“Your congregants often spend hours each week absorbing culture-war content online. Then they show up on Sunday expecting you to speak into it. Church members who agree on the authority of Scripture differ widely in how they think biblical principles should shape public policy.” - C.Leaders
Freedom and co-belligerency: Can we join with Catholics, Mormons and others in goals we share?
“How do we resist the temptation of ecumenism yet love our neighbour? How can we biblically distinguish between church unity and civil cooperation, not mistaking engagement in an earthly sphere for endorsement in religious belief?” - Cripplegate
Also…
Gavin Ortlund responds to critics of the third wayism and explains why this approach still matters for faithful Christian engagement today.
“How Christians relate to politics and culture war right now is a huge issue. Lots of people are contrasting Tim Keller’s approach, sometimes called the third way approach, with more bold approaches like Charlie Kirk’s approach.” - Truth Unites
Learning in Culture-War Time
“If our study of often small Bible details can stand up to the reality of eternal hell, it can stand up to anything. To admit that we can retain our interest in Bible study under the shadow of these eternal issues, but not under the shadow of a flaming hot culture war would be to admit that our ears are closed to the voice of reason and very wide open to the voice of our nerves and our mass emotions.” - Mark Ward
Americans divided on whether companies should make statements about political, social issues
“This is similar to what we found in July 2020, when 52% said these statements were important and 48% said they were not important.” - Pew
What’s a Christian to do with Culture?
“Os Guinness calls this a ‘civilizational moment,’ where society isn’t just at a critical crossroads in twenty-first century America. It’s instead at a critical crossroads for Western civilization itself.” - Breakpoint
Trueman and Rome: Co-belligerency Against the LGBTQ+ Fails to Uphold the Gospel
The Napa Institute (NI) exists to “empower … Catholic leaders to renew the Church and transform the culture.” As their website states: “We believe that now is the time to advance the re-evangelization of the United States. Yet many yearn for the foundation they need to advance Christ’s mission. At the same time, leaders and benefactors yearn to support Catholic causes. The Napa Institute acts as a conduit so all can courageously and eloquently defend our faith in the public square.” NI seeks to accomplish this goal by providing conferences, pilgrimages, and events worldwide.
The Perplexing Postelection Pessimism of White Evangelicals
“White Evangelicals were the strongest voting demographic for Donald Trump. Exit polls say their support increased to 82 percent from 76 percent in 2020….But this win does not necessarily evince optimism.” - National Review
Cultural vs Believing Christianity
“There is a sense that this talk about cultural Christianity is a refreshing change. Sociologists and educational leaders have been declaring Christianity the scourge of the planet for decades…. The problem is that a return to a cultural, but unbelieving, Christianity is not enough.” - P&D
Pew Research: Cultural Issues and the 2024 Election
“While Americans have complex opinions on gender identity and transgender rights, a growing share of voters (65%) say that whether a person is a man or woman is determined by the sex they were assigned at birth. About a third (34%) say someone can be a man or woman, even if that differs from their sex at birth.” - Pew