A letter to the editor written by Assistant Professor of Sociology Stephen Ellingson about a recent New York Times article titled "Thou Shalt Not Kill, Except in a Game at Church" appeared on the publication's Web site on Oct. 14. Ellingson, the author of the recently released The Megachurch and the Mainline, asked in his response to the article, "Why does a religion that has been countercultural from its inception so desperately seek to be culturally relevant? I suspect that the answer may be related to the imperative for membership growth inherent in the voluntary organization and reinforced by our culture's ideal of bigger is better as well as in the penchant among many church bodies to reduce the rich complexity of the faith down to the conversion and saving of souls."
"Christian churches, from evangelical to mainline Protestant, have been borrowing all sorts of ideas and practices from secular culture in order to be relevant or to attract new members, often doing so with little discussion of how the use of PowerPoint and rock bands or corporate America's latest marketing techniques may adversely affect the religion," he observed.
"Christian churches, from evangelical to mainline Protestant, have been borrowing all sorts of ideas and practices from secular culture in order to be relevant or to attract new members, often doing so with little discussion of how the use of PowerPoint and rock bands or corporate America's latest marketing techniques may adversely affect the religion," he observed.
