While the percentage is declining, USAmerica is still a nation that largely identifies itself as Christian. Despite having a predominately Christian self-identification, we have a decreasing expression of Christian ethics. Many would be repulsed by our claim to be a Christian nation because of the disproportionate amount of violence, sexual promiscuity, greed, and other unchristian behaviors. In a country where the majority of people are against abortion or homosexual marriage, USAmerica is a country that is on the former is entrenched in law and the latter is on the way to becoming part of the USAmerican culture.
Why the disparity in identification and culture? One answer could be that Christians have misunderstood what culture is and what is required to change culture. Let’s begin to explore culture and what it takes to transform culture.
There are many opinions about culture, but there is one predominant understanding of culture in the public arena. This view is reflected by politicians and by people of all faiths. The substance of this view can be expressed this way: The essence of culture is found in the hearts and minds of individuals, what are typically called “values.” Values are mere preferences: inclinations toward or conscious attachment to what is good and right and true. Culture is manifested in the ways these values guide actual decisions we individuals make about how to live. In this view, a culture is made up of the accumulation of values held by the majority of people and the choices made on the basis of those values.
A slightly more sophisticated version of this is found in the view of those who speak of “worldviews.” A worldview, as Chuck Colson has defined it, is “the sum total of our beliefs about the world, the ‘big picture’ that directs our daily decisions and actions… [it] is a way of seeing and comprehending all reality.” In this way, Christianity is not just a set of doctrines and beliefs and the values based on those doctrines and beliefs, but a wide-ranging and all-inclusive understanding of the world. Christianity is thus a worldview in competition with other worldviews. Though driven by ideas, worldviews exist primarily in the hearts and minds and imaginations of individuals and take form in choices made by individuals. As Colson puts it, “Our choices are shaped by what we believe is real and true, right and wrong, good and beautiful. Our choices are shaped by our worldview.” In this light, he can conclude, ” history is little more than the recoding of the rise and fall of the great ideas – the worldviews – that form our values and move us to act.” “If we are going to succeed in restoring a moral influence in American culture,” he says,” we nee to “cultivate a Christian mind” and “live out a biblical worldview”.
The resulting argument becomes this: If we are going to change our culture for the better, we need more and more individuals possessing the right values and the right worldview. When this happens, more and more people will make better choices and culture will become virtuous. As Colson argues, “A virtuous society can be created only by virtuous people, whose individual consciences guard their behavior and hold the accountable.” And so he poses the question directly: “How can we redeem a culture?… from the inside out. From the individual to the family to the community, and then outward in ever widening ripples.” Change the values of the common person for the better and good society will follow in turn.
It is this implicit view of culture that motivates certain communities of Christians, especially evangelicals, to focus on evangelism as their primary means of changing the world. Evangelism is not only a means of saving souls but of transforming individuals and, in doing so, changing culture. The logic behind this position is the belief that the problems society faces can be traced back to a loss of spiritual vitality and moral conduct. Whatever the sin is, the unhappy truth is that people have lost their moral bearings. Only by changing the hearts of individuals who engage in such acts or who sanction them, then, can real headway b made in stepping back from the precipice of social degeneration. The logic goes this way: if people’s hearts and minds are converted, they will have the right values, they will make the right choices, and the culture will change in turn.
Q4U: Do you agree with this understanding of culture and change? What is your understanding of culture and cultural change?
