If you want to know one reason why Christianity has waned in this country and is even treated with scorn, watch the movie, The Help, based on Kathryn Stockett’s book of the same name. I read the book, then saw the movie. In both I was struck by how supposedly good Christians couldn’t see the harm in the racism they were exhibiting. (Chuck Colson has a good review of the movie in The Christian Post.)  The past record of many who call themselves Christians has created bad vibes.

Of course, some Christians did oppose racism before and during the civil rights movement. Indeed, church leaders practically birthed it, ministers like Martin Luther King, Jr, for example.

The Help actually shows Christianity in a favorable light—from the viewpoint of the black population in the movie. Biblical teachings give courage to one black maid to tell what she knows and feels to the white woman who interviews her.

Christianity which values the vulnerable has been with us since Jesus sat with the despised Samaritan prostitute at the well. We, whether Christian, atheist, or other, sometimes forget that.