Why Does Christianity Need I.D.?

Since I work in communications, one of the things I tell people is: “Don’t make assertions; give explanations.” In other words, don’t just say things like “tax cuts help the economy,” and then move on to the next topic. Instead, explain WHY tax cuts are good for the economy.

With that in mind, I feel guilty for consistently saying things like “it's not clear to me that Christianity (as it's currently practiced) has a bright future in the West” and that I.D. has the ability to “bolster the power of the West in its battle with an alternative faith,” without providing any corroborating data.

And…well…I still don’t have any data.

But I’ll try to provide a (brief) explanation anyway – knowing I’ll come back to this topic several times in the future.

Basically, 2 major points…

First, Europe has historically been the brain, heart, and soul of Christianity… and yet, today, Christianity is hardly practiced in Europe at all. It is no exaggeration to say that Christianity is dying in the Mother Continent. Why? Because traditional religion has zero credibility with its population. And the population of Europe itself is in major decline – probably for that reason! Europe is a cultural purgatory which refuses to defend its Christian/Enlightenment values – both at home and abroad. Meanwhile, it is challenged from within by an aggressive faith (Islam) that is antagonistic towards its traditional values (and Europe’s population trends – looking ahead 30, 40, 50+ years – show Islam gaining major ground within Europe’s borders). Since organized Christianity – whether Catholic or Protestant – has so little credibility with Europeans, there needs to be a major fusion of faith and reason. Intelligent Design can help start that fusion.

Now…as it pertains to the U.S.A...At the moment, traditional Christianity remains quite popular…no one disputes that…but it doesn’t have much appeal to the younger generation…on many contemporary issues (especially sex) the Bible seems irrelevant…worse yet, of the 2 potential brands of Christianity (the Old Testament and the New Testament), the least appealing one (the Old Testament) is the one that dominates our culture today... this has given liberals a major opportunity to co-opt the younger generation (which is naturally libertarian on social issues) and coerce them into supporting a socialist agenda at home an a pacifist agenda abroad (for example, in the 2008 election, Obama won voters under 30 by a mind-blowing margin of 66-32%)… the only way to reverse this trend is to make Christianity an appealing option for young people again (so they will feel comfortable participating in it on a personal level, and – when it comes to politics – feel less threatened by the Republican Party, and vote for candidates in a more logical way. Intelligent Design can help facilitate the transition from an emotional, fire-and-brimstone version of Christianity to the logical, loving version that Christianity can and should be.

-Todd