Christianity in an angry world Friday 5th July 2024

Photograph from The Guardian: A mass picket confronting police at Bilston Glen, Scotland in 1984. Photographer John Sturrock / reportdigital.co.uk

I have become conscious that we live in an angry world. The run-up to elections provides us with the spectacle of politicians battling with each other on our television screens. Sometimes this becomes heated and personal as they trade insults with each other. When there was the talk of setting up a Scottish parliament, I seem to have a vague memory of an aspiration that politics would be less adversarial. Our political leaders would show respect for other parties and politicians would try to find consensus on areas of policy. Sadly, when I have watched the politicians engaging in dialogue, there has often been little evidence of courtesy or respect.

There is considerable anger in our society about many issues. Janie and I watched video footage of the miners' strike in the 1980s. Small villages in Yorkshire, for example, became a daily battleground as buses carried miners who wanted to continue to work through the ranks of the striking miners. Buses had to be fortified to transport working miners through the picket lines. The hatred was so intense that some families were completely ostracised and victimised for years to come. This all seems so long ago and the deep bitterness seems so pointless and futile as coal mines have been completely shut down. The anger against the non-striking miners has been replaced by anger at those who are seen to be polluting our planet. This is only one of the many causes which engenders hostility and polarisation of opinion.

Are Christians exempt from all this hatred and bitterness? Sadly not! It was a conversation with another Christian which inspired me to write this blog. He was discussing the problem which is facing the Church of Scotland - too many church buildings and declining church attendance. He pointed to the splits which ravaged the church and resulted in congregations leaving one church to build another. I have come from a different branch of the Christian faith but I have also witnessed this same history of splits and divisions. My comment was that we are giving ammunition to the devil and the enemies of the cross of Christ. I referred to the high priestly prayer of the Lord before He went to the Garden of Gethsemane:

"I do not ask for these only, [his own disciples] but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me."

I once heard Jonathan Lamb describe this as a spectacularly unanswered prayer.  The problem is not with the godhead - they are united - the problem lies with those who name the name of Christ.

We have used Bible verses to divide us into opposing camps. We have developed our different rituals and liturgy and we have decided that we must shun those Christians who do not agree with our interpretation of the Bible. This is something which pains me considerably. And we are continuing to increase the list of issues which divide us.  Scotland has a history of fanatical loyalty to a cause. I used to watch the Orange Order parades in July through my home town of Stevenston. I lived in a community which was divided between Catholics and Protestants. I remember being stopped as I was cycling along Ardoch Crescent and being asked whether I was a Catholic or a Protestant - though these precise words were not used. I answered that I was a Christian but this did not please the wee fellow who was threatening to steal my bike. He asked me why I was different - he was Catholic and he expected me to say I was a Protestant. I was also challenged once because of the colour of my Rudge bicycle - it was green. This was seen as offensive to another boy from the Ardeer Area. 

But the Christian church was even more divided. As well as the plethora of denominations, within each church there were often divisions and a history of disagreements over seemingly trivial issues. Some of the conflicts were over personalities and traditions rather than over matters of Scriptural interpretation.  We have tended to take sides over many issues such as the gifts of the Spirit, the Second Coming of Christ, the role of women in the church. In recent years there have been disagreements over gay rights and how to cope with those people who declare themselves as 'trans.' Abortion is another matter which has polarised Christians.  The recent war in between Israel and Hamas is another source of disagreement and taking sides.

Scotland has a history of a divided church witness as well as religious bigotry. It is against this background that we are increasingly facing some real challenges. How do we react to the new society with its advocacy of the LGBTQ agenda? How do we cope with the growth of Islam? From my reading of posts on Facebook from other Christians, my perception is that we have adopted a very negative, intolerant stance. All the time, we need to remind ourselves that the good news of the Gospel is for everyone - not just for those who fit into our narrow group whose values we approve. We are in the danger of antagonising those who are in greatest need of Christian love and forgiveness. In the gospels, Jesus did not come to minister to the religious elite. His message was for the ostracised and the marginalised. He came to win the social outcasts.

The reality is that we are living in a pluralistic society with diverse backgrounds and diverse cultures. If we find it hard to deal with diverse opinions in church circles, how do we cope with living in a world where our views are considered counter-cultural? Do we proudly proclaim that we are right and that everyone else is wrong? Do we shun or demonise those who disagree with our viewpoint? I know that some people who are reading this blog will be horrified if I make any concessions to what they would describe as 'liberalism'. I thought it might be helpful to look at what Timothy Keller (1950 - 2023) said on this matter in an article entitled Civility in the Public Square.  He is writing  about the prevalent attitude of white evangelical Christians in the United States.

