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....

individualistic culture v women

I'm going to make a grand sweeping historical statement here, but in general I believe, in most cultures at most times, women were not expected to be at home by themselves all day everyday looking after several children and the household by themselves. In our western post industrial, go it alone, nuclear family culture, we think the women who struggle with this are suffering with depression, rather than having an entirely appropriate reaction to their situation. But I think children are meant to be brought up by the extended family and the community. One thing that impresses me about chinese culture ( I work at a chinese church) is that the expectation is that grandparents will provide live in help for a few months after the birth of a baby. This comes with restrictions on the activities of the mother that we might chafe against, but recognises I think, that babies are a responsibility that requires support. My belief is that God intended this: a whole loving community to bring up children together, though with the main input from the parents. I think we are too affected by culture in how we do this as western christians. Part of the problem is us, the mums - we need to be less proud, and more willing to accept help.