Christians across America struggle daily with the inherent problems of faith. The path of the Christian believer is not an easy one to tread, not least because there are so many elements to today’s world that stand as sources of doubt for any Christian. After all, if nothing else a core, fundamental belief of Christians is that this world is governed by a God who is all powerful and benevolent. Why then, a Christian must ask, is the world in such a terrible state? If God is truly responsible for all natural events in the world, then why would the Christian God choose to send such an earthquake to Haiti? Why would He hit southeast Asia with such a devastating tsunami? These kinds of questions must plague modern-day Christians, as the presence of information creates newer and stronger doubts.
Indeed, holding faith, Christian or otherwise, is likely harder in today’s world than it has ever been before. Every day, Christians are confronted with facts and viewpoints that would seem to challenge their own, and Christians must do one of three things in the face of these conflicting opinions: they must learn to stand strong yet calmly silent; they must attempt to fight back with their opinions; or they must lose that faith which makes them Christian. A terrible choice, it seems, for Christians for whom their Christianity is a fundamental part of life.
So far, as could only be expected, most Christians have responded with that anger, that fear, and that confrontational attitude under which they seek to attack their opponent. Take the offensive, and one will never have to suffer the slings and arrows of a more calm, defensive position; or at least, so goes the underlying theory of many prominent Christian advocates. But this type of attitude often causes significantly more harm than it does good. After all, attacking someone else’s beliefs, accusing them of holding false ideals and opinions, will never convince them to change. A person, Christian or otherwise, will simply get tremendously defensive, and will become reluctant to listen to what is actually being said. Attacks are not the answer, especially because a Christian response that involves irrational demagoguery, designed to simply strike back at opponents, paints a picture of the Christian population which is entirely negative. In this modern world, where faith becomes a rarer and rarer quality, Christians cannot afford to alienate those with the potential to have faith by presenting such an incisive, angry front to the world.
Perhaps no modern day American commentator better represents the effect of this incisive rhetoric than Glenn Beck. Beck is perhaps better known for his conservative, Republican-centric rants than for any directly dealing with Christianity, but Beck is still a prominent Christian voice in America. For all that he is not necessarily directly a commentator on issues of religion, he does bring his Christian ideals into many of his arguments, ensuring that any viewer or listener will know that he is a Christian, and that he believes Christian morals are the key to helping America and her citizens. In and of themselves, these things are not necessarily bad; though it is fairly impossible to prove that the founding fathers of America truly attached Christian mores to America’s base, it is fair to say that the morals they did endorse were fairly similar to those of the modern, selective version of Christianity that exists today. Christian ideals include such basic and worthy elements as “Love your neighbor as you would yourself,” and “Turn the other cheek.” Though, as previously mentioned, these come only from a selective reading of the Bible that leaves out several of the books more controversial elements the key point remains that the Christian ideals generally endorsed by modern day Christians are often acceptable and worthwhile.
But when these ideals are taken to an extreme by one such as Beck…when they are presented with, not reasoned dialogue and calmness, but impassioned speeches that skirt the borders of insanity…when they are not truly examined, but are simply regurgitated upon command to prove any possible point that Beck can imagine…that is when Christians and their beliefs on the whole are cheapened and reduced. How can a reasonable, modern-day individual find his or her way to belief, when one such as Beck makes it look so unappealing with his nigh-incoherent rants, which all too often claim Christian elements as major pillars of support? Indeed, in his attempts to endorse Christian beliefs, to show that they are integral to the country and to American happiness and well-being, Beck generally instead proves only that these same Christian beliefs can be used for pompous, bombastic speeches without any real content.
The problem extends beyond Beck, though he is a very prominent figure in the overall issue. Another such problematic figure is Kirk Cameron, a former actor and current evangelist, who in particular speaks out against evolution. Cameron as well paints an uncompromising, irrational, attack-dog version of Christians that is so unappealing to others in the world, it is no wonder that Christians often have a bad image. Cameron’s arguments against evolution are often thoroughly debunked by scientists who present all the evidence necessary to do so, but either these scientific rationales for evolution’s existence are ignored or misunderstood, almost on purpose, by Christian spokespeople such as Cameron. Cameron, for instance, has often cited the nonexistence of the “crocoduck” as evidence against evolution, without ever truly responding to the arguments of scientists who have clearly shown that evolution does not require the existence of a croc duck to be proven (for more information, see Richard Dawkins’s excellent book, The Greatest Show On Earth). Cameron’s attempts to uphold evangelical Christian beliefs through unsubstantiated arguments and logical fallacies only add to the negative picture of Christians that has grown more and more over time.
So what can Christians do to help eliminate this negative picture, without losing their own faith? The answer lies in an offshoot of the three options earlier discussed as responses for when Christians are confronted about their beliefs. Instead of responding aggressively, or instead of simply losing faith, Christians can choose to stoically, quietly, and pleasantly listen to the arguments against their beliefs, and then state that they still retain their faith. Indeed, faith by its very nature is irrational; this is an oft-accepted point, and Christians can still use it to point out the source of their beliefs. But the fact that Christian faith is based upon a trust that needs no rational basis does not mean that Christians should then apply irrationality to all aspects of their life, or to their discussions with others. Christians can exhibit a willingness to listen, and then to speak calmly and rationally in their discourse with non-believers or doubters, and will therefore present themselves as perfectly reasonable individuals with their own set of beliefs. Gone will be the image presented by so many of Christians as crazed ranting madmen, who are more interested in the sounds of their own voices than they are in listening to their opponents’ words.
As an example, there is a particular part of the aforementioned Dawkins book, The Greatest Show On Earth, in which Dawkins attests to working with prominent Christians (high-ranking members of the Catholic Church) to promote evolution. These Christians still believe in God, and Jesus, and all of the other many elements of the Christian faith; but they also are willing to admit, based on the rationally presented evidence of countless scientists, that evolution has been proven to exist. They may still believe that God has a hand in evolution, or that God is responsible for having created evolution to begin with, thereby allowing for coherency with Christian values. But the fact that they are reasonably capable of listening to and discoursing with such a noted non-believer as Dawkins is a credit to them and to Christians everywhere. It doesn’t matter if they convince Dawkins that God exists, or if Dawkins convinces them that God does not exist; the mere fact that they are Christians, able to stand strong enough in their beliefs that they can afford to have those beliefs challenged, is tremendously impressive and praiseworthy.
The faith held by Christians of the world need not be forgotten, or compromised, for Christians to present themselves as calm, rational, listening interlocutors in discussions. Doing so can only raise the Christian image on the whole, as well; imagine how much more impressive it is to see someone who can calmly listen and discuss facts with an ideological opponent without losing his or her own beliefs, than it is to see someone go onto a TV show, uncontested, and simply angrily rant at a camera without ever need to have his or her own beliefs challenged. Christians on the whole are not best represented by these irrational, mouth-frothing types, who cannot have a reasonable discussion with those who disagree, and it is about time for the Christians of America in particular to attempt to represent themselves by better faces than Glenn Beck or Kirk Cameron.
Tags: Christian, Christian Beliefs, christians