According to longtime market researcher George Barna, this election season is marked by a sharp drop in voter enthusiasm. Only about 51% of churchgoers plan to vote next week. In addition, many pastors have distanced themselves from the election, avoiding the subject of voting and other key issues altogether.

This is tragic for American Christianity.

In the past few years, I have stumbled across many non-Christians on social media who have voiced concerns about issues in our society, such as inflation, the border crisis, child sex trafficking, loss of freedom, transgenderism, etc. Many of them have demonstrated a strong sense of morality and justice. This didn’t surprise me because as Paul said in Romans 1, God has put the sense of right and wrong in every human’s heart.

What shocked me is the indifference Barna’s research has revealed among many Christians.

I grew up as an atheist in a tyrannical society, and later became a follower of Christ after immigrating to the U.S. I can testify that my born-again experience has heightened and sensitized the sense of morality in me, not the other way around.

The contrast between nonbelievers’ overt concern about the problems in our society and believers’ apathy toward them created an uncomfortable sensation — the same feeling I had when I first read the story of the Good Samaritan. In the story, the self-righteous priest and Levite passed by the robbed traveler while the hated Samaritan – the moral inferior — showed mercy to him. The irony is appalling.

I wonder what has happened to American Christianity that half of God’s children choose to be the “priest” and the “Levite” in today’s Good Samaritan story. I know there must be multiple explanations. Here, I’d like to offer a perspective based on my cultural background.

Reciprocity As Gratitude

In the Chinese culture — as in the other Eastern cultures and the biblical one of Jesus’s day —reciprocity is the pinnacle position in society. If a person shows kindness to me, I must reciprocate to show my gratitude. When you accept the truth of Jesus’s sacrifice, you simultaneously affirm two things: Jesus’s death on your behalf and your ongoing endeavors to please the One who has done such an amazing thing for you for the rest of your life. In other words, in the Eastern culture – I suppose the biblical culture as well — the necessity of sanctification is presupposed, being part and parcel of the salvation package.

When this notion is applied to Scripture, naturally, you will pay attention to passages where God gives specific instructions about how you should live as His follower.

In contrast, the concept of reciprocity is nonessential in the American culture. It’s literally nonexistent on the West Coast, where I live. If you choose to be nice to me — well, thank you, but I have no obligation to reciprocate. Thus, Scriptures that tell us about things like what God has done for us, how much He loves us, eternal life, and joy — in conformity with the culture – speak to us. Though there are plenty of passages instructing how to live as followers of Christ, it’s possible that our minds go blank after reading them.

Because we lack the cultural practice of reciprocity, the doctrine of justification by faith and its derivations are taught and viewed in isolation. Knowing what Jesus has done for us is enough; we think it’s unnecessary for us to do anything after that. In fact, pastors are often hesitant to preach the plain meaning of the passages denoting our obligations as followers of Christ, for fear of being accused of preaching justification by “works.” As a result, many Christians become anemic on biblical teachings about morality and our responsibility.

Neo-Gnostics

On top of that, many evangelical churches have made preaching the Gospel and getting people saved the chief priority. Even charity work is given with the goal of getting people saved, and rightly so. However, it is done at the expense of ignoring other teachings in the Bible. All this has created an impression, especially to new believers, that this life has no significance, and what matters is our eternal life after death. Things belonging to this world will pass away, so we need not care about them. What we need to do is to cultivate our spirituality, getting ready for our next spiritual journey. We are active in various church activities, Bible studies, devotions, and fellowship to strengthen our spirituality and position ourselves heavenward.

Such a view, emphasizing spiritual matters and minimizing material substance, is not new. It is a twenty-first century repackaging of the Gnosticism from the first and second centuries. The Church fathers fiercely battled this heresy. Unfortunately, in recent decades, the American Church has inadvertently revived this ancient heretical practice. More than one generation of American Christians have been indoctrinated by neo-Gnosticism.

For this reason, we feel quite comfortable in showing indifference to the suffering in the world. The new Gnosticism has poisoned the Church and dulled our sense of morality and our responsibilities toward both God and the rest of the world. Consequently, when given the opportunity to take a moral action by voting for our values, 49% of Christians lack the moral conviction and impetus to do so.

Today a friend announced on social media that she had voted:

There are many points that sealed my vote, but this one alone could have done it: Not one precious trafficked child was worth the open border executive orders that fostered a freakishly sick environment where thousands of children go missing, and where criminals are released into the country – free to commit violent & other crimes.

A person possessing even a limited sense of morality would vote in this election.

It is shocking that a nonbeliever can be the Good Samaritan now, while despised by the 49% of “spirit-filled” followers of Christ who are choosing to sit this election out.

It’s ironic that those who are familiar with the Good Samaritan story would choose to play the role that Jesus condemned. This double irony explicitly demonstrates the deformity from which American Christianity currently suffers.

Chenyuan Snider was raised in Communist China and majored in Chinese language and literature in college. After immigrating to the U.S. and studying at Assemblies of God Theological Seminary and Duke Divinity School, she became a professor at Christian colleges and seminary. She and her husband live in northern California and have two grown children.