Christianity in America

I am currently reading a book by Michael Horton on Evangelical Christianity in America. I wanted to cite a portion of the introduction this morning for your reading pleasure!

Horton is here talking about the lack of substance and depth in Evangelical Christianity today and how we have come to reflect the shallowness of our culture:

"According to a prestigious research group, Oxford Analytica, the presumed religious revival [that some are saying we are currently experiencing in America because of the proliferation of Evangelicalism in the media] lacks substance: 'Despite impressive statistics and the appearance of surprising vitality, there is evidence that the state of religion in America is not quite what it appears. Almost all the statistical indicators on religion are up,' the group reports. 'But indicators of the social influence of religion are down.'
"The myths of power, popularity, and growth have led to an unhealthy preoccupation with superficial success, methods over message, technique over truth, quantity over quality....
"The Bible commands, 'Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind' (Rom. 12:2). While much fuel has been spent on trying to get people to act like Christians, the Bible insists that we must first think like Christians. The transforming of our minds takes place not through magic, superstitious techniques, or superficial devotions, but through serious and sometimes difficult study. It requires that we know something about the Bible and the people to whom it is addressed, and that we know something about ourselves and the culture in which we live. It is dangerous to pretend one is not worldly when one refuses to critically examine the ways in which one has been influenced more by the spirit of the age than by the Spirit of Christ....
"Let us hope for a day in the not-too-distant future when the world sees a humble church that no longer shelters hypocrisy, that no longer offers stones of legalism when the world needs the bread of life; a church that bids the world , 'Come now, let us reason together' (Isa. 1:18) instead of expecting a national awakening on the basis of slogans, shallow assertions, and unfounded myths. Let us hope that the time has run out for being 'at ease in Zion.' Let us pray for the day when the Christian community will no longer patronize the supermarket of pop religion, when there will be a recovery of passionate, warm-hearted orthodoxy and historic continuity, not with American legends, but with Christian truths."

From Made in America: The Shaping of Modern American Evangelicalism (1991; Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2006), pp. 11-13.