The Christian in a Changing World--A Religious Minority?

Buckle up, because this is going to be a fairly liberal post. 

It is true that the world around us is changing rapidly. And while I do agree with what some of what the author of "The Christian in a Changing World" says, I don't know if Christianity is as small of a minority as Hans Rookmaaker makes it out to be. According to NPR's website, there are currently 2.2 billion Christians in the entire world, making it the most populous religion in the current world. However, it is likely that Christianity as a religion is declining in popularity in America, for which I personally believe there are several reasons, all branching from one general idea:

Intolerance. I can't even name or number all of the different intolerances that I have personally experienced, most in a conservative Christian community. As some of you may have noticed, in such communities persons who don't fit inside the "perfect Christian" stereotype aren't always treated with the warmest welcome (See student handbook for details). For example, I have received many a lewd comment from members of the "Christian" community about my appearance and what it "makes me look like" because the majority of my hair is one quarter of an inch long, and used to be bright red. In this community, short hair on women has a pretty negative connotation, especially if it's "exotic" colors.

So, based off of that, we can take the supposedly negative assumption about my short hair and determine that people of the LGBT+ community (or people who seem to fit an LGBT+ stereotype) are not always held in the highest regards in any Christian community. For example, a friend of mine from high school was exorcised by his pastor because his pastor thought that he could "remove his homosexual demons" and "purify his unclean soul." In the end, all he did was inspire the removal of my friend's family from Christianity and caused severe psychological distress. They now refuse to set foot in a church.

Another type of intolerance that I have witnessed from Christian communities is religious intolerance. While I was raised Methodist, I have extended family members of several religions and sects of religions: I have cousins who are Muslim, cousins who are Mormon, and several family members who are Catholic. My Muslim cousins have never had an issue with the other cousins. However, the family members whose religions are based on Christianity love to raise hell at family gatherings about the fact that my dad's (formerly agnostic) cousin converted to Islam upon marrying his Middle Eastern wife. It's a mess.

I could go on (and on and on and on), but overall my message is this: I don't believe that Christians should be surprised that popularity in our religion in America is declining. The fact that strict Christianity does everything it can to exclude the "outsiders" and include only rich white people doesn't allow for a huge demographic of believers. Jesus hung out with the outsiders that nobody liked: the tax collectors, lowly fishermen, and those excluded from society because of illness. Who would that be today? Today, it would be people of racial minorities, the disabled, those in the LGBT+ community, IRS agents, etc. So why aren't we extending the hand of love and acceptance to these people?