‘Christian’ a four-letter word?

Everyday Liturgy contributor Thomas Turner was interviewed for an article in the Bergen Record discussing young Christian’s association with the term ”Christian.”  The article is copied below.

Survey: Christian image takes a hit
Thursday, October 18, 2007

By ADELLE M. BANKS
RELIGION NEWS SERVICE

Young people have graded Christianity, and so far, the report card doesn’t look good.

A new book based on research by the California-based firm The Barna Group said that young people in America find modern-day Christianity judgmental, hypocritical and anti-gay.

What’s more, some Christians don’t even want to call themselves ”Christian” because of the baggage that accompanies the label.

”The Christian community’s ability to take the high road and help to deal with some of the challenges that this [anti-gay] perception represents may be the … defining response of the Christian church in the next decade,” said David Kinnaman, Barna Group president and author of the book, ”UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity.”

”The anti-homosexual perception has now become sort of the Geiger counter of Christians’ ability to love and work with people,” Kinnaman said.

But some conservative ministers in North Jersey, undaunted by the criticism, say the attitudes expressed in the survey reveal more about society than the church.

By the numbers Summary of poll results, by percentage: Christianity Non-Christians Active churchgoers Has anti-gay image 91 80 Is judgmental 87 52 Is hypocritical 85 47 Source: The Bama Group survey of 867 people ages 16 to 29

”The message of the church hasn’t changed,” said the Rev. Gordon Nicely, a minister of music and worship at Hawthorne Gospel Church. ”What’s happening now is that kids have been brainwashed by the educational process to think that there are no moral absolutes.”

A West Milford pastor agreed, adding that the mainstream media often compound the problem by portraying church leaders as bigoted and hostile.

”The public schools have been very gay friendly,” said the Rev. Steve Wolosin. ”So when the church takes a stand on what seems like relentless pressure to affirm homosexual behavior and declare it to be good and normal and wholesome, it’s perceived as this bigoted attack.”

Nevertheless, one Christian graduate student said church leaders in general seem too narrowly focused on sexual issues while giving short shrift to poverty, the environment and human rights.

”The reach of Christianity should be really broad,” said Thomas Turner, a 23-year-old Saddle Brook resident and Rutgers University graduate student. ”It should be life-changing not just sexually changing.”

The findings were based on surveys of a sample of 867 young people. From that total, researchers reported responses from 440 non-Christians and 305 active churchgoers.

The vast majority of non-Christians — 91 percent — said Christianity had an anti-gay image, followed by 87 percent who said it was judgmental and 85 percent who said it was hypocritical.

Such views were held by smaller percentages of the active churchgoers, but the faith still did not fare well: 80 percent agreed with the anti-gay label, 52 percent said Christianity is judgmental, and 47 percent declared it hypocritical.

Kinnaman said one of the biggest surprises for researchers was the extent to which respondents — one in four non-Christians — said that modern-day Christianity was no longer like Jesus.

”It started to become more clear to us that what they’re experiencing related to Christianity is some of the very things that Jesus warned religious people about,” he said. ”Which is, avoiding removing the log from your own eye before trying to take the speck out of someone else’s.”

Kinnaman said some Christians — including those in the entertainment industry — preferred to call themselves ”followers of Jesus” or ”apprentices of Christ” because the word ”Christian” could limit their ability to relate to people. Even Kinnaman, 33, described himself as ”a committed Christ follower,” though he has called himself a Christian in the past.

In addition to reporting on the negative statistics, Kinnaman used the book to also give advice — from himself and more than two dozen Christian leaders — on new approaches.

”Our goal wasn’t simply to say here’s all the problems, but to hopefully point a way forward,” Kinnaman said.

Some North Jersey evangelical preachers, aware of the criticism, say they strive to take a compassionate approach while staying true to Bible teachings.

One pastor said he gives sermons that occasionally dwell on his own failures and struggles as a Christian.

”If we are going to be a place where broken people can come, then I want to be open about my own junk,” said the Rev. Peter Ahn, of Metro Community Church in Englewood. ”People can say, ‘If this pastor can have some issues, then it’s OK for me to have issues, too.”

A Wyckoff pastor, meanwhile, said, it’s important for the church to avoid excluding people based on their political affiliation.

During the 2004 election, the Rev. Fred Provencher, who supported President Bush, told his congregation that no political party has a monopoly on God.

”I was honest with people in terms of how I’m voting and why, but I also stood up there and told them that I have friends who are pastors in Paterson and New York City who don’t vote that way,” said Provencher, of Cornerstone Christian Church.

Staff Writer John Chadwick contributed to this article.