It’s funny, I heard this exact same issue with church motives, within the last meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention.
See, there were a few controversial issues up for a vote.
Rumor was that a frequent refrain in the halls and side conversation was: “the world is watching us.”
Right? I mean, good grief.
In these matters, C.S. Lewis has it completely correct.
The church should not care at all what the world is doing. The church should care that “God is watching.”
The most insane part of this is that it has happened again and again through the generations on every topic under the sun.
Nations use the influence of the church to further their own motives…
The church uses the voice of the nations to water down the gospel (trying to be more tenable)…
And most people use whichever one suits their interests best at the time…
Ooof.
The problem with most things is that people are involved, honestly.
A rather different tone than that embodied in “Prosper, O Lord, our righteous cause,” in that the petitioner is in as much need of divine grace as any enemy whose cause might be less “righteous.” Lewis concluded this section of his letter by saying flatly, “I see no hope for the Church of England if it allows itself to become just an echo for the press”—or the government. The Church must bear witness to the Christian Gospel in complete independence of any patriotic imperatives.
-Alan Jacobs, The Year Of Our Lord 1943 (Amazon)