When The Shift Hits The Fan (Part 1)

Back when Revolution Church was first launching I wrote a post for the website that garnered a lot of attention (both good and bad). In the post I explored the sociological, philosophical, and theological context which necessitated a new church plant like Revolution. The post was removed from the web site because it created some controversy for me in the context I was working in. But I thought it seemed like a good time to revisit some of those subjects. So here is the first part of an expanded version of that original essay.

What is the so-called Culture Shift?

Cultures shift and change all the time. It is part of their nature as existing within the passage of time. Things change. Part of the reason things change is because of the nature of men to think, create, work, and live all of which requires from them variations and changes.[1] The major changes in American life happened rather rapidly beginning with The Immigration and Nationalization Act of 1965.

This Act opened the door to more of an Asian representation among the growing immigration to the U.S. Prior to 1965 this was not possible, largely because of the antagonism towards Asians, which had been going on since the 1880s, and because of the Immigration Act of 1924. But now, suddenly, there was an influx of Asian immigrants that brought with them their various cultures. What the great Eastern Immigration brought with it was nothing less than an entirely new worldview, one that while being foreign to Westerners was also appealing to their individualistic ideals.

David Wells, quoting Gordon Melton, notes, “[The 1965 Immigration Act] ‘contributed directly to the massive expansion’ in America’s religious diversity ‘and is even now completely altering the overall shape and structure of the American religious community.’”[2] A cadre of new religions were being introduced to American life at this point, largely Eastern in their belief and orientation (including Pantheism, Hinduism, and Buddhism). Much in these religions was found to be appealing by Americans, who had established, almost from the beginning, a belief in the autonomous individual and his right to the pursuit of life, liberty, and pleasure. So Wells again states:

Western preoccupation with the self and with what is therapeutic leads naturally into a disposition that is amenable to Eastern ideas, and Western moral disorder makes Islam look like a haven of moral sanity (except, of course, on its radical and violent fringe). For these and other reasons, these religions which were once “foreign” and strange are now settling in America.[3]

This new-found appreciation for and attraction to Eastern religions is enough to constitute a culture shift at the larger national level. That being said, however, it was not the end of the shift, and that is what makes this particular national change so important.

At the same time that religious diversity was growing a new philosophical trend and worldview was being promoted in the West. It had been brewing for centuries and was increasing in popular appeal. Today we refer to it as “Postmodernism.”