As a former Christian, I'm not surprised. Churches, as Andrew Sullivan and Richard Posner have observed, are becoming exclusively concerned with sex. As they've become more reactionary, they have less and less to say to today's world about things like power, joblessness, justice, etc. And the scandals afflicting the churches reinforces the idea they're more interested in power than in service

The American Church is no longer a church. I did not leave Christianity. Christianity left me. When a religion stands on one side of a political base, they lose the ability to see the whole. I can with all laziness say, I am not white, republican or male, and those three attributes work in stopping a conversation or a call to worship. Yes, it's that easy.

I see way too many preachers with Armani suits and jewelry like a mob boss … Their wives have obvious plastic surgery and breast enlargements … Makes me sick! If your suit you were at the pulpit costs more that some people make at your church you really need to check you calling with God. I am also tempted to turn in a handful of leftist preachers who tell their flock who to vote for on their facebook pages … If you are doing that you shouldn't be tax exempt! ... Change these things are be a humble servant as God commands you then maybe things will change!

Dear bpuharic, Kelley Smith, John D

I am sorry to hear about all of your bad experiences with Christianity. But let me speak to you. I am a pastor who lives & does ministry in one of the poorest parts of Cincinnati. I don't have a fancy suit that I wear, in fact, I make less than $12,000 a year. When it comes to the church that I am involved in, preaching is not my number #1 goal. My number #1 goal is to love people like Jesus loves people. He serves others. He elevates them above himself. I am consistently heart broken when I hear former Christians say these things with such judgment and hatred. Please, don't cast a shadow over something you can't possibly grasp. The Church as a whole is a worldwide thing. There are many colors, styles, and ideas out there when it comes to the Church. Jesus loves the Church, even though we make a lot of mistakes.
May God bless your life.
Eddie

@bpuharic

You are so right. I still attend an evangelical church but instead of hearing about following Jesus, I head about how homosexuals are living in sin, how everyone seems to have a problem with pornography, and how if you you don't hold to a literalist view of the Bible you probably aren't saved. Evangelical Christianity is on its last legs, thankfully, as science continues to make religion more and more irrelevant in the 21st century.

It has been sad to watch many large 'organized' churches or denominations become talking heads for the GOP, getting overly obsessed with gay marriage, abortion, sex, power ... what about being just as concerned about lying, greed, arrogance, pride, corruption, and other sins that are equally damaging, if not more so. When the church gets into politics, it often may find itself making a deal with the devil. Focus on God, loving one's neighbor, doing good in your local community, serving people in need, ... back to basics.

Ok, the thing is that I am still a follower of Christ, but to be called a "Christian" in today's world makes me cringe a little because of the way so many Christians today have besmirched the name.
This is something the church has done to itself by becoming more political and less people-centered, more judgmental and less loving. When we are constantly taking a political stand that condemns something or someone, all people know is that we're unpleasant, outspoken, and negative. Jesus only ever really openly condemned anyone, you remember, and it was the self-righteous church leaders.

I wish we as Christians could remember as a group that Jesus said to love each other as we love ourselves, and to judge not lest we be judged.
I love my Christ, I would die for my faith, but I avoid the organized church like the plague. It shouldn't be that way.

It seems that the church is fine as long as it stays quiet or agrees with you on social issues.Comments like the ones on this thread are all about more conservative churchs but I wonder if the writers feel the same way about churches that support a more liberal agenda. Frankly, I believe that politics have become god for far too many American's of both the right and the left.
While God has a great deal to say about our values and behaviors, capturing the heart is our agenda, not the power of the state.

Reading through the CT website, it's quite discouraging to see that Christians cannot even reach basic consensus, 2000 years later, on what it means to be saved, how to be saved, if one can 'lose' their salvation, if gays can really be Christians, if the earth is 10,000 or 200 million years old... etc, etc.

There should be no surprise as to why well-educated people with internet access are increasingly skeptical of religion.

