Unchristian

Hypocritical, antihomosexual, sheltered, too political, and judgmental. Those words best describe Christians, according to a majority of 16-29 year old nonchristians in America. The statisics are staggering, but they should help us to realize that something needs to change in the way that we live out our faith.

I wish I could say that the research is easily discredited, but it comes straight from the highly reputable Barna Group in their new book, Unchristian. In the book, David Kinnamon and Gabe Lyons show how the perception of Christianity amongst young nonchristians is quite disturbing. While I must confess that we aren't called to be popular in the eyes of those who aren't Christians, their perceptions of us certainly do reveal at the very least some truth.

In the book, we find that 91% of unchristian people aged 16-29 find Christianity to be antihomosexual--notice its not just that we believe homosexual acts are a sin, but that we are antihomosexual. 87% of the group also see us as judgmental, while 85% view Christians as hypocritical. However, the most staggering statistic for me was this: of the 84% of 'outsiders' who know a Christian personally, only 15% see significant lifestyle differences.

These stats don't make me comfortable. They don't leave me asking myself if we need to change, but what do we need to change. For more information on the book and the statistics included, check out www.unchristian.com