The Challenge of Cultural Influence

"Coercion is just as harmful—and ineffective—in culture as in politics"

After twenty plus years of investment in political activism on the part of evangelical Christians, there is a new awareness that the dynamics of cultural renewal differ radically from political mobilization. Even political insiders recognize that years of political effort have generated little cultural benefit. American culture continues its precipitous decline into hedonistic consumer nihilism. Father Richard Neuhaus wrote in the April 2007 issue of First Things, “At the risk of generalization, I think it fair to say that Christianity in America is not challenging the ‘habits of the heart’ and ‘habits of mind’ that dominate American culture, meaning both the so-called high culture and the popular culture.”

...Politics reflects culture; it doesn’t direct it.

For the complete article by John Seel click title of this post.

~*~