Candy-a**ed Christianity' must end, author declares

In author Larry Alex Taunton's opinion, evangelical Christians "have confused Christ’s command to love others with being likable" as "they endeavor to be, above all else, inoffensive and polite" toward a strident opposing culture that celebrates abortion, spreads a pro-LGBT agenda and calls "evil good and good evil” (Isaiah 5:20).

Taunton — who penned "The Faith of Christopher Hitchens" in 2016 — observed that such "doctrinal malpractice has given us a generation of men who are what [C.S.] Lewis called 'men without chests,'” he noted in a Fox News op-ed Sunday.

To flavor his point of view, Taunton shared a tidbit about his father, a career soldier.

His dad "had a phrase he liked to employ whenever he saw a man behave in a manner that was less than manly. He would say something like, 'That was candy-assed.' " While Taunton acknowledged his father "didn’t invent the idiom," others "knew exactly what he was talking about" when he employed the phrase.

"The term fits the kind of Christianity that has infected the church and sapped it of its vitality and strength," Taunton continued. "The expression might offend the sensibilities of some of my readers to which I can only say, it might fit you."

More from Taunton:

I urge you instead to be offended by the way our God’s name is blasphemed in our country every day; by the 54 million children murdered in the holocaust of abortion since 1973; by the sordid sexual agenda that is eroding the very fabric of Western civilization; by the fact that Christians are dying for their faith, largely at the hands of Muslims, at a rate of 100,000 per year; and, most of all, by the reality that these things are being ignored, trivialized, or celebrated. These are things that offend me deeply, and I hope they offend you, too. Righteous anger has a place within the Christian life. Tap into it. In the words of Ephesians 4:26, “Be angry and do not sin.”

Given that evangelicals "comprise a hefty 26 percent of the U.S. population," Taunton said that a "Great Awakening in America" would occur "if they were to find their voices, their courage, and were to dispense with candy-assed Christianity."

But he added that such a movement would require "courage," since "the forces opposing us seem determined to burn this country to the ground."

"When Jesus said to turn the other cheek, he did not mean to turn a blind eye," Taunton concluded. "The highest calling of a Christian is not to be civil; it is to be salt and light."

You can read Taunton's complete op-ed here.