Throw me in the lion's den

I've been reading Church History in Plain Language by Bruce L. Shelley. Most people know about martyrs, the early Christians who were persecuted, even put to death, by governing authorities because of the threat they posed to the established pagan way of life. Christians were known as saints, "holy ones", but the root of the word meaning saint is "different." Christians were different. The "holy ones" upset the Greek and Roman way of life by refusing to worship their idols or bow down to their gods and goddesses. This makes me wonder how all of this affects, and is reflected in, our society. What or who are the modern idols? Who are the perceived gods and goddesses of our day? Call me what you will, but I see so many people today making idols of The Beatles. Don't get me wrong, I love music, and I think those four guys from Liverpool were very innovative musically, but I'm not going to go buy everything with their image on it, or cover my walls with their pictures. And for my next subject, I will choose Oprah Winfrey. I believe it was she who started the whole idea of the "inner goddess", and it is she who persistently tells us how important it is to find our "spiritual identity", without ever defining that term. According to O, your spiritual identity is whatever makes you feel good, whatever makes you feel "connected." I ask, "connected" to what? To my lava lamp???
The early Christians also refused to be spectators of the bloody gladiator games. As a society today, we mercifully don't watch people die for entertainment, but many watch with glee as people hurt and yell, and sometimes physically assault, other people, spurred on by Jerry Springer and Maury Povitch. Just as disturbing is the popularity of watching dysfunctional families fighting, or people singing and dancing, while "experts" are sitting there throwing verbal javelins and swords at them.
We who are the "holy ones", the saints, God's chosen people, need to be different.