Episode 514: How Politics Poisoned the Evangelical Church with Drew Dyck & David Kinnaman

A recent article in the Atlantic reveals how the political polarization in the United States is now tearing evangelical churches apart. And Marvin Olasky, the former editor of World Magazine, writes about the dramatic change he witnessed among evangelicals over his long career. Drawing from thousands of letters he received, Olasky concludes, “The Republican party platform has become more important than the gospel for many who identify as evangelicals.” Special guest co-host Drew Dyck joins Phil and Skye to discuss the articles. Then, president of Barna research, David Kinnaman, is back with more stats to unpack. With a record number of pastors thinking seriously about quitting, and political polarization listed among the top reasons, Kinnaman says the church is facing a crisis of discipleship. He believes we need a political theology that’s rooted in the gospel rather than partisanship. But is it too late? Also this week, fear over climate change is making progressives question the morality of having kids. And, South Korean college students are flush with cash.

News Segment 0:00 - Intro 4:24 - News of the Butt 9:54 - Climate change and having kids 20:15 - How politics poisoned the evangelical church 30:47 - Evangelical Christianity in the age of Trump

Sponsors 57:08 - World Relief worldrelief.org/holypost

59:04 - Faithful Counseling faithfulcounseling.com/holypost

Barna Brief with David Kinnaman 1:00:14 - Barna Brief intro 1:01:32 - Data on pastors considering quitting 1:04:23 - Reason 1: Stress of job 1:06:20 - Reason 2: Loneliness 1:09:54 - Reason 3: Political division 1:21:05 - Good news in this data? 1:29:42 - Credits

Barna Brief links: Barna Group, Faith Leadership in a Divided Culture https://shop.barna.com/products/faith-leadership-in-a-divided-culture Resilient Pastor Cohort (discount code is HOLYPOST15): barna.com/cohort “The Resilient Pastor” by Glenn Packiam - https://amzn.to/3HK2f4R

News segment links:

“South Korean Toilet Allows Students to Pay With Their Poop” - https://interestingengineering.com/south-korean-toilet-allows-students-to-pay-with-their-poop

“Your Kids are Not Doomed” by Ezra Klein (NYT Opinion) -https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/05/opinion/climate-change-should-you-have-kids.html

Andrew Walker tweet - https://twitter.com/andrewtwalk/status/1534136018269614081?s=20&t=Hvg_G52SvOYW0k8HIoNQRQ

“How Politics Poisoned the Evangelical Church” by Tim Alberta (The Atlantic) - https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/06/evangelical-church-pastors-political-radicalization/629631/

“The Sixty Years’ War: Evangelical Christianity in the Age of Trump” by Marvin Olasky (National Review) - https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2022/06/27/the-sixty-years-war-evangelical-christianity-in-the-age-of-trump/

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