I am reading the book Unchristian, What the New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity . . . and Why It Matters. The book was written by David Kinnaman of The Barna Group, and Gabe Lyons, a friend of Kinnaman who thought up the idea for the book. I am only three chapters into it and I am already asking a lot of questions. The book, as the title implies, is about what "outsiders" (those the authors suggest might be atheists, agnostics, people of other faiths and unchurched people) think of Christians. The authors have concentrated their efforts on the views of the "Mosaics" and "Busters", a group encompassing people ages 19 to 41 that live in the U.S. So what do Mosaics and Busters think of Christians? They think that Christians are hypocritical, antihomosexual, sheltered, too political, judgmental and only communicate with non-believers to convert them (each accusation gets one chapter). The authors contend that true or not, these impressions have become reality. Thus, in the minds of many Mosaics and Busters Christians are "unchristian."

In the chapter entitled "hypocritical" the authors state that self-professing "born-again" believers in their research "fail to display much attitudinal or behavioral differences evidence of transformed lives…most of the lifestyle activities of born-again Christian were statistically equivalent to those of non-born-agains." (p. 47, happily, born-again Christians owned more Bibles, used less profanity in public, and bought less lottery tickets) Mosaic and Buster "outsiders" agree. When those who knew a Christian personally were asked, only 15% said that the lifestyle of their Christian friend was any different than anyone else. Interestingly, the respondents also indicated that Christian hypocrisy was not all that disturbing to them. Two reasons are given. First, this group expects to be disappointed by other people. Equally disturbing is the second reason. This group believes that having a good image is the highest goal of life and getting that image requires moral and ethical breaches. In the same way, Christians give the image of having it all together, and yet exhibit the same incongruence as everyone else between their words and actions. Mosaics and Busters "perceive us as employing the same tactics as everyone else to preserve our appearance of strength." (p. 45) In other words, why should anyone become a Christian if its adherents are no different than those of other faiths or non-belief?

The authors suggest that much of the problem is the way in which we have portrayed what it means to be "Christian." Being a Christian has been characterized as "not sinning." I remember as a kid thinking that being a Christian was more about not doing bad than doing good. If the essence of being a Christian is "not sinning" then we have set ourselves up for ridicule because we are bound to fail.

Personally, I am more confounded by the research that concludes that Christians live no differently that anyone else when it comes to their moral and ethical lives. Is this really true? I have no way of knowing for sure, but if it is true then I think we have a lot of soul searching to do. Does the indwelling Spirit bring about transformation as we walk in Christ that affects the way we live, or is that whole idea a bunch of garbage? I am not trying to give a moralistic sermon; I have no altar call to give. I just wonder if the author's research has correctly surmised the status of Christian behavior in America. If so, what does it mean that people who have the Spirit fail at living moral and ethical lives to the same degree as those who do not have the Spirit?