David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons. UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity … and Why it Matters (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2007).
This research is clearly dated, being almost 20 years old, but it is nevertheless a useful point of comparison for anyone working on modern evangelicalism.
Please note: All text outside of quotation marks represents my (Jordan Pickering’s) paraphrase of the content and may therefore be wording that is used verbatim in my own writing. Please feel free to use Kinnaman’s ideas represented in my paraphrases but not their wording.
“Now, a decade later, the image of the Christian faith has suffered a major setback. Our most recent data show that young outsiders have lost much of their respect for the Christian faith. These days nearly two out of every five young outsiders (38 percent) claim to have a ‘bad impression of present-day Christianity.’ One-third of young outsiders said that Christianity represents a negative image with which they would not want to be associated. Furthermore, one out of every six young outsiders (17 percent) indicates that he or she maintains ‘very bad’ perceptions of the Christian faith. Though these hard-core critics represent a minority of young outsiders, this group is at least three times larger than it was just a decade ago.” (24)
“Their impressions of the Bible are mixed: most think it has good values, but only three out of ten believe that it is accurate in all the principles it teaches.” (24)
“People perceive born-agains in about the same way as they think of Christianity itself—most say their impressions are indifferent or neutral, but among those who expressed an opinion, negative outnumbered positive perceptions of born-agains by more than three-to-one ratio (35 percent to 10 percent).” (25)
“We discovered that outsiders expressed the most opposition toward evangelicals. Among those aware of the term ‘evangelical,’ the views are extraordinarily negative (49 percent to 3 percent). Disdain for evangelicals among the younger set is overwhelming and definitive. Think of it this way: there are roughly twenty-four million outsiders in America who are ages sixteen to twenty-nine of these, nearly seven million have a negative impression of evangelicals; Another seven million said they have no opinion; And ten million have never heard the term ‘evangelical.’ That leaves less than half a million young outsiders—out of the twenty-four million—who see evangelicals in a positive light.” (25)
[I.e. negative impression is nearly 30% of young outsiders; positive impression is 2%.]
“Evangelicals were often thought to be Christians who are political activists.” (25-26)
“The primary reason outsiders feel hostile towards Christians, and especially conservative Christians, is not because of any specific theological perspective. What they react negatively to is our ‘swagger,’ how we go about things and the sense of self- importance we project. Outsiders say that Christians possess possess bark—and bite. Christians may not normally operate in attack mode, but it happens frequently enough that others have learned to watch their step around us. Outsiders feel they can’t let Christians walk over them.”
“One of the surprising insights from our research is that the growing hostility towards Christians is very much a reflection of what outsiders feel they receive from believers. They say their aggression simply matches the oversized opinions and egos of Christians. One outsider put it this way: ‘Most people I meet assume that Christian means very conservative, entrenched in their thinking, antigay, antichoice, angry, violent, illogical, empire builders; they want to convert everyone, and they generally cannot live peacefully with anyone who doesn’t believe what they believe.’” (26)
“In studying thousands of outsiders’ impressions, it is clear that Christians are primarily perceived for what they stand against. We have become famous for what we oppose, rather than who we are for.” (26 em original)
How common are these perceptions? It is one thing to encounter a person on the street who says audacious, brash things about Christianity, but quite another if these perceptions broadly define the Christian faith among young people. In our national surveys with young people, we found the three most common perceptions of present- day Christianity are antihomosexual (an image held by 91% of young outsiders), judgmental (87%), and hypocritical (85%). This ‘big three’ are followed by the following negative perceptions, embraced by a majority of young adults: old-fashioned, too involved in politics, out of touch with reality, insensitive to others, boring, not accepting of other faiths, and confusing. When they think of the Christian faith, these are the images that come to mind. This is what a new generation really thinks about Christianity.” (27 em orig)
“One-quarter of outsiders say that their foremost perception of Christianity is that the faith has changed for the worse. It has gotten off track and is not what Christ intended. Modern-day Christianity no longer seems Christian.” (29)
The researchers report that a common response to their work is for Christians to blame the negative perceptions on people’s spiritual denial. (30)
