Kerby Anderson

Yesterday I talked about the book, Life in the Negative World: Confronting Challenges in an Anti-Christian Culture, by Aaron Renn. He explains that we live in a negative world. He also answers a question I frequently get from my audience: How did this change to a negative world happen?

He quotes from philosopher Charles Taylor and his book, A Secular Age. Here are a few reasons for the accelerating decline of the status of Christianity.

The sixties' social revolution was a major upheaval with young adults rejecting the authority of their parents and other traditional authority figures. In its place was a counterculture that embraced drugs, protested the Vietnam War, and formed new communities.

The sexual revolution that took place at the same time called into question many beliefs and practices regarding sex and family that came from the Christian tradition. It also normalized many practices that would have been forbidden, including premarital sex, pornography, homosexual practices, and divorce.

Another factor was the end of the cold war. In my radio interview with Renn, he talked about how the fight against “godless communism” connected America with Christianity. The link was important until the fall of the Soviet Union.

One other factor is digitalization. As he pointed out, only two companies control the entire market for smartphone operating system software (Apple, Google). These businesses retain discretion over those with whom they will and will not do business. This gives them vast cultural power.

As I mentioned yesterday, this negative world poses new challenges for Christians as we try to navigate through an anti-Christian culture.