An unexpected divide has arisen from within the Christian community between the conservative elders of the church and their more progressive children. Recently, Proposition 8 in California, as well as the Planned Parenthood funding debate, have inspired a national conversation about several social issues that are demanding more comprehensive resolution. Specifically, the issues of gay marriage and women's reproductive rights have invaded the national consciousness and the perspectives from within the Christian community vary more than one would suspect.
This controversial discourse has many senior Christians and church leaders vocalizing concern, disappointment, and even fear about the direction the country is taking socially. More often than not, the conversation engendered is extraordinarily bitter in tone. Oddly, their children and grandchildren often share no such fear or disappointment. The younger generation of Christians are seemingly unconcerned with the increasingly more tolerant and permissive social construct.
These young Christians struggle with an entirely different issue. How do they practice their faith devoutly, without becoming judgmental of others who do not share their beliefs? An example of this struggle comes to fore in the debate about gay marriage. Countless Sunday morning sermons would encourage congregants to protest against this outrageous secular movement. However, many young christians feel utter ambivalence about the issue and cannot empathize with the unabashed bitterness being expressed by their elders. Still others, feel that the church's extraordinary focus on combatting homosexuality at every turn, is generally lacking in perspective and balance.
This more tolerant sensibility is met with almost unanimous condemnation by the church leadership, as the 'slippery slope' argument is unfailingly applied. This divide is problematic, since ideally, these same church elders would historically be serving as spiritual mentors to these presumably less mature believers. As a result of this inevitable rebuke, the more tolerant attitude of the younger Christians often goes unexpressed, and thus the day-to-day practice of the faith never evolves into a more functional paradigm. If the church is to remain a unified fellowship of belief going forward, these disagreements in the fundamental practice of the faith must be addressed. The conversation must be had. The sooner, the better.
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