are two movements that may alter several faiths inside the United States during the 21st Century.  His contention is, “Those trends are from Catholic to Orthodox and from nominal Christian to Islam.” He charges that within the Catholic church repeated charges of molestation, combined with the draining of church treasuries through litigation will result in closure of church schools, selling off of church property and even fewer men and women seeking to become priests and nuns. He further sees the church’s colleges and hospitals becoming completely secularized within the next 20 years.  With all of these deep-rooted problems Scallon sees a movement away from the Roman Catholic faith to the European Orthodox Catholic Church.

The movement of nominal Christians to Islam and the growth of Muslims in America is seen by Scallon as being triggered by an increase in Black Muslim followers, increased immigration from Islamic countries and Christian conversion.

In the September 2005 Harper’s Magazine Bill McKibben wrote about the inattention of Christians to their faith.  He pointed out that only 40% of Americans could name more than four of the Ten Commandments, while barely 50% can cite any of the four authors of the Gospels.  Added to that, only 36% regularly attend church services.

We claim that America is a Christian nation, yet according to Harper’s “The Christian Paradox” article, “Twelve percent believe Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife. This failure to recall the specifics of our Christian heritage may be further evidence of our nation’s educational decline...” the article further points out that “three quarters of Americans believe the Bible teaches that ‘God helps those who help themselves.’ That is three out of four Americans believe that this uber-American idea, a notion at the core of our current individualist politics and culture, which was in fact uttered by Ben Franklin, actually appears in Holy Scripture.”

These observations only touch the fringe of Christian concern.  Battles rage throughout American churches on everything from politics to homosexual ordination to display of the Ten Commandments.  There is even debate on “what” Ten Commandments should be displayed with few people realizing there are three primary English language versions of the Hebrew Scriptures or Old Testament. 

The most commonly known version of the Ten Commandments is Exodus 20.  However, the commandments also appear in Exodus 34 and Deuteronomy 5.  There is the Protestant version, the Catholic version and the Hebrew version.  So, which version are we fighting to place on the courthouse lawn and in the school auditorium?

But, if anything should make American Christians cry for the future of their faith it could be the “God helps those who help themselves” attitude that exists among laymen and clergy alike.  Our country was built upon the labors of church people helping the community, building the institutions, starting schools and opening hospitals.  They reached out to everyone and cared for all within their reach.

Today much of that charity has turned inward.  Christians help others of their faith, their own congregation, their own building program, their own sick and lost.  As stated in The Christian Paradox, “American churches, by and large, have done a pretty good job of loving the neighbor in the next pew.”

What these same churches have failed to remember is Jesus in answering the Pharisee’s question about what was the core of law said, “You shall love your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the greatest and first commandment.  And the second is like it; you shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Jesus was speaking of the neighbor who is sick, the one who is poor, the one who has no food, the one who has no clothes, and the one who has no shelter.  He wasn’t speaking to Christians about the one who didn’t get to go on vacation this year or the other one who failed to get his desired tee time at the local country club.

America calls itself a Christian country, yet as a share of our economy we are next to last among developed nations in foreign aid.  Per capita we each give 15 cents a day in development assistance to foreign countries.  That is charitable giving at a governmental level.  If we look at private giving, we each contribute only 6 cents a day to overseas charity.

When we view giving from a political identification vantage point, conservatives give twice as much as liberals to charity.  At the same time, those who claim to be liberal in their world-view speak of the need to provide for others far more often than they act upon that message. Still, the average of giving for conservatives and liberals alike is 6 cents each.

What about our caring for others?  As a nation, how are we doing?  In childhood nutrition, infant mortality, access to healthcare, secure and protected home life.… there are almost 18% of American children at risk.  We lead the world in teenage pregnancy, obesity and incurring debt. Our murder rate, per capita, is five times that of European countries and our imprisoned criminals, relative to total population, is more than quadruple the totals of other rich nations.

While these things are taking place in front of all our eyes, there is a negative undercurrent flowing all around us that further challenges our beliefs and dampens our positive actions.
Most Americans are well aware of the concerted attacks on Christmas.  There has been a secular education movement to deny any miracles occurred.  The ACLU conducts a continuing attack on the display of any Christian symbols and attempts to litigate out of the public arena any mention of God.

It has been documented that a vast body of journalists, actors, broadcasters and educators generally are further to the liberal-left of center on the political spectrum than most of America.  They champion abortion; homosexual relations and more than half of those surveyed see nothing wrong with adultery.  Because they have a public pulpit, these individuals hold great sway over the conscious thought of most citizens.  This is aided constantly by the reluctance of Christians to speak out and condemn those practices seen as wrong.

That reluctance to defend the right to have God in our lives is at the heart of the problem.  If as all surveys report, 92% of Americans believe in God and more than 76% of Americans are Christians...why are they not standing firm in their beliefs.  They make up the vast majority of the population and their message should be the loudest of all. Christians should be living the two greatest commandments every day of their lives.  If this were truly happening there would have no hungry people.  There would be no homeless.  The jails would be almost empty.  America’s streets and homes would be safe.  So, Cry Christians...the problems of this nation and the crisis of religion could well be because everyone forgot the two greatest commandments.