The historian Will Durant made the plea that when he went to church he dud not want to be asked to leave his critical intelligence in the narthex along with his hat. We are in serious danger of failing to heed Durant. With our attention on those multitude who are flocking to the proclaimers of the gospel (whose presentation is untarnished by a serious grappling with the wisdoms of science, biblical criticism, or the prevailing arts) we are overlooking the fact that we are creating a new mission field: those who drop out of the faith because it appears too simplistic, obscure and anti-intellectual. According to Cohn Morris, the pulpit is one of the few remaining places in our society where serious issues are discussed. It may be that neither the pulpit nor the church lives up to this high calling, and we should not let such a judgment easily slide by.