Disclaimer: It is irresponsible to support any political party, position, or candidate without engaging in honest and critical analysis. If I condemn liberals for unquestioningly endorsing every liberal position and then, as a conservative, unthinkingly support every conservative stance, that would be the height of hypocrisy. True integrity requires appraising candidates (even those for whom you voted) for their policies and actions. It is a fool who supports everything on their side while condemning everything on the other. And might I add, for those blindly polarized to their party, an error in one thing does not imply an error in everything.
When President Trump appointed Paula White as the lead in his newly re-established White House faith office yesterday, it was more than just a political move. It was a revealing moment. White, a proponent of the prosperity gospel, represents a version of Christianity that has traded the cross for influence, discipleship for dominance, and faithfulness for worldly achievement.
Guilty as charged. We evangelicals have, consciously or unconsciously, allowed ourselves to be reshaped by materialism, success-driven ideology, and an uneasy alliance with worldly accomplishments. The result is a Protestantism that often looks less like Christ and more like the culture it once sought to challenge.
On one hand, liberal Protestantism, cautious to the point of irrelevance, has drained itself of doctrinal clarity and moral conviction. On the other hand, Evangelicalism, lusting for growth to the point of absurdity, has lost credibility through questionable tactics and cultural compromises.
Although we have"hamstrung ourselves," thankfully, there are signs of renewal—pockets of resilience in Orthodox, Anglican, and Evangelical communities that refuse to surrender to the tides of secularism, fundamentalism, or ideological capture.
Today, the fastest-growing “faith” among young people is not popular evangelicalism or woke liberalism; it is atheism. Let me be clear: this is not a reasoned atheism but rather a dismissive, arrogant rejection of religion—a posture, not a reasoned philosophy. Today’s atheism is not the atheism of Meslier or Voltaire. It is not the product of intellectual rigor. It is merely one of cultural momentum--it's cool.
The Temptation of Defensiveness
Faced with this, Christians could possibly be tempted to retreat into defensiveness and mistake critique for persecution, even lashing out against detractors rather than bearing witness. Some Christians argue that we should chase power and then use that power to restore influence. Others wield sharp-edged arguments, eager to dismantle their opponents with reason.
But Christ did not call his followers to be culture warriors. He called them to be salt and light.
As I mentioned in 1 Peter: Every Ready, Always Faithful, 1 Peter 3:15, often cited as a proof text for apologetics, is broadly misunderstood. The Greek word apologia does not mean polemics. In context, it refers to a legal defense, the kind given when one is accused. Peter is not commanding believers to mount an unassailable argument for God’s existence. He calls us to live in such a way that our very lives demand an explanation.
Early Christians were not executed because they lost debates. They were condemned because they refused to bow and pledge allegiance to the empire. They refused to fit neatly within society’s expectations. They were called atheists in Rome because they would not worship Caesar and the pantheon of gods. They gathered in secret, defied cultural norms, and embodied a way of life so radically different that it threatened the status quo.
This is what Peter means: not that we must be skilled apologists, but that we are so transformed by the gospel that people are compelled to ask, Why do you live this way? What makes you different?
The Way Forward
If American Christianity has a future, it will not be found in power-brokering, ideological alliances, or the pursuit of influence. It will not be preserved by nostalgia or revived by cultural dominance.
It will be found where it has always been—in the quiet revolution of true discipleship because the kingdom of God was never built in the halls of power, on apologetical arguments, nor through the wealth of nations. It has always been built in the hearts of those who, against all worldly wisdom, choose to follow a crucified and risen Savior while looking for the soon return of that ever-living King and glorious monarch.
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