Top Stories of 2003: Like Rest of Nation, Church Reverts to Pre-9-11 Apathy

by Allie Martin, Jody Brown, and Bill Fancher
December 30, 2003

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(AgapePress) - A Christian researcher says the Church in America is no different from the days immediately before the terrorist attacks of two years ago. George Barna says Christians in the U.S. missed a unique opportunity to turn to God in repentance and humility after the attacks.

According to a recent survey by the Barna Research Group, although there was an increase in church attendance in the weeks following the attacks, that surge has disappeared -- and any revival that may have occurred immediately thereafter was shallow.

Barna says he believes many Christians in America -- instead of turning to God -- tried to deal with the attacks in their own strength. He says he cannot help but think that God may have been using the attacks as a wake-up call to the Church.

"In many ways, the Church in America has become like the Church of Laodicea that's described in Revelation 3," the researcher says. "We're a Church that's very complacent, very satisfied with ourselves."

He believes that, to a large extent, the Church in America has lost its focus, apparently preferring to be prideful of all the "stuff" surrounding it.

"Even when we try to gauge how successful we are, we don't look at personal transformation as much as we look at numbers," Barna says. "[We look at] how many people show up, how much money do we raise, how much square footage do we have, how many cars are in the parking lot, how many programs do we have, how many staff are on board.

"Really, [such concerns are found] nowhere in scripture -- that's not what Jesus died for," he says.

According to Barna, American Christians are simply too comfortable. "When you look at our hearts, there are very few broken hearts [and] there are very few surrendered Christians in America today."

The Barna survey also found that since the attacks, there has been no change in personal religious activity -- such as church attendance, Bible reading, prayer, and Sunday school involvement -- and no increase in the percentage of adults who say they are "born-again" Christians.

Gary Bauer

Actions Speak Louder ...
Conservative pro-family leader Gary Bauer says he sees the same return to "the ways things were" in the nation's capital prior to 9-11 -- and he's not happy at all about it.

In a statement on Thursday, Bauer expresses his anger over many issues -- a return to partisanship, where there used to be, albeit temporarily, a suppression of "the political instinct to score cheap political points"; a renewed onslaught of "stupid, hateful" accusations about America from Hollywood and the cultural elite; and a political double standard toward the nation of Israel, which he says has suffered "the cumulative equivalent of dozens of September 11th attacks."

"Finally, I am angry because at the very time that we need God ... the campaign to strip faith from the public square is at its peak," he says. "At the very time we need citizens of character who can discern good from evil, our culture continues to promote hedonism and materialism."

Bauer could very well have been referring to last week's kickoff of the National Football League's season, which featured pop diva Brittany Spears in the nation's capital. Bob Knight of the Culture and Family Institute discovered a rather unique contrast between that highly sexualized extravaganza and the recent controversy in Alabama over the public display of the Ten Commandments.

Bob Knight

"Even I wasn't prepared for how sordid the act was that Brittany Spears and her dancers put on," Knight says. "I mean, she was bumping and grinding and looking every bit like a stripper up there, with our nation's capital looming in the background.

"I contrasted this with how the Ten Commandments were treated down in Montgomery, Alabama," he says. "They were shoved out of sight as if they weren't fit for public display, while we have basically a sexual act on stage, right in front of our nation's capital -- and that's not supposed to offend anybody."

Knight says the two events made a startling contrast -- and revealed a lot about the nation.