The Death of Diversity Signals the Rise of the Multi-ethnic Church

On August 16, 2007, Daniel Henninger published an article in the Wall Street Journal discussing the findings of an extensive study on the impact and effects of diversity, one conducted by Professor Robert Putnam (Harvard) and recently published in a journal called Scandinavian Political Studies. Here's an excerpt ...

"The diversity ideologues ruined a good word and, properly understood, a decent notion. What's needed now is for a younger black, brown or polka-dot writer to recast the idea in a way that restores the worth and utility of assimilation. Somebody had better do it soon; the first chart offered in the Putnam study depicts inexorably rising rates of immigration in many nations. The idea that the U.S. can wave into effect a 10-year "time out" on immigration flows is as likely as King Canute commanding the tides to recede. Here, too, Robert Putnam has a possible assimilation model. Hold onto your hat. It's Christian evangelical megachurches. 'In many large evangelical congregations,' he writes, 'the participants constituted the largest thoroughly integrated gatherings we have ever witnessed.' This, too, is an inconvenient truth. They do it with low entry barriers to the church and by offering lots of little groups to join inside the larger 'shared identity' of the church. A Harvard prof finds good in evangelical megachurches. Send this man a suit of body armor!"

While there is some internet chatter re. the reporting of these findings, it should not at all be surprising to those of us who believe that apart from Jesus Christ and the local church, "beloved community" cannot otherwise be achieved. Read the entire Henniger article as published in the Wall St. Journal on August 16, 2007 and let me know what you think.