Haunted by Religion

Untold collateral damage has been done in the world and to the witness of the Church whenever the Church, in a moment of hubris, has substituted epistemic humility with absolute certainty. There have been many iterations of this type of hubris throughout Church history, but the single common thread that runs through the medieval Inquisition, the Crusades, and most recently the rise of Christian nationalism, for example, is that the perpetrators all believed with absolute certainty they were doing God’s work.

In a recent study, an astonishing majority—roughly two-thirds among white evangelical Protestants (65%)—qualify as either adherents or sympathizers of Christian nationalism. Moreover, another significant study conducted by Lifeway Research revealed that the Bible only influences one in 10 evangelicals on immigration (10%), while the influence of the local church is a mere 0.2 percent. The study concludes that the secular media, with a 16 percent influence, has more impact on evangelicals on the issue of immigration than the Bible and local church combined. It appears that American evangelicals are more influenced by a cultural and pagan perspective on immigration than one rooted in biblical principles.

The Often-Neglected Drivers of Religious Belief

This data supports Samuel Perry’s argument in Religion for Realists that sociology challenges the prevalent notion that religion primarily centers around personal faith and theological doctrines. Instead, Perry contends that the primary driver of religious beliefs is group identity and group norms. This perspective offers valuable insights into the often-overlooked factors influencing religious belief, both within the US and abroad. By adopting this lens, we can better comprehend the underlying causes of religious beliefs and foster a more nuanced understanding of religious trauma. This knowledge empowers us to reconcile the apparent contradictions that hinder our effective gospel witness to a skeptical post-Christian world and alleviate the grief of those affected by religious trauma.

In my book, A Holy Haunting, I (Sam) present an evangelistic model designed to help identify where individuals fall on the faith spectrum and what barriers they might face in their journey toward faith. I categorize people into three groups based on their proximity to faith: close, far, or somewhere in between. Again, the key emphasis here is a call to be astute in our reading of the situation.

Barriers Inside the Church

A major impediment to faith for the next generation within the church in the US is tied to the witness of the Church and to its complicity in systemic injustices toward often-marginalized groups. Mark Twain captures this sense of disillusionment well in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Yet again, his faith experience was embedded in the South, where the dominant culture’s proximity to the Christian faith can be largely described as close. The alarming question many in the next generation are asking is, “Why is the Church such a mess?”

In the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck faces a moral dilemma after he realizes that the con man he has been working for has sold his friend Jim—a runaway slave from Mississippi—for 40 dollars. Huck is furious and shocked that anyone could subject his friend to captivity again, especially after all the dirty work he and Jim have done for the man!

Yet, as Huck ponders what can be done to save Jim, his conscience continues to bother him. He cannot help but feel guilty about assisting Jim, because he was taught aiding a slave is against the teachings of the Bible. After trying to pray for resolution, Huck writes a letter detailing where Jim is, but then quickly tears it up. He decides he can no longer in good conscience go along with what he has been taught in church. In one of the most poignant monologues in English literature, we find Huck grappling internally with what he inherently knows to be right against what he has been taught. Mark Twain writes:
"I was a-trembling, because I’d got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: 'All right, then, I’ll go to hell.' – and tore it up."

The genius of Twain here is that he shows us how someone who is a Bible-believing Christian can find himself in profound cultural captivity to a system that is completely antithetical to the heart of God and the Word of God. Why is the Church such a mess? In short, many believers today are tragically unaware that one can be a born-again Christian and yet still find themselves in profound cultural captivity to systems that are unjust, demonic, or both.

Samuel Perry contends that the chief driver for religious belief is always sociological and never ideological. However, we caution not to discount the power of ideas too quickly. Issues of faith and belief are far more complex than social science can theorize. The Church today is now facing a sprawling "migrant crisis" of its own making—primarily over ideas—with millions of spiritual refugees who are displaced somewhere between faith and doubt, uncertain if they still believe.

We need to recognize this pressing need for safe harbor for those who have been spiritually displaced, along with an invitation for fellow sojourners to freely explore doubts and questions without repercussions, obligations, or any judgment, and perhaps find their way back home.

Barriers Outside of the Church

Brainwashed, anti-science, and socialized—these words encapsulate the attitudes most urbanites often harbor towards Christians, even if they don’t explicitly express them. Yes, “brainwashed” is a derogatory term that some might find offensive. Perhaps it’s the New Yorker in me, but I prefer to be stabbed in the front rather than be blindsided from behind.

In my overall experience ministering in the Northeast, most who have come to faith were seekers who did not grow up in the Church. On the faith spectrum, their proximity to God was far. Such seekers had prejudices and were somewhat skeptical, but they did not have a list of grievances against the Church. Quite honestly, they didn’t care enough to be disappointed. For those in the Northeast, the major impediments to faith from my experience are not disillusionment, but pride, prejudice, and perhaps indifference.

