IC readers likely will agree with the above statement. But hey, the argument is gaining traction, or it is if Luke Timothy Johnson , Ross Douthat , and Rod Dreher are an indication. Over at my blog at True Slant, I argue that Christianity’s materialistic turn has had positive and negative effects:
To be fair, humanistic or worldly forms of Christianity have produced great good. They’ve given us civil rights for blacks and more opportunities for women. But they’ve also contributed to the decline of the family and its attendant effects of long-term poverty, inequality, and exploitation of the weak.
Christianity has become more humanistic, but it has often degenerated into a whatever-makes-you happy secular ethos. (The irony is that this transition has produced anti-humanistic effects). The Christian West now lacks a sense that humans are fallen and sinful creatures in need of Christ.
Orthodox. Faithful. Free.
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