And a society that has banished transcendence, we are beginning to realize, can be a pretty frightening place. The bleakness of that picture, however, is relieved by the continuing presence of unusual opportunities for Christian witness. The United States still has a much larger proportion of regular churchgoers than any other country in the world. And the endless opinion polling that took place prior to the recent election revealed that the majority of voters consider the most important issues facing the country to be moral issues and that they perceive the country in a moral decline. But the same polls also show a great reluctance to embody moral positions in public policy.
Many religious leaders see it differently.
There is a good deal of truth to the culture-war theory, although the image, which is especially popular among evangelical Christians, has its limitations. The fact is that the culture war is more complicated than a fight of white hats against black hats. I do not believe, as some of the more pessimistic evangelicals do, that we have reached the point of no return. And even if I did it wouldn't matter because our duty to witness remains the same. But I do believe that if you want to be a missionary, you have to know the territory.