Greetings and salutations. Yes, this is Life and Books and Everything.

And I'm Kevin DeYoung here to read my latest World article. I keep saying I'll see you at the end of the summer, but then I forget that I still am writing some of these world opinions pieces. So here's the latest one. The pitfalls and possibilities of being political. Where should Christians draw the line? This is part two of a multi-part

series that will address six questions related to Christianity and politics. In part one, I ask,

why is it so hard to talk about politics? Today, and look at the second question,

are Christians too focused on politics?

It's already been 15 years since David Kinneman and Gabe Lyons published their widely cited book,

Un-Christian, what a new generation really thinks about Christianity and why it matters.

Based on research from the Barnagroup, the point of the book was clear from the

first sentence. Christianity has an image problem. Though the research was hailed as, quote,

groundbreaking and surprising, I doubt many people were shocked to learn that 16 to 29-year-olds

held negative stereotypes about the church. Among those negative impressions were that the

church was hypocritical, judgmental, anti-homosexual, and too political. Set aside whether Barnas

research told the whole story. A few years later, sociologist Bradley R.E. Wright published a book-length

response titled, Christians are hate-filled hypocrites, and other lies you've been told.

A sociologist shatters myths from the secular and Christian media.

Let's also set aside whether Christianity can or should try to manage its image in a hostile world.

Let's just focus on one of the most prominent knocks on the church,

that Christians are too political. On the one hand, the criticism is not without merit. Undoubtedly,

some Christians and churches are too political insofar as they eat and drink and sleep, electoral

politics. Wherever politics becomes ultimate instead of subordinate,

whenever it becomes the animating energy in a congregation,

or whenever it becomes the actual glue that holds the church together,

...