While Brooks was critical of Christians who he said erect “walls” to separate themselves from the secular world. He applauded authentic Christian joy, which he said could build a “ramp” to the secular world.
The Bible tells Christians to “be ye separate”. We are to be in the world, but not of the world. The world is doing its best to make it impossible to be Christian and in the world, in as far as earning a living, educating your children, and the necessitites. They are forcing Christians to be ever more separate from the world, by making the world so hostile to Christianity. This may not be completely a bad thing, at least in the US and western nations, where Christians have become so worldly that we need a good winnowing, to separate the wheat from the chaff.