Conversation from Searching for Home between Hannah and Patrick as they explore the Mediterranean island of Cyprus:

They strolled among the rubble-strewn ruins of the forum where the apostle Paul was reputed to have preached.

Hannah said, “I used to tell secular friends that my family is seriously Christian.”

“Which begs the question, ‘What’s a non-serious Christian?’”

“Somebody who’s Christian only as long as the culture is.”

Patrick glanced at the ruins around them, mighty and glorious at one time. “Did you know that my house is in Carthage?”

“I thought you lived in Tunis.”

“Carthage is a suburb of Tunis. A lot of the embassy people live there and commute to the downtown.”

“You mean the Carthage that the Romans destroyed after the Punic Wars? Where Augustine lived?”

“Same one. It’s been Muslim for well over a millennia now. Perhaps the people weren’t seriously Christian enough. Most of them converted within a few centuries of the Muslim conquest.”

The late Lesslie Newbigin, in his book, Foolishness to the Greeks; The Gospel and Western Culture, suggested that Western Christians approach their society with the realization that it is as pagan as the one surrounding first century Christians. Indeed, he said, this current paganism is more resistant to Christianity than a mere secular society. It is born out of the rejection of Christianity.

So do we convert to paganism or are we serious Christians?