A Layman's Concern About the Future of US Clergy

During 2020, the global pandemic, racial tensions, and a polarizing presidency put the United States through its most significant stress test since the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Throughout these crises we have had a growing sense of concern about the rising class of young Christian thought leaders, clergy, and theologians in the United States. Their writings and conversations have focused more and more on current hot topics and in many cases they seem to be bringing their substantial intellectual firepower to bear against radical fringes of public discourse whom they find understandably distasteful. As such, it has caused us to wonder what the underlying motivation for this discourse is? We have come to fear that it is a desire to be liked -- to be seen to be acceptable to mainstream culture, or "polite society", or in certain cases by a populist base.