Christian Preaching is Market Driven

When Christian pundits lament the rise of liberal or tolerant views within the faith, they always blame someone other than themselves. Some blame parents. Others blame preachers. This is always amusing to me because neither parents nor preachers cause this slippage from conservative dogma against homosexuality and abortion. It is caused by the unbelievability of an ancient book and the relentless march of cultural change.

For some reason, Christian pundits do not understand the business of Christianity. The business works like this: People in the pews hire preachers. The preachers they choose to pay will inevitably reflect the people who hired them. Those sermons delivered by the preacher were written long before by the people in the pews. 

As the culture has moved through time, those in the pews have become more tolerant of gay people and of women who need abortions. As time continues, we can expect the culture to become increasingly tolerant of people who were born into one gender but changed to another. People in the pews will become more tolerant and those they hire as preachers will preach this same tolerance.

As an outsider to Catholicism, it appears to me something similar goes on there even though it presents itself as a denomination run from Rome. Individual priests who find themselves in parishes they enjoy and who want to stay assigned there want their Bishops to receive good reviews from the locals. So, what the preach and say will invariably please locals. A priest who is passionate against abortion or gay marriage will not be assigned to a parish near Harvard University. 

Christian pundits so often think preaching is standing in front of people and insulting them for their sin. Do that and it's good-bye.