A rather obscure but large and important study conducted by the Swiss government revealed some astonishing facts with regard to the generational transmission of faith and religious values. In short, the study reveals that “It is the religious practice of the father of the family that, above all, determines the future attendance at or absence from church of the children."

There is a great deal of consternation and, I might add, confusion over the nature and impact of postmodernism. Many Christians immediately assume that all things postmodern are the source of pernicious moral relativism and that postmodernism is sure to destroy all truth. However, might postmodernism serve as an ally to Christian faith?

A friend of mine was recently summoned to the human resources department at his place of employment and informed that he was being laid off due to budgetary constraints. This was both unexpected and in no way reflective of his three years of service. He had been, by all accounts, a good employee. Shocked and disappointed, he returned to his office, where a security guard was waiting to retrieve his keys, ID card, and so forth. His office phone was blocked, e-mail shut off, and he was immediately escorted from the premises. Sounds like standard operating procedure among large companies, right? Except my friend wasn’t working for a large company—he was working for a church! In fact, he worked in the facilities department of a very large church.

His account of how this process was handled deeply troubled me. For one, what kind of church has a human resources department?

In my last commentary I stirred controversy by suggesting that we were losing our sense of duty and that this was reflected in a growing disdain for or indifference to self-sacrificial service, especially related to military service. Well, I want to continue to stir this pot, not because it gives me pleasure but because we’re beginning to scratch the surface of a significant problem that is adversely affecting our culture and, by extension, the church.

Today, we live in a culture in which men (in particular) are no longer encouraged to “do their duty,” to serve something greater than themselves and certainly never at risk to themselves. So many today are so self-indulgent that to serve one’s country through military service is thought to be foolish—a task due only to the poor and uneducated among us, those poor souls who either can’t afford or lack the academic merits to go to college. This kind of elitism is alive and well in this country, especially among the more liberal who are all too happy to have someone else's son or daughter defend their freedom. My wife and I have encountered it frequently, however I was shocked to encounter it from other Christians!

In my last commentary I wrote about the tragic death of Phoebe Prince, the 15-year-old Massachusetts girl who hanged herself after months of relentless and cruel bullying. In that article, I addressed the mass indifference to Phoebe’s persecution, in which no one appeared willing to come to her defense or stand in opposition to her tormentors. I referred to this as the “cowardice of noncompassion.” Recently, I have encountered another kind of cowardice of noncompassion within the church, which hinders the church’s mission and undermines our witness in the world.