The Christian Post recently published an article by Kevin Shrum which claimed the Church is not solely to blame for recent declines in Christian religious affiliation or church attendance. That decline, he argues, must be understood in light of “the motives of the unchurched and unbelieving.” What we are witnessing, according to Shrum, is a thinning of the orthodox herd, a separation of the men from the boys, so to speak. Real Christians, those committed to the “narrow way” of “holy living,” will remain in the Church, while the closet “Nones” will continue to drop off.
Daniel Schultz wrote a cogent response to Shrum, claiming his emphasis on orthodoxy and personal holiness may eventually backfire in an increasingly pluralist, spiritual-but-not-religious nation like our own. Those who eschew Shrum’s “narrow way,” explains Schultz, do so not out of some rebellious response to a pure Gospel. Some have already written off Christian faith as a necessarily exclusivist belief system. Those that haven’t simply crave a less divisive, more socially engaged faith. They’re tired of Culture War posturing and are now seeking out faith communities that practice less exclusionary forms of Christianity.
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