How strong and vibrant is Christianity in America at the moment? On a superficial level, it might appear that the church is growing faster and accomplishing more than ever. The nation is currently dotted coast to coast with megachurches boasting unprecedented attendance figures. Several of them now draw in excess of 20,000 people every week. Massive conferences, enormous songfests, and stadium-sized pep rallies have become fairly commonplace in the current evangelical subculture. Contemporary Christian music is the fastest-growing segment of the recording and broadcast industries. Christian publishing is big business. A few evangelical novels have even made it to the top of the New York Times best-seller list.
Given only those facts, you might think conservative Christians now have greater clout and more visibility than ever. But the opposite is true. Christians have all but lost whatever influence they once had for shaping the policies and values of the culture around us. Indeed, the world has far more influence on the church than vice versa.
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