his Dark Materials
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Attention Christians, we are under attack again! This year it's not Wal-Mart employees saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" or even the diabolical influence of the Harry Potter books. This year it’s the newest batch of atheist authors.
In case you can't tell, I don't tend to take these 'threats' very seriously. As dearly as I love my fellow Christians, I've noticed that we have an unfortunate tendency to get in a huff about non-existent threats. We seem to imagine ourselves to be an imperiled minority, as Christians were when the New Testament was written. We sometimes forget that about 1/3 of the world's population calls itself Christian. We are a powerful majority often forget that in the United States (and most of the rest of the world) we are the powerful and prosperous majority. We prefer seem to like to think of ourselves as a persecuted minority, as Christians were in Imperial Rome. It's not our best quality.
This time the 'threat' is slightly more real. One of the books on the bestselling list in 2007 has been God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens, a scathing critique of religion in general with special attention to Christianity and Islam. Hitchens and other popular atheist authors Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion) and Sam Harris (The End of Faith) have all written books that describe religion as naturally irrational, intolerant, bigoted and obsolete. The fact all three have been on the bestselling lists suggests that they have hit a nerve.
The latest buzz I've heard is all about the upcoming movie, "The Golden Compass." The previews I've seen show what looks like a beautiful and highly original fantasy where witches vie with great airships for mastery of the sky and cowboy ride gigantic, talking polar bears.
It looks like the kind of movie I really enjoy but it's drawn a lot of flak from Christian writers. The movie is based on the first book in the popular His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. The books tell the story of the quest to kill a malignant God-like figure called the Authority that is oppressing all of creation. Pullman is open about the fact that he is an atheist, that his books contain anti-religious themes. In fact, in a 2003 interview with the Sydney Morning Herald he said, "My books are about killing God."
That has a disturbing sound to believers, and it's no doubt meant to. The question is how we respond. It would be easy to get indignant; to send batches of hate mail to the authors, producers, etc.; to boycott the movie and burn the books. But what would that say about us? When others accuse us of being intolerant, irrational and hateful does it make any sense to respond in an irrational, intolerant and hateful way. How much better to follow the way of Jesus who said, “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:43-45)
Responding in faith means we don't get to lash out at things like this. In fact, we might do well to listen carefully to what our detractors have to say. Some of their attacks are nonsense, but others have truth in them. It's uncomfortable to hear, but we really can be narrow and intolerant. There are a lot of wounded people in the world who stay out of churches, not because of what they've heard from atheists but because what they've experienced at the hands of Christians. We really can be our own worst enemy.
But, if follow Jesus' example of resisting attacks with love and faith, all of that changes. When we are living the way we are called to live the attacks will roll off of us like raindrops because there won't be any truth in them. People who have experienced peace and healing through the church aren't going to be put off by the arguments books and movies. Their personal experience will tell them better. Besides, that's just the way we're supposed to live.
Love your enemies and pray for your persecutors. It's a difficult thing to do, but it is something that can change the world.
In case you can't tell, I don't tend to take these 'threats' very seriously. As dearly as I love my fellow Christians, I've noticed that we have an unfortunate tendency to get in a huff about non-existent threats. We seem to imagine ourselves to be an imperiled minority, as Christians were when the New Testament was written. We sometimes forget that about 1/3 of the world's population calls itself Christian. We are a powerful majority often forget that in the United States (and most of the rest of the world) we are the powerful and prosperous majority. We prefer seem to like to think of ourselves as a persecuted minority, as Christians were in Imperial Rome. It's not our best quality.
This time the 'threat' is slightly more real. One of the books on the bestselling list in 2007 has been God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens, a scathing critique of religion in general with special attention to Christianity and Islam. Hitchens and other popular atheist authors Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion) and Sam Harris (The End of Faith) have all written books that describe religion as naturally irrational, intolerant, bigoted and obsolete. The fact all three have been on the bestselling lists suggests that they have hit a nerve.
The latest buzz I've heard is all about the upcoming movie, "The Golden Compass." The previews I've seen show what looks like a beautiful and highly original fantasy where witches vie with great airships for mastery of the sky and cowboy ride gigantic, talking polar bears.
It looks like the kind of movie I really enjoy but it's drawn a lot of flak from Christian writers. The movie is based on the first book in the popular His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. The books tell the story of the quest to kill a malignant God-like figure called the Authority that is oppressing all of creation. Pullman is open about the fact that he is an atheist, that his books contain anti-religious themes. In fact, in a 2003 interview with the Sydney Morning Herald he said, "My books are about killing God."
That has a disturbing sound to believers, and it's no doubt meant to. The question is how we respond. It would be easy to get indignant; to send batches of hate mail to the authors, producers, etc.; to boycott the movie and burn the books. But what would that say about us? When others accuse us of being intolerant, irrational and hateful does it make any sense to respond in an irrational, intolerant and hateful way. How much better to follow the way of Jesus who said, “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:43-45)
Responding in faith means we don't get to lash out at things like this. In fact, we might do well to listen carefully to what our detractors have to say. Some of their attacks are nonsense, but others have truth in them. It's uncomfortable to hear, but we really can be narrow and intolerant. There are a lot of wounded people in the world who stay out of churches, not because of what they've heard from atheists but because what they've experienced at the hands of Christians. We really can be our own worst enemy.
But, if follow Jesus' example of resisting attacks with love and faith, all of that changes. When we are living the way we are called to live the attacks will roll off of us like raindrops because there won't be any truth in them. People who have experienced peace and healing through the church aren't going to be put off by the arguments books and movies. Their personal experience will tell them better. Besides, that's just the way we're supposed to live.
Love your enemies and pray for your persecutors. It's a difficult thing to do, but it is something that can change the world.
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