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Christian Network

In recent times Evangelicals here have had had a tendency to view themselves as an embattled minority in an increasingly pagan nation. It has come as a bit of a shock, then, for us to realize how much influence born-again believers have begun to exert on the general culture during the first years of the Twenty-first Century. As many as 50 million people in the United States identify themselves as evangelicals. We may not be in the majority but Christians in this country are certainly numerous and we are finding that we have more "cultural clout" than might have been dreamed of not so long ago.

Tim La Haye, co-author of the hugely popular Left Behind series of "End-Times" novels recently received an advance of 45 million dollars for his next book project. The previous series racked up more than half a billion dollars in sales. Pastor Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose-Driven Life has sold more than 24 million copies making it the best-selling hardcover in history. Media giant Disney is about to release a big-budget cinematic version of C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. In music Christian bands like Switchfoot and Casting Crowns have had success not only in the traditional Christian Contemporary market but also on the secular charts. It seems that evangelicals have come into their own in America.

This influence is also being manifest in the political arena. George Bush would not have won in either 2000 or 2004 without the evangelical vote. Pro-life forces appear to be on the offensive with at least a partial repeal of Roe V. Wade being a real prospect for the first time since abortion-on-demand was legalized here in 1973. Even the Democratic Party, having lost the last two general elections, is beginning to court the Christian electorate, though so far with limited success. Despite the best efforts of secularists, and their allies in the mainstream media, evangelicals have further strengthened their corporate voice in the governance of this nation.

All this has made our "embattled minority" self-image more difficult to maintain. If evangelicalism has gone mainstream how are we to claim that we are an oppressed group? It is true that we remain unliked by a large swath of the population who identify orthodox Christians with arrogance and narrow-mindedness. This is particularly true on the two coasts in major urban centers like New York and Los Angeles. The former recently received its first Christian Contemporary Music station; something that "Bible Belt" cities with far lower populations have had for years. The author lives in the New York area and can attest to the lack of influence evangelicals have here.

Yet even that appears to be changing. Billy Graham’s recent crusade in Queens, New York was attended by hundreds of thousands (and included an appearance by Hillary Clinton, a Democrat with presidential aspirations). If Christians continue to extend their influence in such bastions of Secular Humanism the United States could conceivably enter into a historical period of revival similar to that which took place during the second "Great Awakening" of the Nineteenth Century. If authentic such a movement of the Spirit could remake the face of the country.

However such possibilities are tempered by an unfortunate tendency for the American Church to be overly influenced by the pervasive decadence of the surrounding culture. In areas such as divorce rates and sexual promiscuity evangelicals are, if the statistics are to be believed, not acting much differently than the rest of the population. Spiritual lukewarmness is common in congregations that preach radical discipleship but, seldom manage to produce it in their congregants. Biblical standards of morality often take a back seat to a sort of Practical Atheism and the result are many Christians who sometimes appear barely deserving of the name.

That said, there is much potential good that can be achieved by an ascendant evangelical movement in the U.S. The last 40 years have seen this nation largely abandon its Judeo-Christian foundations. If this could be substantially reversed a country that is as much imitated as despised by the rest of the world could truly become a "city on a hill". Among other things the wealth of the richest nation in human history could be applied to furthering the cause of Christ in the darkest regions of the planet. This could perhaps even trigger the great harvest of souls that the Bible promises will occur during the last days before the return of the Lord. That America might be used in this way is an outcome devoutly to be hoped for by all believers.