Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth with the Colson Center on Johnstone Street.
Well, according to the Catholic News Agency, over 10,000 people were baptized in France on Easter. It's a 45% jump over last year, and it's especially notable given France's historically skeptical and secular society. That report's in line with others from other parts of Europe as well. where especially men seem to be returning to a faith that was until now largely rejected. Even in the US, there's a renewed interest, again largely among young men, traditional religion.
For example, Eastern Orthodoxy.
Now, some are calling this a quote-unquote quiet revival without the kind of fanfare often associated with revivalism. Clint Scrivener and Justin Brierly in the UK and Gavin Ortlin in the US have all been carefully chronicling the subtle growth. And they all seem to agree that something is happening, though it's not clear whether it's genuine revival or just part of a wider vibe shift as the cultural pendulum swings away from an overplayed woke moment. Twenty years ago, there was a vibe of new atheism led by Chris Hitchen, Sam Harris, and Richard Dawkins. And at the same time, there was a new Calvinism ushered in by Tim Keller, John Piper, and the Gospel Coalition.
As different as these movements were, they provided a kind of intellectual structure for a world that was unhinged by nine eleven. and by the threats of global terrorism. It's not unlike what we saw with the Reagan Revolution of the 1980s, which came in the wake of the hippie age, Vietnam, Watergate, and the decadence of the Mi Decade. In reaction, millions of Americans turned to faith, family, and freedom, and the newly minted religious right became quite a force to be reckoned with. Before that, it was the greatest generation after surviving the Great Depression in World War II that made its own rightward shift.
Having grown up with scarcity and bloodshed, and at the beginning of the Cold War with its nuclear potential, millions embraced the grandfatherly former General Eisenhower for President. And then turned out in droves to hear a preacher from North Carolina by the name of Billy Graham talk about saving grace.
Now, there's more to all of this history than just that, but it's clear that humans have a tendency to react to social and cultural chaos by looking back, looking back at things that were lost, just as humans have a tendency to be captured by new dangerous ideas. While any rejection of the foolishness of the last decade is certainly welcome, Indulging nostalgia. is really no more of a strategy than claiming progress. What matters in the end is what is true.
Now clearly many today are just simply sick of being told that they're horrible people for thinking men should stay out of women's sports and restrooms and that everything about the West is evil and oppressive.
However, we have to do more than just reject bad ideas. We have to know and embrace and even love those ideas that are true and good. And then we have to build on those ideas. A new culture has to be cultivated. if this so-called vibe shift we see today is to be sustained.
In Matthew 13, Jesus told the parable of the sower. And some of the seed the sower sowed fell on rocky ground. With a quick flash of life, the plants then died since they had no depth. This is a parable that tells us what is true about both people and about civilizations. The church in this moment has to dig deep.
We have to cultivate the soil of belief. This moment is to be more than just a flash in the pan. We have to do more than just fight what's wrong. We have to hold up and build on what's true and good and right. New conversions to Christ are always welcome, and the current surge of opportunity should drive us all to reach out even more.
And to welcome more into the church. In the recent past, that's taken the form of more breadth than depth. clearly what people want and what they need. Is more. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street with Breakpoint.
Today's Breakpoint was co-authored by Dr. Timothy Padgett. If you're a fan of Breakpoint, leave us a review wherever you download your podcast. And you can find a print version of today's commentary by going to breakpoint.org. What is a human being worth?
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