Pandering to the Youth – Parallel Between Politics and Contemporary Christianity

Pandering to the Youth

I feel this commentary by Rush Limbaugh about political parties pandering to youth these days can just as easily apply to how American denominations and churches are forever chasing after and pandering to youth:

(Link): Pandering to Millennials Will Ruin the GOP

Excerpts:

I understand the desire and need for people of younger generations to be heard and acknowledged. I totally get that.

But the truth is that it is up to you to be heard, up to you to get noticed, up to you to stand out. You are not entitled to be respected just because of your age. The only exception is the Seasoned Citizen population, which is the greatest collection of wisdom in the country (I don’t expect you to believe that).

You can demand to be respected, recognized, and listened to all day long, but understand that no one has any obligation to listen to you. You are going to have to make them want to … by virtue of your achievements. By demonstrating potential. By being interesting. Yes, even by being provocative. Fearless.

Everyone has the right to speak, but we do not have a right to be listened to. No one has a constitutional right to be heard. In other words, don’t sit around and wait and hope or demand that somebody listen to you. Take action. Be heard, but above all, make something happen.

…. I think a political party that reaches out to groups and demographics with ideas that lack cohesion is a party destined to lose because it will fragment. A party has to be about a universal set of principles and ideas that attract all kinds of people from all walks of life. All ages, all genders, all orientations. It has been done recently. Ronald Reagan won two landslide elections in 1980 and 1984. You can tailor your message for individual groups, but not your principles.
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Regarding:

“A party has to be about a universal set of principles and ideas that attract all kinds of people from all walks of life. All ages, all genders, all orientations.”

I think that is one thing Jesus Christ set out to do with the church, but today’s American Christianity is focused exclusively on these types of people:
1. Youth (children/ teens/ single 20 somethings)
2. Married couples (of ages 20 something to about 50)
3. Parents
So that many people who don’t fit any one of those categories feels excluded, and they drift away from the faith, or stop attending church.