Not that I've read Christianity Today much lately, but they have historically been the flagship publication of conservative evangelicalism.
No more.
https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2020/july/andy-stanley-north-point-church-reopening-2021.html
They are now using the same advocacy tactics as the New York Times.
A misleading headline, meant to shape your view, has no corroboration to the actual facts in the article.
Here's the deets.
Headline: "More Pastors Agree with Andy Stanley: No Worship Services until 2021"
In the article: "In a Barna Group survey conducted over the past week, 5 percent of pastors said they didn’t expect to reopen this year. Just two months ago, none of the respondents were thinking it would be long."
Analysis: Okay. I guess going from 0% to 5% is "more," technically. But it's a bit obvious that CT with its headline is seeking to boost that number higher than 5%, or they wouldn't make a headline out of going from 0 to 5%.
This is grossly misguided, both to
- set up Stanley as a leader and figurehead of conservative pastors, which he is NOT
- and to seek to peer pressure (or "cool-shame") pastors into following a popular "pastor" to close out of fear of the virus.
And they quote Stanley as saying that focusing on getting back to in-person worship is "insider-focused." That's weird. It matters to God, the Bible says, that church leaders provide their people an in-person worship experience (Hebrews 10:24-25), for their own souls. It's the on-line option that tends more to the consumer and insider in us all.
I'm in thorough agreement with a Facebook acquaintance, that Christianity Today is now "Christianity Astray." Still some important news reported there, but their editorial choices are highly questionable.
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