Many twenty and thirty something Christians voice valid concerns over mistakes my generation of believers made.  For the record, I am fifty-five.

My generation screwed up in a number of ways.  For example, confusing the gospel with certain political commitments brought much confusion. 

Getting in bed with the Moral Majority and the “Christian” Coalition were disasters.  I put Christian in scare quotes because I was told by one of their officials that you did not have to be a Christian to belong as long as you held to its political platform!  Among other things, this led to gross inconsistencies where the Christian Coalition would invite Newt Gingrich to speak at its conferences even though his religious beliefs at the time (it may have changed) was a hodgepodge ranging from New Age stuff to retrieving his childhood background of being a Baptist.  Devoted followers of Jesus from backgrounds which have serious reservations over America’s eagerness to use military might did not get invited to speak.  Since there was a desire to maintain favor with the Republican party, the Christian Coalition did not want to jeopardize that by inviting a Jesus follower to speak who has serious objections with the Just War tradition.

As is so often the case, it is easy to overreact to a mistake by making other mistakes.  In other words, it is easy to throw out the proverbial baby with the bathwater.  And that is just what I see too many twenty and thirty something Christians doing. More on that in upcoming posts…