But most of the 18-41-year-olds in their study report having extensive personal experience of Christianity, including lengthy church attendance, and multiple Christian friends. Around 60% of all respondents report having formed their impressions from being at church, 50% from relationships with Christians, and 40% from their parents. By contrast, in 2007, this group did not cite as high an influence on their perceptions from media (44% from books; 31% from movies or television), and only 22% thought that Christianity gained a bad reputation from TV and movies. (31)
However, “one-fifth of all outsiders, regardless of age, admitted they ‘have had a bad experience in a church or with a Christian that gave them a negative image of Jesus Christ'” and that this represents “significant emotional or spiritual baggage.” Young people are 2.5 times more likely than older outsiders to report having experienced such damage (30%), and half of all atheists, agnostics and adherents of other religions report having had a harmful experience with a Christian. (31-32)
“Among young adults who participate regularly in a Christian Church, many share some of the same negative perceptions as outsiders.” (33)
According to their survey of young-adult churchgoers, 80% found the church to be antihomosexual, about half found it to be significantly judgmental and too involved in politics, and just under half found church hypocritical and confusing. (34)
“One thirty-five-year-old believer from California put it this way: ‘Christians have become political, or judgmental, intolerant, weak, religious, angry, and without balance. Christianity has become a nice Sunday drive. Where is the living God, the Holy Spirit, an amazing Jesus, the love, the compassion, the holiness? This type of life, how I yearn for that.’” (35)
Kinnaman says that Christians resist the idea that his research indicates there may be problems within the faith because the Bible says that we should not judge ourselves by mere human opinion, we should not be surprised that the “world” hates us, and we should anticipate persecution. While he acknowledges that this is a possibility—a morally relativistic culture might find reasons to oppose genuine Christian teaching—he argues that Christians have failed to regularly and consistently model grace and the fruits of the Spirit towards outsiders (36-37).
Kinnaman encourages us to have the humility to ask the question, “What if young outsiders are right about us?” What happens if the church doesn’t reflect Christ as well as we assume we do? (37)
Another rebuttal to the critiques is to quote 2 Cor 4:4—the god of this world has blinded their minds to the glorious light of the gospel. As Kinnaman points out, however, Satan would have a keen interest in distorting vessels of the gospel so that its light can’t be seen, and Scripture also warns Christians of their potential for corruption and deceit (2 Cor 11:3).
“Jake, age thirty-two, one of the young outsiders we interviewed, made this comment: ‘My former pastor used to teach baptism by immersion, then he got a better job with the Presbyterians and now teaches baptism can be done by sprinkling. What you believe depends on where the paycheck is coming from, I guess.”
A Mormon respondent reports that his Christian friends talk about loving Mormons, but they also make jokes about them.
“Erin, age thirty, said her husband abused her, ‘even though he taught Bible studies about how husbands should love their wives.'” (42)
Young outsiders were not as concerned about hypocrisy as expected. It is viewed as a common failing of all people and not a surprise. (43)
When facing a moral dilemma, young adults are more likely than the previous generation to take the path of least resistance, doing what is easy or avoids conflict.
They are more likely to believe rules can be bent to get ahead. More than 80% claimed to be “totally committed to getting ahead in life”.
By far the top priorities were wealth and fame. (44)
Respondents didn’t have a favorable view of hypocrisy but understood that Christians benefit from telling people what they want to hear and projecting an image of having it all together. (44)
“To be classified as a born-again Christian [in this study], a person has to say he or she has made a personal commitment to Jesus that is still important and that the person believes he or she will go to heaven at death, because the person has confessed his or her sin and accepted Christ as Savior.” (46)
Born-againers were distinct from the rest on religious variables, such as Bible ownership, church attendance, etc. “However, when it came to nonreligious factors—the substance of people’s daily choices, actions, and attitudes—there were few meaningful gaps between born-again Christians and non-born-agains.” (46)
Regarded as one of the most significant findings of the study, Kinnaman reports that although 84% of young outsiders claim to know at least one Christian personally, only 15% notice any difference in the Christian’s lifestyle. (48)
When asked what priorities Christians pursue in terms of their personal faith (unprompted and unrestricted answers): The most common response was being or doing good. Serving others or the poor was mentioned only 20% of the time. (49)
Christians overwhelmingly agreed that the Christian life entails “trying hard to do what God commands” (~80%) and that “rigid rules and strict standards are an important part of the life and teaching of my church” (~66%).
