allthegoodnamesweretaken wrote:

They're also convinced that any negative reactions they might get are to the message, not to them, and should be taken as reinforcement that they are doing the correct thing.

all

Heh, I know! Recently, I'd pointed out to a Fundamentalist Christian that the tactics Christians have been using lately simply aren't working, that they're driving people away from Jesus instead of bringing in converts and maybe it's time for Christianity to have a moment of introspection and change tactics? When I said this, I'd provided some proof, from the Evangelical Barna Group (below)... The response I got was; "If Christianity is going to die, praise be Jesus and God's Will be done." Basically, it was a 14-word long shrug. "Oh, well..."
It made me wonder when the ideas of "Good Stewardship" and the "Great Commission" became passe?


[QUOTE]
Young Americans today are more skeptical and resistant to Christianity than were people of the same age just a decade ago, says a new study.

Negative perceptions toward the Christian faith have outweighed the positive as a growing percentage of younger Americans associate with a faith outside Christianity.

Only 16 percent of non-Christians aged 16 to 29 years old said they have a "good impression" of Christianity, according to a report released Monday by The Barna Group. A decade ago, the vast majority of Americans outside the Christian faith, including young people, felt favorably toward Christianity’s role in society,

Young people have an even lesser positive impression of evangelicals. Only 3 percent of 16- to 29-year-olds who are not of the Christian faith express favorable views of evangelicals. In the previous generation, 25 percent of young people had positive associations toward evangelicals.

Common negative perceptions among non-Christians is that present-day Christianity is judgmental (87 percent), hypocritical (85 percent), old-fashioned (78 percent), and too involved in politics (75 percent).
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1902232/posts