More on "Church and Culture": A Response to Gregory Boyd of Woodland Hills Church, St Paul, MN

National Review offers outstanding analysis related to our Church and Culture post...

First, it is difficult to accept the moral seriousness of a person who will characterize abortion as a mere "sexual issue." The issue in abortion is not sex, but death, and I can think of few entities better suited than the church to address issues of life and death. Moreover, most serious people recognize that "homosexuality" is also not a mere "sexual issue"...

...Acting with the best of intentions, campus evangelicals have focused tremendous efforts on racial reconciliation and service to the poor. They have rejected any focus on the so-called "sexual issues" to the extent that it is difficult to find any Christian fellowship of any size on any campus that is directly involved in pro-life advocacy or even talks much about same-sex "marriage" or homosexuality. At some schools, campus evangelicals will even march in "gay rights" parades and join homosexual activists on various political projects.

Has this effort caused a new evangelical golden age on campus? Far from it. In fact, campus Christians are battling for survival. As the UCLA Higher Education Research Institute found (see page 3), student faith practices dramatically decline during the college years, with 52% attending church regularly at the start of their freshman year, and only 29% attending by the end of their junior year. Even as fewer kids attend services, universities are dramatically ramping up their efforts to eject the Christian presence from campus. Dozens of colleges have banned or attempted to ban Christian student organizations from campus unless those organizations pledge to open themselves up to non-Christian members or leaders. Some of the banned groups had marched with homosexuals at "gay rights" events. But no matter; if they wanted to maintain a distinctively Christian leadership, they were "discriminatory" and had to go.

Our college campuses show what the world would be like if the left had absolute control of the agenda and of policy, and it is a world where dialogues run one way, fundamental rights no longer exist, and even the most accommodationist Christians are shoved to the sidelines unless they abandon all of their principles. Pastor Boyd should take note.