“One of the fascinating outcomes of this mindset is reflected in the Christians’ stereotypes of outsiders. Our research shows that Christians believe the primary reason outsiders have rejected Christ is that they cannot handle the rigorous standards of following Christ. There’s a nuance here that allows Christians to feel like they’re better than other people, more capable of being holy and sinless. We rationalize that outsiders don’t want to become Christ followers because they can’t really cut it.” In fact, only 1/4 outsiders responded that they avoided Christianity for its perceived restrictiveness on their life, but among the common reasons for rejecting it was that they are repelled by Christians. (51)
(53)
Although only 5% of born-again young people report making an obscene gesture (giving someone “the finger”), they are significantly more likely to engage in other behaviors often considered morally questionable. These include having sex outside of marriage (18%), getting drunk (24%), buying lottery tickets (25%), using profanity in public (36%), viewing explicit content (36%), and speaking unkindly about others (40%). (54)
“The perception of hypocrisy also emerges when we start fighting the ‘culture war’—meaning we attack people’s behavioral patterns rather than love them as people. Or we lobby to legislate morality. In Las Vegas, where I live, the culture war is over. We lost… Now Our Calling is to love and accept people one-on-one, caring for them where they are. Our role is subversive as we carry the light and love of Jesus into the casinos, clubs, and streets of our city. We are trying to flip the perception of hypocrisy by being honest and straightforward about our faults and our hope for transformation in Jesus. And we’re joining our community in a different culture war—one that attacks poverty, crime, addiction, and pain. We are active in helping the homeless, we’ve declared war on child hunger in the Vegas valley, and we’re showing our faith by our actions, even if imperfectly.”
–Jud Wilhite, Central Community Church, Las Vegas (61-62)
“We are labeled hypocritical because we are. I know I’m a hypocrite, and I’m not sorry for it. I have this thing called sin, which is like a disease—or at least it gives me a lot of dis-ease—woven into the fabric of my being. I didn’t ask for it; I don’t want it. More often than not, the sin manifests itself in the form of self-destructive behavior. So if I look a little inconsistent on the outside, you can only imagine what’s going on inside!” –Margaret Feinberg (62)
“Simply put, we must stop presenting ourselves as the message and begin presenting Jesus as the message. There will be disappointment with Christians as long as there are imperfect people period since all Christians are imperfect, there will always be a disappointment. So we must stop having the message of Christ tied to our butchered efforts.” –Jim White (66)
Only 65% of younger Christians hold to a commitment to Jesus; only 29% see that its importance is pervasive; and only 3% understand that it’s a faith that means to change how one sees the world.
