Why Have Christians Not Had the Influence in the Culture to Which They Have Aspired?

"In terms of the cultural economy...Christians in America today have institutional strength and vitality in the lower and peripheral areas of cultural production...the main reason why Christian believers today (from various communities) have not had the influence in the culture to which they have aspired is not that they don't believe enough, or try hard enough, or care enough, or think Christianly enough, or have the right worldview, but rather because they have been absent from the areas in which the greatest influence in the culture is exerted. The culture-producing institutions of historical Christianity are largely marginalized in the economy of culture formation in North America. Its cultural capital is greatest where leverage in the larger culture is weakest."

- from To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, & Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World by James Davidson Hunter, 89.