Christianity is the cause of so much social injustice-- Chapter four

Some people complain about and argue against Christianity because of disappointment. It may be personal. Sometimes it is institutional. “The Church causes lots of problems in society and culture.” Keller points out that there are three major reasons for this complaint. One is deeply personal—Christians have lots of character flaws. The second concerns religions support and endorsement of many wars and violence. The third is the chilling reality of fanaticism. Character flaws A common expectation is that to be a Christian means having one’s moral life together. Yet there is a lot of moral failure or deficiency within the church. Leaders fail. By and large social-personal problems are found at about the same rate within the church as without. And there seem to be lots of nonreligious people who seemingly practice pretty good lives. A biblical solution for this arises from an appreciation of two foundational Christian truths—common grace and special grace. Common grace teaches that God spreads His good gifts across the face of the earth. And so it is not unexpected to find people who not only don’t know Him, but may even be among those who are antagonistic towards God, who live out goodness in many ways. Its part of being human in this world. The Christian doctrine of the Fall doesn’t teach that people are as bad as they can be, just that they are unable to please or seek after God. Special grace emphasizes the reality of fallenness. No person is good enough to please God and even our best efforts are tainted with death when done to promote or protect ourselves before Him. Special grace teaches that God gives life and love to those who are not good before God. Christian maturity then, which is character formation and practice, is a gradual process that follows conversion. So it shouldn’t be surprising to find Christians who don’t have it all together. It’s not an excuse for bad behavior, but it explains why people see it in Christians and why we should look for it in ourselves. Violence Some people argue that Christianity (and religion in general) is responsible for wars and violence because “it ‘transendentalizes’ ordinary cultural differences do that parties feel they are in a cosmic battle between good and evil.” Example after example are often cited: Northern Ireland, the Middle East, the Balkans, etc. What is overlooked in this list is the reality that over the past several hundred years there have been several cultures/nations that have sought to remove religion from themselves. France at the time of their Revolution is one. Soviet Russia is another, Cambodia another. And in each of these three examples, the level of violence rose dramatically…and it was state supported violence! Fanaticism The most pressing complaint is that of fanaticism. People who ‘really get into their religion’ get deemed fanatic, a term which is intended to arouse fear and suspicion. The common analysis of this phenomena is that a person or group of people assume that they are right with God because of who they are and what they do. And then they not only judge those who differ, but seek to change others to be like they are—and in some cases abuse power to this end. The Christian answer to this issue is to look deeper into Christianity rather than try to hold to a middle of the road variety. And when Keller means deeper, he means moving beyond being “fanatically zealous and courageous: to becoming dramatically “humble, sensitive, loving, empathetic, forgiving and understanding,” in other words to becoming more Christlike. And how is this accomplished? Only as the Christian grows in appreciation for the work of Jesus on his behalf. Point Those who move deeper into Christianity discover that the Bible offers the source for critique of life. Much of the work of the prophets was to point God-followers to more consistent life practices. A major theme was the work to correct social injustice. Keller says that “true faith is marked by profound concern for the poor and marginalized.” And that has been the practice for many Christians. While the horrific African slave trade was too often accepted by Christians, Christians were also opposed to it as it began and were the ones to work tirelessly to overturn it. Wilberforce and Woolman gave themselves to this work because they were seeking to live as Christians. Likewise the Civil Rights movement was more a religious and spiritual movement than a purely political one. When Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote from the Birmingham jail to the church in the south, he appealed to them to act in line with the truth of God and to oppose injustice. Christianity may give cause for argument against it in the case of personal deficiency and social injustice, but the remedy isn’t to give Christianity up, but to become more Christian, more like Christ. In His power and by His grace and for His glory.