(Washington, DC) A new generation of Evangelical Christians is vulnerable to liberalizing trends in the U.S. church, according to a young new author who pushes back at a culture in which not giving offense is prized more than telling uncomfortable truths.
In Distortion: How the New Christian Left is Twisting the Gospel and Damaging the Faith, author Chelsen Vicari, in her first book, challenges the Evangelical Left and names names. She offers readers a glimpse into the world of a typical Evangelical Millennial who is spiritually and emotionally targeted on Christian campuses, youth groups, and campus ministries by a growing liberal movement cloaked in Evangelical terminology.
Vicari, who joined the Institute on Religion and Democracy last year, charts theological trends that reduce God’s supremacy, dispute biblical teaching, and espouse moral relativism. She argues that her own Millennial generation — susceptible to feel-good doctrine and a gospel of nice’ — is playing a major part in America’s cultural decline. Millennial Christians worried about offending others end up suffocating or denying traditional Christian teaching.
Chelsen Vicari, Director of IRD’s Evangelical Action program, commented:
The goal of the Christian Left is to undermine the authority of the Bible by painting inconsistencies in Scripture, which they hope will breed confusion and, at times, doubt. Once the lines of truth are blurred, young Evangelicals start to reconcile their faith with liberal political platforms like same-sex marriage, taxpayer funded abortions and contraception, feminism, pacifism, and big government.
The danger is this distorted, liberal theology breaks down the moral values outlined in Scripture. It also encourages young Evangelicals to deny Judeo-Christian principles used to establish a just, prosperous nation.
Right now America’s youth in and outside of the church need leadership. If the brakes aren’t applied immediately to the Christian Left, then the next generation is on track to abandon the moral foundations and ethical principles that have made America great.
If U.S. Evangelicals disengage from the public square and fail to engage the rising generation, then we risk losing our public voice, then our religious liberty, and then liberty altogether.”
Distortion: How the New Christian Left is Twisting the Gospel and Damaging the Faith will be released by Frontline on September 2.
Editor’s note: Chelsen Vicari will be a guest on Caffeinated Thoughts Radio next week.
