Will --

I think Christians have an addiction to politics which impairs our ability to be the kind of church we ought to be in general. So in whatever way we disagree about the book here, let me say that if we were the church first and Americans second and political activists someplace way down the list, the stereotypes wouldn;t stand up very well.

But that said, who invents the stereotypes in our culture? Let's concede that Fred Phelps exists, and the TBN parade of creepy profiteers are, well, really doing what they do in the name of Christ. But how many people do you meet who look like that in real life?

My contention is "not many". And in that case, where does the idea that Christians all hate gays come from -- the Christians who are out there trying to live decent, upright lives?

I think the stereotypes come from the people who trade on stereotypes -- which would be those in the entertainment industry. It's easier to pick on a caricature like Paul Crouch or Pat Robertson than it is to discover that most pastors and preachers are a little more like your next-door neighbor than they are like some pyramid-scheming demagogue who finds easy targets in "gays", "drunks" and whatever.

However, that said, we should not be about making sure we are -not- something, but that we are following the whole counsel of God in being believers and the church. If we are what we ought to be, we can have a clean conscience about who we are.

and I thought, perhaps, I should begin with that fact, since the comments in this thread make it pretty clear that others have not.

The book's findings are based on extensive surveys of 16 to 29 year olds who are outside of the Church and/or the Christian faith. The survey results indicate how widespread the perception is among this target group that the Church/Faith is anti-homosexual, judgmental, and hypocritical (among other harsh impressions).

The authors give a lot of attention to the varying degrees to which these sentiments are misperceptions -versus- assessments that those claiming to be Christians have prompted the "Unchristian" summation by actually BEING all these awful ways that repel millions from having any interest in considering the claims of Christ.

The political section is way more nuanced than to propose that Christians are addicted to politics or limited to stereotypes.

As the authors discuss at length, it's not WHETHER we talk in public about the Christian faith, it's HOW we go about doing so. Do we earn the right to be heard by loving outsiders as Christ did, or do we verbally assault them as if they are merely sub-human sales targets?

Sure, everything "unChristian" isn't necessarily "wrong," but for those who have given their lives to God and are fully convinced of, and fully committed to, a life-changing relationship with God in Christ - everything Christian truly ought to be better than any other alternative. The problem, as C.K. Chesterton said about 90 years ago, is not that the Christian faith has been tried and found wanting, but that it has not fully been tried. The primary issue in this book is that outsiders (aged 16-29) evaluate the Church/Christian Faith on the behavior and attitudes of imposters who have hijacked religious vocabulary and activities and abuse it all to facilitate their own unChristian agendas.

It was a mighty challenge (as I knew it would be) to read the section on the anti-homosexual perceptions of the Church by these outsiders. I am of the tiny portion of Christ followers who believe that the Biblical writers thought that all people were born heterosexual and, therefore, all of the very few Biblical injunctions related to homosexuality presume this is behavior engaged by heterosexual persons. The insight that some people are born homosexual is not on the Biblical landscape. If homosexual persons commit to lifelong monogamous relationships, the most relevant Scriptural issue is faithfulness, just as it is for heterosexual couples.

But, the authors do a very serious job of challenging Christians to truly keep the focus on loving homosexual persons as people created in the image of God and for whom Jesus Christ laid down his life. They challenge Christ followers to invest in friendships, to love and serve, and draw others to the love and forgivness of God - rather than labels, politics, fear, and judgment.

The book is well worth the price and the time it takes to read it. I urge everyone who cares about the future of the Church in modern America to read this book and take the profund and well-considered suggestions to heart.

As a person coming from a post-Christian experience, I have to agree with the basic premise of the book. I have to confess, that unfortunately the most un-Christian people I have ever had the misfortune to know, were all professing Christians. For myself, I had been a committed and believing Christian for 30 years. Yet all through that time, I was painfully aware that there was a serious gap between what Jesus said, and what Christian say – what Jesus did, and what Christians do. I won’t go into the details of my spiritual pilgrimage, but I came to realize that there were essentially 2 completely different and opposing realities – the historical person of Jesus of Nazareth and his message, and the Jesus of Christianity and its message. They are not the same – and, as I found, they are irreconcilable. To put it perhaps over-simplistically, there is the man and his message, and then there is the religion *about* the man and his message. The two have nothing to do with each other, as I discovered. The time eventually came when I realized I had to make a choice – which Jesus would it be? As Jesus Himself said, “you cannot serve two masters.” I rejected my Christianity – and met Jesus instead. I have never regretted this. The truth really did set me free. Today, I can happily say I am not a Christian. But I am an loyal follower of Jesus of Nazareth. Learning to follow Him – I mean, *really* follow Him - has not been easy – far from it - but it has been joyful. To see without judging, to hear without bias, to give without limit and to love without exception has altered my life in ways I can’t begin to describe. I guess I just want to say to others, don’t throw out the Man or his message just because those who claim to follow him don’t get it. Christianity is a man-made religion, just like any other. If you study the history of the development of the religion, you will discover how as far back as Paul, the reinterpretation process was already underway. Christianity’s main focus – then as now – was/is to reshape Jesus and His message in their own image – man creating God, as it were – for its own means to its own ends. If it seems hollow and phony, it’s no wonder. Fortunately, the real Jesus can still be found. He truly will speak, if anyone truly wants to hear. And what he has to say is “good news” indeed. Just think about it – that’s all.