Rodney Hall

“When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear.”
― Frank Turek, Correct, Not Politically Correct: About Same-Sex Marriage and Transgenderism

“The hunger and hunt for identity is a driving force of the modern world. But the nature of the self in an age of simulacra, pseudonyms, avatars, gender/racial fluidity, “the wisdom of crowds,” and online friends makes having an identity a massive maze of conquest and confusion. Western Christianity is in permanent identity crisis. For the first time in a millennium of history for much of the West (and soon in the US), Christianity is no longer the default identity for the majority of its population. The percentage of US citizens who claim to be Christian is plummeting (from 85 percent to 75 percent in the last twenty-five years). For the first time in a thousand years, Christianity is now in the minority in England and Wales. What is more significant, Christianity is not the default identity even for many who poll as “Christian.” Their go-to identity is found in other arenas, like class, gender, race, sexuality, politics, and ideology, with ethnicity and sexuality now eclipsing class and religion in forming identity movements, and social divisions (“Eurasianism,” “white power,” etc.) all responding to their sense of impending threat. No wonder the church no longer knows what it means to “pastor” anymore, and pastors themselves are in a state of professional disquiet.”
― Leonard Sweet, Rings of Fire: Walking in Faith through a Volcanic Future

“The church doesn’t lose its kids when they go to college. We start losing them in middle school. We lose children in the church when we send them out of worship to children’s church or Sunday school. This is one reason why Jesus kept insisting, “Let the little children come to me.”[222”
― Leonard Sweet, Rings of Fire: Walking in Faith through a Volcanic Future

“We have backed away from any vision of common ground; we have, instead, divided American life into a set of experiences—Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Jewish; male and female, heterosexual and homosexual; Indian, Anglo American, African American, Mexican American, Asian American. For what were very good reasons, did we over-accent cultural differences?[214”
― Leonard Sweet, Rings of Fire: Walking in Faith through a Volcanic Future