The Scandal of the Christian Conscience

In the latest issue of the (always worthwhile) magazine, Books & Culture, Ronald Sider identifies and laments what he calls the "Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience" (link).  The essay's claim (and complaint), in a nutshell, is that -- for all their talk -- Evangelical Christians seem to behave and believe just like everyone else:

Scandalous behavior is rapidly destroying American Christianity. By their daily activity, most "Christians" regularly commit treason. With their mouths they claim that Jesus is Lord, but with their actions they demonstrate allegiance to money, sex, and self-fulfillment.

The findings in numerous national polls conducted by highly respected pollsters like The Gallup Organization and The Barna Group are simply shocking. "Gallup and Barna," laments evangelical theologian Michael Horton, "hand us survey after survey demonstrating that evangelical Christians are as likely to embrace lifestyles every bit as hedonistic, materialistic, self-centered, and sexually immoral as the world in general."  Divorce is more common among "born-again" Christians than in the general American population. Only 6 percent of evangelicals tithe. White evangelicals are the most likely people to object to neighbors of another race. Josh McDowell has pointed out that the sexual promiscuity of evangelical youth is only a little less outrageous than that of their nonevangelical peers.

I read this essay while reflecting on the recent conference in San Francisco, "Taking Christian Legal Thought Seriously."  Assuming, as I do, that Sider's compaints about the practices and inconsistencies of American Evangelicals could easily be lodged, with no less force, concerning Catholics in America, I suppose I have to wonder (a) should Christianity be "taken seriously" by outsiders if (it appears to outsiders) to make no difference (obviously, we Christians would want to claim that Christ has "made a difference", even if Christians continue to behave badly); and, more particularly, (b) whether "Catholic Legal Theory" should be taken seriously, given the difficulties many of us experience in explaining exactly how, if at all, it would make a difference.  Thoughts?

Rick