1/7 outsiders describe Christianity as something that seems real. Just 1/3 believe that Christians have a genuine interest in them. (77)
“Scripture is clear that there is a basic starting point to the Christian faith: admitting that we need Jesus. … Yet the point of the research I have presented is to clarify when the simple starting point becomes a substitute for Christian discipleship. Intentionally or not, we promote the idea to outsiders that being a Christ follower is primarily about the mere choice to convert. We do not portray it as an all-out, into-the-Kingdom investment that dramatically influences all aspects of life. Perhaps you are thinking that you do describe it in those terms. Then why are so many millions of young people missing the point, failing to develop the basic elements of a biblical worldview? Our research shows that most of those who made a decision for Christ were no longer connected to a Christian church within a short period, usually eight to twelve weeks, after their initial decision. In a get-saved culture, too many of the conversions became either ‘aborted’ believers or casual Christians. How do we convey to people both the gravity and buoyancy of the decision to follow Christ?” (79)
“One of the things I do when I meet people is ask them, ‘What is Christianity?’ Undoubtedly half will respond, ‘A relationship with Jesus.’ That is wrong. The gospel cannot be merely a private transaction. God didn’t break through history, through time and space, to come as a babe, be incarnated, and suffer on the cross just so you can come to him and say, ‘Oh, I accept Jesus and now I can live happily ever after.’ That’s not why he came. Jesus came as a radical to turn the world upside down. When we believe it is just about Jesus and yourself, we missed the whole point.” –Chuck Colson (87)
“The sad thing is that when we (Imago Dei church) go out and love people in Portland without an agenda of getting a ‘return’ for our time—this is considered revolutionary. I think this should be the norm, and we have so much to learn in doing it better. If we share the gospel and people reject Jesus, do we quit loving them?” Rick McKinley, pastor, Imago Dei, Portland (90)
One seventeen-year-old churchgoer described her experience bringing a gay friend to church. “The youth pastor knew I was going to bring him, and even though his talk really had nothing to do with homosexuality, he still found a way to insert ‘God created Adam and Eve Adam not Adam and Steve’ into his comments. I was sitting there, just dying. This happened more than once. My friend was at a point where he was interested in seeing what Jesus might offer, and the door was just slammed shut.” (102)
Regarding the fact that Christians in politics are speaking to a mixed audience who don’t necessarily have the foundations to understand what they’re trying to say, Kinnaman adds the following, “Usually when a Christian talks about being engaged in a battle, this type of metaphor stems from the scriptural references that describe the spiritual world as an epic struggle (Eph. 6:10-17). Yet outsiders hear this language and become alarmed by the militaristic talk. And consider what happens when Christians are exposed to this warfare verbiage without the benefit of understanding Paul’s comments in Ephesians. Without context, these individuals may respond in unChristian ways towards outsiders and even those with a biblical worldview can internalize this tough talk about spiritual warfare and lose sight of what it means to be full of grace towards skeptics and critics. As James says, “So whatever you say or whatever you do, remember that you will be judged by the law that sets you free. There will be no mercy for those who have not shown mercy to others” (James 2:12-13).” (161 -62)
Kinnaman describes political shifts between generations in American culture. He suggests that young people are less traditional than their parents were at the same age, and that they are driven by pragmatism—a do-what-works mentality. They’re much more likely to prefer leaders who are willing to compromise to get the job done. Young people are more skeptical than previous generations towards viewing the Bible as the foundation of the laws of the country, rather favouring the will of the people, and they are less likely to support the Christianization of public spaces, including religious slogans on US currency and in the Pledge of Allegiance, the posting of the Ten Commandments in public, and the teaching of creationism or traditional marriage. (163-65)
“Since every group seems to have a political presence and agenda, why should Christians be subject to special criticism? [I.e., everyone in society has an interest in politics and bending it in their favor, not just Christians.] Are outsiders asking us to stay out of politics? According to our research, not exactly. Many outsiders clarified that they believe Christians have a right (even an obligation) to pursue political involvement but they disagree with our methods and our attitudes. They say we seem to be pursuing an agenda that benefits only ourselves; they assert that we expect too much out of politics; they question whether we are motivated by our economic status rather than faith perspectives when we support conservative politics; they claim we act and say things in an unChristian manner; they wonder whether Jesus would use political power as we do; and they are concerned that we overpower the voices of other groups.” (165-66)
“Sometimes it is hard for me to reconcile the ‘Christian movement’ with the people I knew from my own days in the church period to day whenever I experienced the activities of American Christians as an organized group—and frequently when I interact with them in politics—it is almost always in terms of them trying to use political force to entice people to behave a certain way. Do I believe a Christian has every right to go and vote as he or she believes? Absolutely. But 20 years ago, when I was looking at evangelical Christianity from the inside, it seemed like a movement bursting with energy to spread good news to people. Looking at it from the outside today, this message seems to have been lost in exchange for an aggressive political strategy that demonizes segments of society. I believe that American Christians have become tools of the Republican election machine—at the expense of their own image and message.” Brandon is now an avowed agnostic living in Arizona he is also an active member of the Republican Party.
