On Oct. 1, 2012, Rev. Gary Hall became dean of the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. He wasted no time in entering the political fray, making speeches about gun violence (criticizing the NRA, of course) and homosexual rights. Hall said that, before he was appointed, church officials told him of their “desire to have the pulpit once again be a place where the issues of the day were addressed.” Hall agreed, and wants to “use the cathedral’s symbolic presence in American culture effectively.”

But it wasn’t long before he seemed to contradict himself. Hall responded to a question about “three things that will be obsolete in 10 years” by pointing to the church: “Institutions will be defined in another way. The issues that defined institutions are no longer issues.” Newsbusters’ Tim Graham observed, “We know that liberals try to offer the cartoonish argument that conservatives should not be granted positions in government because they don’t believe in government. By that statement, why would you offer the job of Dean of Washington’s stately National Cathedral to a minister who believes the church as an institution is obsolete?”

Hall added, “People want to explore God in their lives but they look at the churches and synagogues and say, ‘This is not where I want to explore these issues.’” Perhaps that’s the case because pulpits like his choose to redefine God, Scripture and religion in the image of leftism, instead of looking to what Scripture teaches about life and learning from it. The liberal church has indeed nearly become obsolete because of its own false teaching. That’s just one reason why it’s critical for conservative Christians to engage the culture. There is an opening, and culture is the foundation for every other aspect of public life.