From my inbox...

This paragraph is from an email sent by the folks at BattleCry on July 24;

SUBJECT: "Imagine an America with only 4% Christians..."

Christianity in America will not survive another decade. How is that possible? At the current rate of evangelism, it is estimated that only 4% of this generation of teenagers will be Bible-believing Christians by the time they reach adulthood. 34% of adults today are Evangelical believers. Imagine an America at 4%. This is an unthinkable crisis. We cannot let this trend run its course. It is time for the Church to respond. We must take action!

Wow. There's quite a bit to unpack here.

Like naming a Christian organization "BattleCry" - did Jesus start even one battle? Was war even Jesus' favorite metaphor for so-called "spiritual battles"? Other Jewish sects before and after Jesus' ministry rallied around "messiahs" who did start battles, and failed (like Simon bar Kochba) - at what point do are we led to read Jesus' story as an intentional rejection of the idea of a warrior-messiah?

How about the implication that Christians who are not "Bible-believing" inerrantists are not really Christians. Has anyone at BattleCry read Mark 12:28-34* lately? Which part of the story says that the doctrine of inerrancy is a litmus test for those who claim to follow Jesus? (if this question is theological nonsense to you, good! You're probably busy loving your neighbor.)

I admit, when I read this email my initial, unfiltered reaction was "Great!" The world could use more God-, neighbor-, and self-loving Christians and fewer Bible-believers. You may be tempted to think I'm saying something negative about the Bible or "believing" it (whatever that means to you) - please re-read carefully.

I'm sure that the language of war helps drive decent church people to BattleCry's leadership conferences (that's what this email was about... selling tickets) and they have every interest in painting their statistics (34% / 4%) in the extreme. Still, this was my boost of hope for the day, that our Great American Enlightenment Expiriment may roll on and that fundamentalisms of ALL TYPES - Christian, Islamic, Jewish, etc. (thanks Karen Armstrong!) - are on the ropes here. According to its own publicity, fundamentalism is in an "unthinkable crisis." May Christ-like compassion reign!

----

*Jesus quotes Deuteronomy, part of the Jewish Shema prayer;

One of the scribes, when he came forward and heard them disputing and saw how well he had answered them, asked him, "Which is the first of all the commandments?" Jesus replied, "The first is this: 'Hear O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."

The scribe said to him, "Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, 'He is One and there is no other than he.' And 'to love him with your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself' is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices." And when Jesus saw that [he] answered with understanding, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And no one had the courage to ask him any more questions. (Mark 12:28-34)