I personally have absolutly zero confidence in the church or any other institution. And so should everyone. If you ask me what I do have confidence in, I would tell you my confidence is that I have a loving Creator, who takes care of my daily needs, and shed his own blood to buy me back into relationship with him.

I see two worlds of Christianity.

The first is the one that we see in the media; a Christianity that is dealing with all of the world's troubles and controversies. If you serve this, disappointment follows.

The second is the one that I find in so many churches; a Christianity that is dealing with Jesus Christ. If you serve Him, happiness follows.

Eddie,

Thank you for your kind and thoughtful response. I read your words and heard YOUR HEART, which is awesome!!! Thank you so much for loving others, including me. All the best to you and yours.

I have served small, struggling [mainline] congregations in small towns for 25+ years [yes, we do accept gay folks!]. Our church [es} organize food ministries are providing food for those suddenly without work or income for many years. I try to a neutral position on most political issues. I preach and teach the basics of the Bible and "Luther's Small Catechism". I went to seminary, went back for a doctor of ministry degree, but still work two other part-time jobs besides my church. I wear older clerical collars and robes on Sunday. Every month I am found in area nursing homes providing home communion and visiting with a loved one. I pray at the hospital during surgical procedures. Our small church is always helping with meal fundraisers for worthy causes. In a day when professional athletes are millionaires; people crave for their 15 minutes of fame on You Tube and Entertainment magazine shows, I would say our smaller congregations are pretty reliable. We are too poor to have a website, TV show and an internet server. Local poor people need food, toilet paper and baby food-MORE! Take THAT Gallop Polls!

It may be possible that the hit of confidence on "'the church or organized religion" comes as a wake-up call. In Christ's day, the organized Church had forgotten God and, in fact, worked against Jesus' teachings. After the crucifixion and resurrection, that continued as the early Christian church gained roots.

I am often reminded "how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him." (Acts 10:38) What a simple admonition to those who claim to be Followers of Christ! In the anointing and power of the Holy Spirit, GO, DO GOOD, and HEAL all who are oppressed by the devil. Too often, we're too busy waiting for that favorite worship song, or for someone else to work in the nursery so we won't have to.

Is it possible that the world doesn't have a favorable view of the Church because it has ceased to actually SEE the Church doing the role it was called by Christ to play? GO! DO! HEAL!

Actually in Christ's day, there wasn't an organized Church yet, as he talked to the multitudes who were people attending a sermon or listening to a great speaker as Jews not Christians. Organized Church came many years after his death and when Constantine converted and organized the various Christian groups into a "Church". Most of the people complaining about churches don't attend or attended once. Merging into a group takes committment and time which noone wants to give. As for the politics, politics i.e. gov't has always been answered to by Christians as a necessity for living in a culture. Churches started hospitals, caring for the sick, widows, kids, stopping the selling of children, putting the old and sick in the streets, slavery, etc., etc. All this takes generations and much of it still exists because the people in power always make it hard for churches to exist let alone "love their neighbor". Look at how Christians are treated in 3/4 quarters of the world today, under dictators while they try to live and help others as Jesus taught. And, the U.S., OVER 50 MILLION KILLED BY THE GOV'T legally and the Church isn't supposed to stop this when politics makes the killing legal. Since the courts rule and not the churches how do you suggest this murder culture of the innocent unborn without a trial in the U.S. be stopped. How is the church supposed to stop this sexual anything goes push by gov't politics via laws. Ignoring this stuff going on around us and being pushed by our very own gov't isn't going to change the culture to what Jesus taught without Christians changing it legally which is the only way to do so. Especially since Christians don't even have a military to back up their wishes. The gov't and gov'ts have the militaries.

The American Church is no longer a church. I did not leave Christianity. Christianity left me. When a religion stands on one side of a political base, they lose the ability to see the whole. I can with all laziness say, I am not white, republican or male, and those three attributes work in stopping a conversation or a call to worship. Yes, it's that easy.