Standing on the Wall

Bonhoeffer, also warned of “the secularization of Christianity in America.” Even in 1930 he believed that most American Christians and churches had forgotten the real calling of Christians:

So what stands in place of the Christian message? An ethical and social idealism born by a faith in progress that-who knows how-claims the right to call itself “Christian”. And in the place of the church as the congregation of believers in Christ there stands the church as a social corporation. Anyone who has seen the weekly program of one of the large New York churches, with their daily, indeed almost hourly events, teas, lectures, concerts, charity events, opportunities for sports, games, bowling, dancing for every age group, anyone who has heard how they try to persuade a new resident to join the church, insisting that you’ll get into society quite differently by doing so, anyone who has become acquainted with the embarrassing nervousness with which the pastor lobbies for membership-that person can well assess the character of such a church. All these things, of course, take place with varying degrees of tactfulness, taste, and seriousness; some churches are basically “charitable” churches; others have primarily a social identity. One cannot avoid the impression, however, that in both cases they have forgotten what the real point is.