“People of the Snowmobile” Bemoan Loss of Moral Values

According to the polling
information, the people of America perceive themselves to be awakening to a

foundation crumbling from moral decay…Whether this will lead to another "Great Awakening" of real faith remains
to be seen…

The polling information on the
moral values of our nation continues to reflect a growing belief that America
is in moral decline…According to the Gallop "Values and Beliefs" poll released
June 5, 2007, 82% of us say it is getting worse…The perception that our overall
moral values are "poor" has risen 5% since 2005 to 44%…

Suggesting that affluence plays a
key role in one's view of national morality, the poll revealed that those with higher
incomes and education were less critical than were those with modest incomes
and education…Perhaps the decline of the middle class in America has triggered a
search for answers, giving rise to fear that God is punishing us economically for
our moral decay…Whatever the psychology behind this condemnation of moral
values, reality is 90% perception…

For too long we may have equated
morality with righteousness – behavior with condition…Too often we may have
judged people's integrity by what they say or how they appear or what they do
for a living…Too often we may have said "God bless America," when rationale
would question how that could be…

The War in Iraq, ethical and moral lapses of
the Christian Right and the corruption of politics at every level of government
is taking its toll on the American psyche…We can call it hypocrisy unmasked;
whatever the cause, it is a good thing and long overdue…

We are discovering the hard way
that the Emperor has no clothes…Might does not make right; prosperity, while a
potential source for good, has a history as a tool for evil; America is no
longer the "shining city on a hill." 
Instead, it has earned a reputation as a bully nation…

The question remains, "If our
moral compass is broken, will we recognize the root cause of our moral
decline?" 

For two generations, now,
Americans have raised the specter of God to perhaps the highest levels in our
history, while its worship of that God has declined precipitously…

There is a snowmobile trail that
runs through the parking lot of the little church that I pastor…It is not
unusual, on a winter Sunday morning while we worship, to be drowned out by the
roar of snowmobiles…I will stop and quip, "Let's pause for a moment for the
People of the Snowmobile."  How can a
little country church compete with a fun-filled Sunday morning?  As it turns out, many Christian churches have
morphed into theme parks for Jesus.

The rise of the Mega-church
demonstrates a desperate lurching for relevancy by merging with the Gospel the
values of the American Dream ethic of prosperity and success…Irrelevancy has given
birth to McChurch, the drive-through, fast food temple of the Christian Right…

Worshippers at McChurch
 –
primarily suburban, upwardly mobile whites – are entertained, coddled and
spoon-fed self-esteem rather than self-examination…The Gospel has been dumbed
down to "I'm OK; you're OK."  The fact is
that I am not OK, and you are not OK, but that's OK…There is a way out of the
swamp, but it will take pro bono work and discipline, two ethics in short
supply in this world in which we live.

The cause of our moral decline is
cheap grace that can be bought with a brief confession, a quick dip in the tank
and requires little substantive discipline or maintenance…Meanwhile, the
"People of the Snowmobile" rationalize meeting God in nature, while little
conclaves of the faithful tremble at how irrelevant they seem to have become in
a world of big government, big people, big ideas, big lies and big churches…

The answer to correcting the moral
decay of our nation lies not in its laws or in the enforcement of those laws…It
lies in the responsibility of each of us to care at least as much about our
neighbor as about ourselves…That responsibility is worked out through the
discipline of living in community with others…In religious circles, we call
such a community the "local church," with all its warts and imperfections…

We have become isolated individuals
on a fast track to nowhere…While we have free choice for almost anything we
want to do, our choices are made with minimal consideration for their impact on
others around us and their collective impact on our nation…

According to the polling
information, the people of America perceive themselves to be awakening to a
foundation crumbling from moral decay…Whether this will lead to another "Great Awakening" of real faith remains
to be seen…

It is, however, long overdue…

Stan Moody is the author of "Crisis in Evangelical Scholarship" and
"McChurched: 300 Million Served and Still Hungry