Was George W. Bush Good or Bad for Evangelical Christianity's Image?

Just to add a little fuel to the fire . . .

Here is an excerpt from a recent article from Pew Research Center Publications entitled, An End to Religion, Newspapers, and the American Way of Life on March 20, 2008:

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1161/blogging-religion-economy-newspapers

“A March 10 editorial in the Christian Science Monitor by Michael Spencer (who writes the blog InternetMonk.com) foresaw a major collapse of evangelical Christianity within the next 10 years and the rise of an anti-Christian chapter in Western history. Spencer also ventured that new forms of Christian ministry will emerge less focused on politics and power and more focused on happenings within the church.”

The “InternetMonk” is a well-known Christian blogger who has been featured in TIME Magazine (for his blogging on Joel Osteen) and was chosen as a featured blogger by the Dallas Morning News. Here are a few excerpts from the referenced article regarding Spencer’s prediction of a major collapse of evangelical Christianity:

http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/my-prediction-the-coming-evangelical-collapse-1

I believe that we are on the verge- within 10 years- of a major collapse of evangelical Christianity; a collapse that will follow the deterioration of the mainline Protestant world and that will fundamentally alter the religious and cultural environment in the West. I believe this evangelical collapse will happen with astonishing statistical speed; that within two generations of where we are now evangelicalism will be a house deserted of half its current occupants, leaving in its wake nothing that can revitalize evangelicals to their former “glory.”

Why Is This Going To Happen?

1) Evangelicals have identified their movement with the culture war and with political conservatism. This was a mistake that will have brutal consequences. They are not only going to suffer in losing causes, they will be blamed as the primary movers of those causes. Evangelicals will become synonymous with those who oppose the direction of the culture in the next several decades. That opposition will be increasingly viewed as a threat, and there will be increasing pressure to consider evangelicals bad for America, bad for education, bad for children and bad for society.

The investment of evangelicals in the culture war will prove out to be one of the most costly mistakes in our history. The coming evangelical collapse will come about, largely, because our investment in moral, social and political issues has depleted our resources and exposed our weaknesses. We’re going to find out that being against gay marriage and rhetorically pro-life (yes, that’s what I said) will not make up for the fact that massive majorities of evangelicals can’t articulate the Gospel with any coherence and are believing in a cause more than a faith.

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End of excerpt.

Interesting outlook, especially from a Christian.

Darcy Grant of NY 9:29PM March 23, 2009