Christians and culture

I have been awol due to family sickness - 7 week old with a cold worst part. A friend of mine has blogged about attempts to masculinise Christianity to make it more attractive to men http://www.loveasunnyday.blogspot.com/. She wonders why we keep looking at peripheral issues as Christians rather than get to the heart of the gospel. I'm quite frustrated at the moment with Christians (but should point out that perhaps my viewpoint is skewed due to living in the sleep deprivation torture of having a young baby). So often as Christians we seem to want to talk about not being captured by culture but this is usually a rallying call for conservatism. We only selectively apply this principle. While we might speak out about issues such as abortion, in other ways we are quite captive to our culture - for instance we are materialistic and status oriented. I have been thinking about our Christian response to elections (watching West Wing and current Australian climate). It seems to me that many Christians vote according to what a government will do for them, or vote according to unexamined loyalties inherited from their parents - very few approach it with a clear sighted attempt at WWJVF (who would Jesus vote for). Why aren't Christians viewed as being at the forefront of the critique of our culture? I have been reading Maggie Alderson's columns recently for the Sydney Morning Herald - her columns usually expound on fashion , but she decided this month to become a Compacter - that is not to buy anything new for a month except undies, food, toiletries and the like. This stand against consumerism is quite radical for a fashion journalist - this is the kind of statement we as Christians should be making - but we aren't, as a whole. When will the church as a whole be truly counter cultural - rather than just conservative? Of course I have to start with me....