“The conservative religious movement in America today has been politically corrupted. Evangelicalism has been hijacked and usurped by partisan political forces. Conservative religion is now being driven and dictated by secular, right-wing political forces. So basically, the conservative religious movement—or at least parts of it, the politicized part of it—has sold its soul to partisan politics. Many young evangelicals see that this is just Republican politics masquerading as conservative religion. …
“The young people I meet don’t want to go Left or Right. They reject these narrow political orthodoxies. They’re not happy with Christianity being either a list of things you shouldn’t do, or just about being nice. They want to go deeper.
“Instead, young evangelicals really want their faith and lives to count for something. They want their faith to somehow connect with changing the world; they want their love of Jesus to express itself in the world, in relationship to other people, and in the pressing demands and problems of the world. I find this to be true among younger and younger people.
“The kind of privatized faith that’s just about ‘me and the Lord’ is not enough for young evangelicals. Experience tells us that you can’t call something a revival until it has changed society in some way; personal renewal is not enough. There’s a new hunger for revival, a hunger to participate in a world-changing faith and movement, which I haven’t seen for a long time.”
–Jim Wallis, founder and executive director, Sojourners/Call to Renewal (179)
Outsiders suggested some rules for engagement to help Christians interact with them better. 1st on the list is “listen to me.” Christians should talk less and learn to listen and understand people better.
Secondly “don’t label me.” Using terms that classify people as “lost” or “pagans” etc. put people off.
Third “don’t be so smart.” Outsiders do not appreciate Christians pretending to have all the answers. They would prefer Christians who are not sure just to say so. Outsiders are also not necessarily looking for answers from Christians.
Fourth, “put yourself in my place.” Outsiders want Christians to empathize and understand what they’ve been through.
Fifth, “be genuine.” Outsiders experience Christians as artificial, trying to insert spirituality wherever they can. They see our Christian agenda and feel disrespected by it being forced into conversation.
Sixth, “be my friend with no other motives.” Outsiders doubt that Christians are engaging in true friendships with them, seeing them rather as a project—someone to be converted. (194-95)
“God cares not only about redeeming souls but also about restoring his creation. He calls us to be agents not only of his saving grace but also of his common grace. Our job is not only to build up the church but also to build a society with the glory of God. As agents of God’s common grace, we are called to help sustain and renew his creation, to uphold the created institutions of family and society, to pursue science and scholarship, to create works of art and beauty, and to heal and help those suffering from the results of the Fall.” –Colson and Pearcey (223-24)
Charles Colson and Nancy Pearcey, How Now Shall We Live? (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 1999), xii.
“Thirty years from now, Christians won’t be known for what they say or what they hope to be; they will be known for one thing—the way they live. We can’t change what we are known for unless we change how we live.
“I want my grandkids to have the perception that followers of Christ are very courageous. The great yearning in our world today is for an answer to the many fears that we all share. Even the negative perceptions described throughout this book originate from fear and paint a picture of a community of faith that has lived in fear—fear of people that don’t understand them, fear of changes in culture, fear of degradations of society, fear to be exposed to the hard things in this world.
“I would love 30 years from now for Christians to have such faith in God that they carry themselves with courage and humility in the world. Both courage and humility are pictures of strength. This doesn’t mean that all fears disappear, but rather faith points the way to a strength that allows one to do the right thing even when it’s scary. And if you truly know God and are secure in the fact that there is a God, that he really loves us and really loves this world, everything will be OK.” –Gary Haugen, founder, International Justice Mission (231-32)
“I would hope people would look at us and say, ‘those Christians are the ones who run in when everyone else is running out. Those Christians are the ones who didn’t give up on the crumbling inner cities. Those Christians are the ones who brought peace to Darfur. Those Christians are the ones who put an end to human trafficking. Those Christians are the ones who helped win the war on AIDS around the world. Those Christians are the ones who write those incredible lyrics, pen those unforgettable books, and create artwork that’s mesmerizing. Those Christians are the ones who helped my mother when she got Alzheimer’s. Those Christians are the ones who were kind to me when I was new to the area. Those Christians are the ones that made me want to believe in God.'” –Margaret Feinberg
