unchristian

so i have a book recommendation. i had to read this new book called "unchristian: what a new generation really thinks about christianity...and why it matters" for a class at gordon. it is by David Kinnaman who is the president of the Barna Group, which is a research company that a lot of you have probably heard of. if you have heard a statistic on religion, morals or spirituality lately, it was probably determined by these guys.

so the book- kinnaman has basically spent the last 3 years doing research and surveying hundreds of thousands of Americans to find out what they think of christians. people surveyed were asked, among other things, what words describe Christianity. The top 6 responses were as follows:
1.hypocritical
2.too focused on getting converts
3.antihomosexual
4.sheltered
5.too political
6.judgemental

(not in that order, that is the order that he discusses them in the book. number one was actually antihomosexual.)

so the book is EXTREMELY interesting and has been extremely helpful for me in thinking about myself, how i treat people and how the church treats people. if you are in ministry at all, i would suggest buying it now.

one funny thing from the book that i have to share-
In their surveys when they asked twentysomthings outside the christian faith to identify the best-known Christians, the top 5 answers were:
the pope, 16%
george w. bush, 13%
jesus, 9 %
billy graham, 7%
mlk jr., 6%

when they asked twentysomethings who are christians, their top responses were:
billy graham 29%
george w. bush, 17%
mlk jr., 8%
jesus, 7%
mother teresa, 7%
mel gibson, 7%
james dobson, 5%

according to christians, mel gibson is one of the most famous christians of all time. just behind jesus and mother teresa.