Cultural Christianity?

Cultural Christianity has eroded mightily from its once more vigorous self.  It is no longer firmly united by a common core of belief, a common ethic, a common set of moral values, and a common commitment to the need for some sort of religion even if it was not quite fully orthodox.  Now there are some who think that culture no longer needs Christianity has a partner and perhaps no religion at all is best.  Even Christians are not sure whether to celebrate or mourn the death of Cultural Christianity.  It is no surprise then that Christians are left divided and uncertain about what to do with the remnants of this Cultural Christian past and its vestiges.   

No matter how some like to wrap Christianity in the flag, Christian nationalism is hardly reflected in any denominations even though it might be tempting to many non-denominationals.  Cultural Christians have a strong desire to preserve the cultural, political, and intellectual traditions and institutions Christendom established and maintained in America then, if not now.  They are convinced that for the sake of our modern democracy, intellectual honesty, a common moral conviction, and the value of a common set of truths to under gird our society, what Christianity had once established was still needed.  If nothing else, the erosion of our unity and our conflicted society has surely been displayed in the dire consequences felt across politics, academia, and journalism in America -- as well as everything else. Though Cultural Christianity is part of the conservative social and political force in America, Christianity itself is not about improving or sustaining our culture, While cultural Christianity can prove valuable as a conservative force that resists the reforms of liberalism and progressivism, when divorced from the Church’s core mission of salvation and conversion, it can distract and detract from that core mission.  

Cultural Christianity is intent upon rescuing society -- evangelizing the culture -- while Christianity itself is intent upon rescuing sinners in the shadow of death -- evangelizing the individual.  No one would say that the ripple effects of this goal should be minimized or ignored for the sake of the nation and its various institutions but neither can this become the driving force of that goal.  Building a Christian culture is not a parallel project to the overall goal of being the bride of Christ and proclaiming the Gospel of Christ crucified and risen to the ends of the earth but it is a consequence of the Church’s mission to make known the God of our salvation and bring them into fellowship with the saints.  In the end, what Cultural Christianity wants to preserve of Christianity and what the Church wishes to keep are probably not at all the same.  This is the problem.  Cultural Christianity only reluctantly tolerates the very things that orthodox Christianity champions.  Yet, the reality is that society in America needs Christianity more than Christianity needs the approval of society.  That is what we as Christians need to remember or else we are nothing but an institution of the government.