My radio friend and mentor, Bob Roberts of WBBM-AM, was asked to leave the Paul Harvey funeral. Were they afraid he’d find out the rest of the story?

In a very thoughtful piece in the Christian Science Monitor, Michael Spencer predicts the collapse of evangelical Christianity in the West within 10 years. His main reasons are the focus on the culture war, inadequate Christian education, and dying denominational churches.

Spencer is correct that Christians over the past few decades may have spent too much time focusing on issues at work in the government and not enough on our churches. The gay marriage and abortion debates (as important as those may be) are more easily articulated by many Christians than the Apostles Creed or the Romans Road. There was a time when doctrine was the major focus of Christian education in the church and the home. These creeds were taught in such a way as to make them a foundation that could be built upon later and used to sustain the Christian through turbulent times. Often today, youth ministry is concerned with emotions and friendship. A pastor friend described the youth minister in his church as the guy who “plays chubby bunny” with the students. While games are fun and social networking can be important, what happened to making sure young people know what they believe?

The Gospel message will never be quashed. Dying denominational churches and the wavering effectiveness of evangelicals in politics will only serve to refocus Christians on the truly important work ahead. Though we shouldn’t divorce ourselves from the political arena, we do have to remember that in the end only one thing really matters and that is eternity.

When John Howell and I talked to Bill Ayers on the radio I wasn’t sure what to expect. Would he finally, after decades, do a complete mea culpa and admit when the Weather Underground set bombs in government buildings they became just like the government they were trying to change? When you use violence to try to stop violence you are just like those you demonize. Unfortunately Ayers was only willing to give a politician’s answer. He had regrets, but they weren’t specific. He had paid a penalty, though he never saw a day in jail. America is a forgiving nation. We understand that people make mistakes and as long as they’re truly sorry we usually give them a pass. I wonder if conservatives would have been willing to move beyond the bombings and actually listen to the substance of what Ayers has to say if only he was willing to admit the bombings were wrong? Unfortunately we’ll never know.

William Ayers Interview