From conversations across many years, friends within the Ivory Tower and seekers sharing their difficulties taking Christianity seriously at first, stated their main issues arose from it seeming so anti-science. They observed that science was supported by evidence, while faith seemed rooted in archaic superstition. They found it difficult to reconcile their view of faith as mythological and science as empirical. Science and faith were seen as competing, even adversarial, worldviews.

During an Alpha course, one seeker shared that he just always assumed Christians were essentially brainwashed zombies, akin to those in The Walking Dead. He thought Christians, for better or worse, were culturally indoctrinated as a direct consequence of their positionality, just like any other religion in Asia or the Middle East. I pointed out to him there are likely more born-again Christians in the Chinese underground church than in the United States, despite the former’s geographical and cultural position.

This revelation was confounding because he had always assumed Christianity, or religion in general, to be a byproduct of cultural factors—nothing more than social human inventions. Perhaps for the first time, he and many in the room were confronted with a startling possibility: Christianity might be more than just a social construct—it could be true. This is why breaking these Christian stereotypes is one of the greatest missiological mandates of our time. Thus, the primary work of evangelism to a post-Christian culture today is that of breaking the destructive labels surrounding Christianity.

In Christ Alone

Lastly, we should remember that hyper-Zionism predates Christian nationalism. Even before the emergence of MAGA, the apostles collectively lobbied Jesus with a MIGA Campaign—Make Israel Great Again! Honestly, I’m not sure which is more tone-deaf, but it still gives me hope for the future. It suggests that all the shenanigans we’re witnessing today may seem novel but are actually cyclical. Mark Twain was right: History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes. Or perhaps it’s not history that’s cyclical, but rather human nature.

The inconvenient truth is that the early Church was just as messy as ours is today. However, through the power of the Holy Spirit, these tone-deaf witnesses were transformed and became the vessel God used to bring his shalom to the world. The Church has never been perfect—not then, not now, and never will be. It was never meant to be. It will always be a work in progress. Although it may feel bleak at times, I still believe the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church, and that God’s kingdom will prevail. How can I be so sure? Well, because Jesus promised, and if we can be certain of anything, it is his Word.

Representing the Gospel in Mental Wellness: From Performance to Presence to Peace

If the previous sections expose how cultural captivity and misplaced certainty have haunted the Church, the crisis of mental wellness reveals how these same patterns echo in the lives of those searching for faith and belonging. Beneath the surface of Christian nationalism or religious disillusionment lies a more subtle struggle—the exhaustion of performance and the erosion of presence.

For the past decade, I’ve served at the intersection of faith, technology, and diaspora—especially among international students navigating identity, belonging, and purpose in a digital world. Born into a Chinese-American family and immigrating after the first grade, I (Andrew) learned early what it means to cross cultures and live between worlds. Today, I serve students across 50+ campuses, helping design digital ecosystems that empower next-generation leaders to create redemptive solutions—especially in closed-access nations where traditional missions cannot reach.

Every year, nearly 7 million students cross borders to study; more than 1 million come from China alone. They are among the brightest and most connected people on the planet—yet many quietly carry loneliness and anxiety. Half of all international students in US universities screen positive for depression or anxiety. Among Chinese students abroad, nearly 80 percent report depressive symptoms. These are not simply statistics; they are stories of displacement, pressure, and a deep longing for belonging.

In this global diaspora, I see three invisible pressures shaping mental wellness—Performance Pressure, Perfection Projection, and Placelessness.

Performance Pressure drives students to prove their worth in new cultures and online spaces, constantly performing on multiple stages.

Perfection Projection hides behind the social-media mask—“I’m thriving”—while silently unraveling inside. It’s image without intimacy, visibility without vulnerability.

Placelessness aches at the soul level—belonging nowhere, when passport, platform, and purpose all feel temporary. Home becomes more of a hope than a place.

Together, these forces create what I call digital displacement—people connected everywhere but rooted nowhere. The crisis beneath the crisis is not only mental health; it’s the erosion of meaning and belonging.

If every crisis reveals what a culture worships, this one exposes our worship of performance—the belief that our value depends on what we achieve or how many people notice. For international students and young professionals alike, this belief multiplies under family expectations, cultural transitions, visa limits, and algorithmic validation. It’s easy to be well-
known and yet never be known well.

The gospel, however, invites a radical reorientation—from Performance to Presence to Peace. God meets us not in what we do, but in who we are. For those far from home, that truth transforms everything: You don’t have to chase belonging; you can finally rest in it. From that presence flows peace—being fully seen and still fully loved.

When the Church embodies this rhythm, it becomes more than an institution—it becomes family. A home where the spiritually displaced and emotionally weary can find rest. A community where international students, skeptics, and seekers alike discover that they don’t have to perform to belong.

The students we serve aren’t a side ministry—they are both the mission field and the future mission force. They are living proof that God is using the movement of people to move his gospel to the nations.

In a world haunted by religion yet hungry for renewal, this is the witness we must recover: not certainty, but compassion; not dominance, but presence; not performance, but peace.