Frank Turek lays the blame for many ills in our society at the feet of the church for not being what it was supposed to be, or doing what it was supposed to do. His closing paragraphs (all worth reading):
So if you’re a believer who is upset that life is not being protected; that marriage is being subverted; that judges routinely usurp your will; that our immigration laws are being ignored; that radical laws are passed but never read; that mentioning God in school (unless he’s Allah) results in lawsuits; that school curriculums promote political correctness and sexual deviance as students fail at basic academics; that unimaginable debt is being piled on your children while leftist organizations like Planned Parenthood and ACORN receive your tax dollars; and that your religion and free speech rights are about to be eroded by “hate” crimes legislation that can punish you for quoting the Bible; then go look in the mirror and take your share of the blame because we have not obeyed our calling.
Then start over. Reengage at every level of society. Treat every job and every person as sacred. Be a beacon for Christ and truth in whatever you do and wherever you are. There is hope if you act. After all, we believe in redemption.
Shall we accept the indictment? It depends. If you know that YOU’VE been doing what you can to move culture in a better direction, so be it. But we do have a very large problem. Too many of our “para-church” organizations have desired respectability in secular eyes more than they’ve desired to be God’s agents in the world… and they can’t have it both ways. Sadly, this is true for educational institutions, community organizations, charitable organizations, you name it. And, even more sadly, some churches have watered down their message and diffused their focus in the name of appearing more tolerant and accepting.
In a word, sometimes we have let the secular left make the rules, and have tried too hard to play their game, instead of playing our own game according to God’s rules.
Each of us is responsible first to God, then to our families, to the church, and then to the wider organizations of which we’re a part, and to society. Given that hierarchy, it’s pretty safe to say that those of us who are lionized by society would do very, very well to examine ourselves individually, to ask if we’re really God’s person in the world, or just using God-talk as a means of pursuing essentially secular objectives that are respectable to the world even without the God-talk.
As the church, if we don’t take strong, united stands against clear, unambiguous sin, we abdicate one of our chief responsibilities to God and society. If we don’t do it, who will?
