The war is everywhere

Let's just look at the headlines on the Religion News Network this fine day.

Pope Francis to Jews: We're all under attack now.

Embattled Evangelicals: War on Religion is aimed at us.

In lesser news: Church choirs are dying

Religion loses clout: Why many say that's a bad thing

And my pick for strangest of the day: On Supreme Court docket, beards, church signs and Middle East peace

Wow. And to think there was a time when religion was, uh, positive reinforcement.

I want to refer to two of the stories. The top one will do. The Religion News Network reports that Francis met with a delegation of 40 Jewish leaders on Sept. 17 to mark Rosh Hashanah. The Pope condemned militant attacks on Christians in the Middle East, comparing the persecution to attacks on the Jews.

Ronald S. Lauder, who was in attendance, said, "Francis told us privately that he believes we are in World War III, but unlike the first world wars, instead of happening all at once, this war is coming in stages."

I have no idea about the validity of the statement. I have no idea about what is going on in the world. But I have some idea about what is going on in this country, and in this country I believe we're seeing a complete apathy about what is going on in the world.

We're bombing Syrian targets. We're bombing Iraq targets.

We've become so isolated in our every day lives that we're not reacting to what is going on. We're just not.

As far as evangelicals are concerned, and I count myself among them though I am a pastor in a mainline denomination, a 2014 survey shows that the nones (those who have no religion) are at 19 percent now, while evangelicals are at 20 percent.

Robert P. Jones, CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute, said Evangelicals "are on the losing side of the culture wars such as gay marriage. And they see that their share (of society) is shrinking and aging, adding to their sense of being embattled. They can no longer say confidently they speak for all people of faith."

Where exactly does all this leave us? I would say a great deal from the ideal of Jesus.

My questions for today are this: Does the sermon on the mount still resonate today in light of all I've written? Does love thy enemy seem reasonable today? Can we still count on our God winning the battle?

The answer to those questions, I believe, will answer where you are in the "war on religion."