“that was then”

Barna polls conducted between 2004 and this year, sampling 440 non-Christians (and a similar number of Christians) aged 16 to 29, found that 38% had a ‘bad impression’ of present-day Christianity. ‘It’s not a pretty picture’ the authors write. Barna’s clientele is made up primarily of evangelical groups.

Kinnaman says non-Christians’ biggest complaints about the faith are not immediately theological: Jesus and the Bible get relatively good marks. Rather, he sees resentment as focused on perceived Christian attitudes. Nine out of ten outsiders found Christians too ‘anti-homosexual,’ and nearly as many perceived it as ‘hypocritical’ and ‘judgmental.’ Seventy-five percent found it ‘too involved in politics.’