In March
2011 a website was covertly launched on the campus of one of our Christian
universities, promoting the homosexual lifestyle. When the administration
blocked the site on the university’s network, activists printed and distributed
across campus a thirty-two page manifesto pushing their agenda. The school’s president then issued a
public response during the chapel assembly the following day, respectfully but firmly denouncing
the defiant initiative.1
How could such
an alarming state of affairs surface on the campus of a Christian university
affiliated with mainstream churches of Christ? While the gay rights movement
has increasingly influenced and noticeably shaped secular society in the United
States since the 1960s,2 religion has not been unaffected. In 1972 the
United Church of Christ was the first mainline denomination in the USA to
ordain openly gay clergy, and subsequent decades have witnessed practicing homosexuals
unconditionally accepted and incorporated into numerous denominations and
independent religious groups.3
Among
churches of Christ, Dave Miller prophetically warned in 1996, “While the
liberal element in the church has not been drawn into a wholesale endorsement
of homosexuality, philosophically, the liberal mindset will inevitably relax
its opposition to those who insist upon their right to engage in homosexuality”
(Piloting the Strait 345). A few
years later Phil Sanders observed that congregations sometimes
fool themselves into thinking they are immune from the volatile mentality of
the times, even though what “happens in the world has always profoundly
affected the church; today is no different” (Adrift 14, 21).
The Rise and Influence of Postmodernism
As “both a
broad cultural and sociological phenomenon and an ideology,” postmodernism is hard
to define (Erickson 12). The term itself is descriptive of the changes in knowledge
perception in popular culture, and it stands in stark contrast to the concept
of modernism. At the risk of oversimplification, modernism can be characterized
as the pursuit of truth, certainty and absolutism with linear thinking and
rationalism. It seeks undisputed foundations and rigorous methodologies for
attaining knowledge. Postmodernism, on the other hand, is a reaction to what is
perceived as the inflexibility, arrogance and attempted control of modernistic
thinking. It advocates “knowledge” as the product of cultural conditioning,
shaped by emotions, experience, aesthetics, and environment. In the realm of religion,
modernism is viewed as the rigid pursuit of truth versus error and right versus
wrong, whereas postmodernism is a softer and more flexible approach that
emphasizes love, relationships, tolerance, acceptance, authenticity, and
relativism (Carson 26-34).
Postmodern
secularism maintains that there is no universal or absolute truth with respect
to morality. Religion, therefore, especially Christianity, is to be summarily dismissed
because of its traditional stance against "secular values" (e.g. abortion and gay
marriage). However, postmodernism has also made significant inroads into
religion and into the contemporary Christian movement in particular (Erickson
59-69). “Notions of objective morality are among the first things to be
questioned,” D. A. Carson observes, and professing Christians are increasingly
changing their views on moral issues (101). According to recent studies by the
Barna Group, a leading research organization focused on the relationship
between faith and culture, only 34% of American adults believe that moral truth
is absolute, while less than half of those claiming to be religiously “born
again” (46%) believe in absolute moral truth.4 There was a time when
affirming an openly homosexual lifestyle demanded the complete severing of ties
with orthodox Christianity. But nowadays, thanks to postmodern rationalization,
embracing same-sex relationships while claiming allegiance to biblical teaching
is normative.
--Kevin L. Moore
Endnotes:
1 See
<www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2011/03/04/harding-president-address-gay-website#readerComments>;
also <www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qKNze-C3uk>.
2 Recent
studies show that about 62% of the American public believes homosexuality
should be accepted by society. See Pew
Research Center, “Views on Religion, the Bible, Evolution and Social Issues,”
26 June 2014,
<www.people-press.org/2014/06/26/section-5-views-on-religion-the-bible-evolution-and-social-issues/#>.
3 Jaweed Kaleem, “Unearthing the Surprising Religious History
of American Gay Rights Activism,” in Huffington
Post (28 June 2014),
<www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/28/gay-religious-history_n_5538178.html>.
4 The Barna Group, “Barna
Survey Examines Changes in Worldview Among Christians over the Past 13 Years,”
6 March 2009,
<https://www.barna.org/barna-update/21-transformation/252-barna-survey-examines-changes-in-worldview-among-christians-over-the-past-13-years#.VFT3wN7SHFK>.
Works Cited:
Carson, D. A. Becoming Conversant with the Emerging
Church: Understanding a Movement and Its Implications. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005.
Erickson, Millard J. The Postmodern World: Discerning the Times
and the Spirit of Our Age. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2002.
Miller, Dave. Piloting the Strait: a Guidebook for
Assessing Change in Churches of Christ. Bedford, TX: Sain Publications, 1996.
Sanders, Phil. Adrift: Postmodernism in the Church.
Nashville, TN: Gospel Advocate, 2000.
Related Posts: Postmodernism & the Homosexual Christian Part 2, Part 3, Relativism Vs Truth
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