I had several conversations that changed the way I view the label of or how someone identifies as Christian or Evangelical Christian. Most conversations were with pastors and three of these are Southern Baptists pastors. Before I share what was said, I want to clarify that I am paraphrasing. I am, however, conveying the sense and sentiment of the conversations along with a few thoughts.
The first conversation was with a Baptist Minister. In many ways he is somewhat typical of a social conservative who identifies as Christian. He doesn’t approve of gays, doesn’t think all opinions are equal, etc. To be sure there are objective truths, i.e. murder is bad. We were talking about some of the hate groups out there, specifically some of the churches that identify as Baptist. Even though he disagreed with their message and methods, he said he didn’t feel compelled to speak against them in order to distance himself from them or comment on that fact that they represent Baptists.
When relating this conversation to someone I knew, he had an interesting thought. He pointed out that ‘even though he says he disagrees with what they do, he still agrees with them in their disapproval. Since they both disapprove of the same type of people, is it possible he prefers to look the other way?’. An insightful thought, and something for me to think about. Why wouldn’t a person that is the very representative of their faith seem to not care about hateful people who say they too represent the same faith. Of course there may be plenty of reasons, one of which is he prefers to make his own path and teach things he is passionate about. But still, not to stand up and say ‘they do not represent me’ says something doesn’t it? It is difficult to construe how someone feels by what they don’t say. But taking a stand against somethings and not others may indicate one’s preferences.
Another conversation was even more insightful. Someone was relating a story of something that happened to them. This individual works in a halfway house for women and single moms. A new President started, and not long after held a meeting of the staff. The new President asked, politely, that to be more inclusive, the staff should try and avoid talk about Christianity or being Christian in the workplace. After the meeting my friend stayed behind to ask why the President wanted this policy. The President’s answer spoke volumes. The new President wanted a message of love and caring; where someone could go for help. He wanted this place to be a place where people were not afraid to go. The new President said he wanted to avoid the Christian message of finger pointing and blame, hatred and bigotry. My friend, another pastor, was shocked to learn that people really thought of them this way. ‘Is this the way people really view Christians’?
Later on I spoke with a Southern Baptist preacher. He was talking about removing the name “Southern Baptist” from the church. This isn’t the first time I heard an idea like that, nor was he the first person to share this idea with me. His thought was that “Southern Baptist” carried too much baggage and perhaps rebranding might help. Rather than letting people know what [he thought] “Southern Baptist” should be or how they might act, he wanted to avoid that conversation.
At the time of this writing there has been a lot of vitriolic comments and discussions about the current COVID-19 pandemic, vaccinations, people’s rights, horrible lies about the current President of the U.S., worse lies about other political parties and people referring to the past President as the ‘chosen one’, ‘new king’ and being chosen by God to represent them. Many of these comments, when you think about them are difficult to understand. There seems to be a new religion, one the combines politics and religion and put emphasis on politics. Is that Christianity? Is that the new version of ‘Christianity’?
Now, I sit and ponder all that I’ve seen and heard over the last several years. Is he right? Are they right? Is the identity of ‘Christian’ synonymous with bigotry and hateful actions? Is that how you want people to think of you? Is this what the new ‘Christianity’ is about? Hateful and hurtful comments from so many people; dismissing so much evil from their own while spreading lies about others. Even so-called Christians are hiding what they ‘say they’ believe and refuse to say ‘They don’t represent me’. I’m sure I could go on and give more specific details, but to what end? Maybe ‘Christianity’ is just a political movement and has little to do with Christ.
If someone follows the teaching of Christ and believes that Christ is the path to redemption and salvation, one has to ask themselves… do today’s Christian or Christianity represent the person I want to be? Is that a group I’m proud to be a part of, or ashamed?