The churches in our community have been very loud of late, engaged in a very public challenge of church and state issues around prayer before municipal meetings. The churches’ expectation that this Christian tradition could be sustained has now been challenged by the ACLU with law suits being heard. My concern is not over whether or not our freedom of expression is being challenged, there is no doubt; the greater issue to me is that we still hold on to the assumption that these United States represent a Christian nation? Our actions must appear to some, similar to the Japanese soldiers who long after armistice were holed up in caves in the Pacific still fighting to the death?
If in fact we are using the same techniques to win our nation as when we were majority Christian, though now in a post-Christian era or worse yet pre-Christian, we are fighting a losing battle. My sense is that we have been asleep at the wheel, while our nation, in fact our globe has changed, yet our ministry approach to culture remains the same?
Just this week The Futurist, a periodical that addresses forecasts, trends and ideas about the future, contained an article entitled “The Singularity’s Impact on Business Leaders: A Scenario.”
In this article, Human Singularity is defined as “the radical fusion of the human body with technology to achieve levels of mental acuity and physical ability that eclipse anything humans have previously known.” The article goes on to describe a not so distant future when leaders will need to understand how to integrate these ESI’s, “enhanced singular individuals” into their workforce.
Using genetics, nanotechnology and artificial intelligence, these humans, now possibly more machine than man, represent “the best daughter your dollar can buy.” They will out think, out perform and out live those not able to afford enhancements. This is not your “momma’s” world!
In an economy that is now global, the world made flatter by technology, our educational system has failed to sustain the competitive edge once held by America. A growing gap between “haves and have not’s” is now driving a demand for a transfer of wealth that steers this democracy more toward socialism every day. Social moorings have now given way to years of spiritual storm, while the church remained secure in its denial, absent from the decision making process. We “worshiped” in comfortable sanctuaries, as if this world were still producing Ozzie and Harriet families, that attended church every Sunday, spent time in the parks on Saturday and shared life each evening around a meal together. This is no longer real and the churches’ position in the new world is eroding rapidly!