Faith still relevant in the US?

Everywhere you turn these days, there is someone claiming their own little corner of the "truth." People are stumbling over themselves to find some sort of meaning in their lives, through politics, religion, "unique" lifestyles, whatever seems to be right for them. I haven't noticed many more people finding fulfillment, however, as a matter of fact I'd say there are more folks with questions than answers these days...A few generations ago, we were basically a Christian community, which I am not saying was inherently a good or bad thing, it is just a fact of our history. We lived, worked and played in an environment that was vastly different than today, but the foundation of society was pretty much set that faith was a matter of course and not so much choice. If nothing else, it was a safe place to exist (or return to if we ventured too far outside that safety for comfort). With the advent of modern communications like television, mobile phones, email, blogs, etc, we now have the opportunity to ignore community as a means not only of existence but in terms of our life choices. The Christian community has been pretty satisfied to sit this one out, embracing technology only to the point of some nutcases on higher cable channels and trying to find the most embarrasing personalities out there to represent Christianity to the world. I can honestly say that until people find faith, whatever faith we are talking about be it Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, whatever, until they find that faith to be RELEVANT to their daily lives then they will not have any interest.

I can remember when I saw my first fax come out of the machine, rolling up into a little tube of thermal paper and being so amazed at how technology was moving forward. First the microwave, and now this! I could not imagine anything more astounding-no more need to overnight letters or wait for mailed information to appear, we could do it at the push of a button. Today, the fax is nearly extinct, we are even removing fax numbers from business cards. Kids today complain about using email because it is too slow, if it is not IM then they are wasting their time. In this new world, there is no doubt that faith has not kept pace, but is there even a chance for it to become relevant in anyone's life today?

You may have guessed that I am a Christian (don't hang up!), and this blog is not about making someone feel guilty enough to want to be one, too, or about scaring people into joining a church before they go to hell, but it is about asking hard questions that have multiple defensible answers on many different levels. I am convinced that faith is relevant in life today, and in many ways is needed more than ever before to maintain some sort of sanity with everything coming at us so fast. What needs to happen is an open discussion with no personal attacks, because late at night when everything else is distant, these questions sooner or later come up for everyone.

Is there a God? Who was that Jesus guy? If all that stuff He said is true (I only capitalized the He because I believe its true and I choose to show respect that way, not because of some secret code going on, you can choose to believe what you want), then learning more about His life and teachings has to be the most RELEVANT thing in my life. If not, then this whole deal is the biggest scam of all of history. How does my answer to that affect my stance on politics, treating other people, my lifestyle, what I consider to be right and wrong? Regardless of your position, the answer to those questions (and more to come), have to be the most RELEVANT discussion in America today.