Those who have held the reins of cultural power — its greatest academic centers, its most powerful corporations, and the media — have always excluded unpopular voices and minority views that fell on the wrong side of the public morality of the day. Many white evangelical Christians in the 1980’s and 90’s wanted to occupy those places of power and showed little concern at the time to create a society that respected communities with sharply differing moral visions. Today cultural power has shifted, but those newly come to power seem to show as little interest in genuine pluralism as did the cultural elites in the past. If anything, observers argue that different perspectives and viewpoints are treated with even less respect and courtesy than in the past. The agenda has become not to engage, but to marginalize and silence. 

Keller refers to a paper written by John Inazu in 2016: Confident Pluralism: Surviving and Thriving through Deep Difference (University of Chicago Press, 2016). In this paper, the writer calls for communities to come together with our neighbours around what he calls “aspirations” of tolerance, humility, and patience. 

Timothy Keller defines each of these qualities in a way which is thought provoking.

"Tolerance is neither indifference (we may be appalled at the other person’s views) nor acceptance. It means rather treating the other person with respect even if we find her ideas difficult to endure." In other words, we may still hold our views strongly but, at the same time, engage in meaningful dialogue with those who hold other points of view.  

"Humility is not to doubt the truth of one’s own beliefs, but to recognize the limits of what we can prove to others. Even if your Christian, Muslim, or secular views of the world and morality are true, there is no way to prove them to all rational persons. And that should humble you." It seems that we find it hard to deal with someone who holds different views from ourselves. This is often disguised as spirituality but it can be pride.

"Finally, patience does not mean passivity, nor does it mean to countenance injustice or evil. Yet if there is tolerance and humility, they should lead us to also be slow to posit motives, to be careful but persistent in our efforts to understand, to even empathize and to take time to communicate our own point of view."  Patience is a very rare quality. We are so eager to prove the other person wrong that we do not listen carefully to their statements. We are in such a hurry to refute their arguments. The word 'posit' (which means that we make assumptions) is very relevant. We need to be cautious when we are engaged in dialogue and avoid the temptation to make assumptions about the motivation behind the statements. We need to make every effort to understand fully what the other person in saying and avoid jumping to conclusions.

" In sum, we should tolerate rather than demonize, we should be humble rather than defensive, and we should seek patiently to work toward as much agreement as possible, rather than simply trying to coerce the other side." [Timothy Keller].

Keller also points to the problems with our means of communication in the 21st century. We have fewer face to face dialogue which is infinitely preferable to emails, texting or online conversations or even telephone conversations. We have lost the art of dialogue in this digital age.

If I could give an example of the exact opposite of what Timothy Keller is speaking about to help to clarify what this is about. When I was working as a volunteer at Keswick Convention, we had some Christians who came each year to protest about the fact that the speakers at the Convention were not using the King James Version. As I was managing the site at Rawnsley prior to the site merger, one protester with a huge placard was protesting vociferously outside in the grass area around the tents. He was shouting loudly about the decline and 'departure' in the Christian church. I have no doubt that this dear Christian held very genuine views but, in the context of Keswick where we were having to live with daily hostility from local people who wanted the Convention to close, this was not helpful. I understand that two of the Keswick Convention trustees sought to meet with this man to pray together and to talk about the respective views in a quiet respectful manner. Sadly, this was refused. He felt that he was doing God's will be holding up placards.

At the heart of all of this is showing Christian love for each other and praying for each other meaningfully and humbly. We can often pray horizontally - i.e. praying to make a point to those who are listening rather than genuinely praying to God from the heart.  Keller refers to a lecture given by James K.A. Smith entitled, Reforming Public Theology  where Smith argued that Christians should consciously seek to form people who are capable of tolerance, humility, and patience through public worship. We should consider how the Christian practice of confession could engender humility. We should remember how praying in worship for our neighbours, even our opponents, in light of the cross and Jesus’ costly forgiveness of us, can create both tolerance and patience. Smith argued that we should follow the Biblical examples such as the Jewish exiles in Babylon and also the teaching of Jesus (for example, the parable of the Good Samaritan).   As Christians we should not just tolerate those with whom we differ deeply - we should display sacrificial love. Paradoxically, this is the most powerful weapon in our armoury. 

I hope that those who read this blog will show tolerance towards my tentative views and not make snap judgements. I have been impressed by the fact that in our wee church in Falkirk, a small group of us spent weeks discussing the most controversial book in the Bible and we all listened respectfully to views which contradicted our own. Perhaps this was the greatest lesson we learned from our study of Revelation- the need to disagree agreeably. Maybe we need to treat our neighbours and friends with the same Christian grace even though they may have opinions which are contrary to the Bible (from our perspective).