What is driving people out of church, crushing faith, leaving people traumatized, angry at religion and afraid of / apathetic to God, faster than anything outside the church are the Christians within who prioritizes law over love, power over people, judgement over grace.

Christianity was never supposed to be about dominating society, but uplifting it - and you can't lift if you're already on top. When Christians cry about losing their freedom, they are really crying over losing their dominance. They want to be Caesar's Empire, not God's Kingdom.

People have not turned away from Christ. They have turned away from a religion that worships the idols of political and economic power, slapped a cross on it and tossed the Gospel of Jesus aside, along with its demand for justice, reconciliation and service to the most powerless

People have been abused in the name of the One who came to condemn abuse; people have been condemned in the name of the One who came to welcome and heal; people have been sacrificed in the name of the One who sacrificed himself to end the need for sacrifice.

And despite that, what I've seen is this:

These very people are still reaching out for a God they dare believe still sees them...still cares for them...still loves them....despite all they've been told and threatened with.

THAT is faith.

These people are seeking to reconcile what they were told must be divided - faith and sexuality; body and soul; spirit and intellect. They somehow know, despite years of being taught otherwise, that what God made (themselves, as they are) is GOOD.

THAT is hope.

These people are the rejected, the condemned, the crucified...and yet, here they are, asking for prayer...giving thanks....offering blessing.

THAT is love.

Faith hope and love abide, these three.
And the greatest of these - far greater than twisted fundamentalism - is love.