Ed Stetzer
At some point during the 1980s and ’90s, a desire birthed among politically conservative Christians to begin to stand for things that mattered to them culturally in more active ways than before.
What followed was a ground swell of support for what would become known as the “Moral Majority.” Their understanding was that those who held the beliefs they championed were actually the majority in the country. Some believed that through the right flavor of political activism, they would win the “culture war.”
Fast forward a few decades and, despite these efforts, evangelicals appear to be on the losing side for those who considered it a war.
That’s not a matter of preference or desire; it’s a matter of numbers. Simple math shows that most of the core issues on which the religious right was focused are trending the wrong direction from evangelical belief and practice.
It didn’t work.
When I said that a few years ago, it ended up being quoted in the Washington Post and was listed as a key quote of 2012. It seemed news then.
Now, that idea just seems like common sense and most people would agree. Actually, recent surveys show that the vast majority of pastors tend to agree. (I should add that I don’t use the term “culture war” except in references where others use it—I don’t think you can war against a people in culture and reach them at the same time.)
So the question is, what do we do now? How do we find our way out of a rather awkward cultural moment?
I believe Christians can and will generally focus on three approaches in the years to come.