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Terri Daniels // Religion // EEW Magazine Online

Throughout history, bad actors have claimed to represent God and the church while abusing their influence, distorting the gospel, and turning people off.

Speculation exists that these unsavory characters are damaging Christianity and precipitating what appears to be its inevitable decline in America. Considering this, should believers panic and scramble to find better public relations representatives to help brand Christianity?

In a recent piece, New York Times writer Jessica Grose quoted Phil Zuckerman, a professor at Pitzer College who researches atheism and secularity, who said, “Christianity’s got a branding problem.” Grose, who admitted that she “never really thought of religions as brands” before her current reporting series dug into the reasons why some no longer wish to be associated with Christianity.

From a pool of 7,500 respondents, hundreds pointed to “political drift of their churches” as the primary reason for their disassociation. According to Grose’s findings, the rise of Donald Trump and the white evangelical church’s political alignment with this conservative demigod is in part responsible for a growing anti-Christian sentiment.

Trends like the rise of the “nones”—a general term for atheists, agnostics and the nonreligious—seem to support this view. The decline of religious fervor tracked by Gallup shows that the nones have risen from 2 percent of the population in the 1950s to somewhere between 20 percent and 30 percent today.

Does this mean Christianity will fade away in the absence of better branding and PR?

To answer this question, let us recall the words of first-century rabbi, Gameliel, a respected expert in religious law (See Acts 5:34-39). In his message to the Jewish Sanhedrin, Gamaliel referenced a man named Theudas who once pretended to be someone great. Though Theudas managed to amass a loyal following of 400, after he was killed, his followers scattered, and his movement died out with him.

Gamaliel told Christianity’s skeptics that if the movement had no divine origin, it would soon be overthrown. “But if it is from God,” added Gamaliel, “you will not be able to overthrow them.”

The point is that Christianity, the world’s largest and most widespread religion which has been around since the 1st century has stood the test of time. It has survived the crucifixion of Jesus, the persecution of His followers, the sinful actions of leaders, political propaganda, and numerous cultural shifts.

Though human nature causes us to view spiritual matters from a natural perspective, leading us to worry about the future of Christianity, worrying is not necessary. Granted, Scripture teaches Christ’s emissaries to do our best to live out the tenets of the faith, but failure to do so will in no way jeopardize the survival of Christianity.

God who created the heavens and earth, defeated death, and still exercises power over all things is in no way threatened by human failings and unbelief. Romans 3:3 asks, “What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness?”

What if some are bad representatives, will their imperfection nullify God’s perfection?

No, never.

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