Every generation has its revolution, its moment of clarity in the ever evolving values of what compromises 'Christianity'. Whether it be the massive outreach and impact of mega-churches or new ways of thinking about our faith (open theism), each generation somehow seems to find its own way of bridging their faith with the culture. I believe much of my generation (and younger) could be said to be in what I term, "Vulgar Christianity".

Most of my friends — 40ish and younger — grew up in the long standing traditions of a fundamentalist household (which raises kids with little ability to make wise decicions, or decisions at all, thus many of my friends went through long rebillious periods; some return to a version of their faith, some never come back). In an effort to feel connected to the world at large while also maintaining a set of distinct beliefs from those that we grew up with (yet keeping the fundamentals of the Christian faith) I feel our generation has come into a form of what i call, vulgar Christianity.

By vulgar, I mean the simplest defintion of the word vulgarity: "Something, such as an act or expression, that offends good taste or propriety." The object of our offense is our old traditions. We openly drink, curse and talk about things that were entirely taboo to generations before us. We watch Rated-R movies. We listen to 'secular' music. Sex. Marrage. Children. Life and all it's problems; things many of our fundamentalist counterparts would consider vulgar (and wholly un-Christian). We see the need for honesty in what is wrong in our lives and the world, to be a faith that has action and not merely words. We care about the people outside our walls, not merely our own theological purity. We crave impact and meaning but find it in everything around us, not merely a watered down, "safe" version of life for the sake of Christian chastity.

Yet we don't mesh with our own culture's embrace of humanistic ideals and hostility of faith. We don't condone blind allegiance to any political party. We don't adhere to a grocery cart of beliefs that make us feel comfortable (at the moment). We find the abscence of faith or belief empty and disappointing. We care about people and our world and environment, but never at the cost of what it means to worship God over his creation, and man's special place in that world. We don't care to embrace the notion of a 'private faith' because we're unashamed of what we believe. We crave monogamy, eschew and abhore promiscuity. We detest hypocrits, but don't expect the impossible (understand that hypocrisy is a human trait not merely one cast upon Christians).

We fit with neither the distorted view that the world puts upon Christians nor the distorted view that traditional Christianity put upon the world. We are vulgar. Brash. Coarse. Gross. Dirty. Naughty. Obscene. We fucking love Jesus.