Best of It: Conclusion (Part 3)

[Series Index]

The second section in the Conclusion in Making the Best of It is called “Behaving in Public.”

Grounds for Hope

John Stackhouse acknowledges the fears of many that Western Civilization is drifting away from Christianity. In truth, we are moving away from some Christian values and towards others. History doesn’t move in a straight line. Drawing on Philip Jenkins, he notes that 1798 has to be a low ebb in the influence of the church … with the persecution of the Catholics, and skeptical deists and Unitarians in ascendency around the Atlantic. (I also remember that only 17% of Americans belonged to a church during the Revolution.) Jenkins writes that, “Resurrection is not just a fundamental doctrine of Christianity, it is a historical model that explains the religion’s structure and development.” (322) In short, we should not despair about long-term outcomes because of short-term trends (and by short I’m not necessarily suggesting less than a lifetime.) Secularization and de-Christianization is not irreversible and we should not panic.

Some want to fight tooth and nail to keep certain values intact through government force. Stackhouse writes:

We also should pause to ask ourselves a fundamental question: is the imposition of a Christian regime in America, or Canada, or Britain, or elsewhere desirable, even if it were possible? (324)

And …

As grateful as we should be for the blessings God has given the world through Christian Civilization, the record also shows that we Christians – who are, in Luther’s phrase, simul justus et peccator (at the same time justified and yet sinners) – are capable of just as much selfish mischief as almost anyone else when we wield unchecked power. (325)

He notes:

I am simply registering a Christian suspicion of all majority power, much less unchecked power, whether wielded by Christians or anyone else short of the Lord Jesus himself. And I thus recommend pluralism to help us in this penultimate era, given the fallenness of everyone, including us, until god achieves his ultimate purposes and we enjoy the immediate reign of Christ. (326)

Show

When it comes to living with plurality within a democracy:

It’s one thing to say, “Here’s how we think it might work.” It’s a wonderfully different thing to say, “Here’s how we do it.” (326)

I loved this quote from Franklin Little from fifty years ago:

Politicians in the churches attempted to secure by public legislation what they were unable to persuade many of their own members was either wise or desirable … Lacking the authenticity of a genuinely disciplined witness, the Protestant reversion to political action was ultimately discredited, and the churches have not to this day recovered their authority in public life. (326-327)

Ouch! I don’t think things have changed a great deal. Maybe they are now … maybe not. Like any human grouping our natural tendency is toward maximal conformity instead of maximal creativity. But Stackhouse argues that we have to be intentional about creating places where different people can grow together. Diversity is essential to thriving communities. Pathologies develop from too little diversity. Can we partner with, and affirm, people who are of Christian traditions different from than our own? That is one place to start.

That said, Stackhouse acknowledges that “excessive diversity” can be destructive. Churches have a long tradition of having a “rule of faith” that folks adhere to. So a big challenge is discerning how a rule of faith should function and how church discipline should be exercised.

The issue of practicing pluralism with those outside the church is also important. Stackhouse decries the way “tolerance” is equated with affirming what everyone else does. There are things in others and in ourselves of which we do not approve. Tolerance is a willingness to put up with that difference … not affirm it. Stackhouse writes:

I fear that we simply have to wait out this current adolescent attitude of trying to affirm everyone while fiercely judging all who will not play the same game. Eventually, one hopes, an adult recognition of the necessity of tolerance as a civic virtue will (re-)emerge. (329)

True pluralism is about tolerance and not these “adolescent attitudes.”

Tell

So what should we “say” into public life? Stackhouse hits ten things over ten pages, which I will not dwell on at any length.

1. “First, we ought to teach and maintain the values intrinsic to modern public life: democracy, the rule of law, human rights, self-worth, the worth of others, cooperation and competition, freedom and responsibility and so on. These are values that are consonant with Christianity and with other world views …” (330)
2. “Second, we need to teach that not everyone “wins” in democracy.” (331) But it is the best way to handle the need of society to govern by majority consent and still protect minority dissent.
3. “Third, Christians can speak up to teach the public what Christians actually believe and do, rather than what various members of the public might think we believe and do. …” (332)
4. “Fourth, we can resist any form of sectarianism, any ideological bullying, any teaching or (what is more common) assumption of any single religion or worldview as if it alone is entirely true and all other viewpoints are entirely false. …” (332)
5. “Fifth Christians can be in the vanguard of cultural change, instead of fighting rearguard battles to maintain out diminishing cultural privileges, in regard to any religious events and symbols in schools, legislatures, courts, and other public institutions. …” (335)
6. “Sixth, and related to this point, is the responsibility to practice proper silence. …” (335) He is referring here to unwelcomed evangelism and exposure of our faith to others in settings such as the workplace.
7. “Seventh, Christians can watch our language in public. …” (335) In short, lose the Christianese … at least in public. Learn to be persuasive and compelling in the language and symbols of those who are not in the church.
8. “Eighth, our Christian theology can help us help society think through difficult questions and solve difficult problems by keeping together a combination of virtues and actions that, if isolated, result in vengeance or sentimentality. … (339) Here Stackhouse suggests some difficult issues where justice and forgiveness need to be held together for healing and for change to occur. (No forgiveness leads to vengeance and no justice leads to sentimentality.)
9. “Ninth, part of good telling is good listening. … (339) Conversation, not argument, should be our primary mode of communication.
10. Finally, therefore, the image of conversation reminds us of the apostolic injunction to speak the truth in love. ... (Eph. 4:15). … (340)

We will continue this lengthy section on “Grounds for Hope” tomorrow.

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