Over the last decade I have become aware of just how much the Church itself plays in generating nonbelievers. It should have dawned on me sooner, as I myself was raised in the church. I had 12 years of Christian schooling and was studying to be a pastor at a Christian university when all of the hard questions came. I foolishly thought that just because I didn’t know the answers that Christianity had none. Despite my own experience I didn’t give much attention to the thought that I had been ‘set up’ for unbelief.
In 2007, my claim that the Church is producing atheists was aired on the ChristianPost.com and I received a flood of emails and contacts, most of them Christians who completely agreed.
Today, the claim is not controversial because it is obvious to everyone.
When I made that claim, I had already been thinking about ways in which this trend can be addressed and corrected. The broader vision of Athanatos Christian Ministries is to raise awareness and to try to create and implement solutions to this particular issue.
Ultimately, there will have to be some discussion about how we educate our young, what unspoken positions we promote regarding study and learning, and probably how we do ”church” in the first place.
Such topics are controversial by their very nature. Unfortunately, a lot of folks are battling over the ‘wrong hill.’ They are defending the wrong ‘front line.’ ACM aims to devote its energy to fighting the real fights of our time, choosing wisely which hill is worth ‘dying’ on.
The core truth driving the ministries of ACM at this point is that the transmission of the Christian faith in America is broken. To fix it, we ought not abandon anything good, wherever it is found, as all good things come from God (James 1:17) and he has given them to us.
For ACM, every tool is on the table… the arts, sciences, education, etc…
It will be an uphill battle, but ACM believes it is worth fighting- so long as it is the right hill.
