Snippet: "Don't choose a side in the culture war"?

snip·pet | ˈsnipit | noun a small piece or brief extract.

Here’s a snippet from Russell Moore, a Christian ethicist, commenting on the conversations he had with students at the U of Chicago where he led a semester of weekly seminars in the Institute of Politics:

“Most of my conversations with secularist students were along these lines: A lesbian agnostic wanted to talk about her parents, who are evangelical Christians. She said, ‘I really love my mom and dad; they believe like you do. Can you help me know some ways I can show them I love them and help me find ways we can talk to each other?”

In a time where so many are fighting a “culture war” and always thinking the worst of the people on the other side of a divide, he notes that these students weren’t interested in arguing, nor did they ridicule him for his evangelical convictions.

They asked questions.

They were curious and genuinely open-minded.

Behind closed doors, Christians and non-Christians students who met with him talked about each other in kind and civil ways.

They were interested in how to love and respect and maintain connection with friends and family with whom they disagreed on a host of issues, whether religious or political.

Interestingly, right after reading this I listened to an episode of the Church Politics Podcast called “Don’t Choose a Side in the Culture War.”

Giboney and Butler’s advice is not to be in some squishy middle on issues.

They call for taking bold stands that are informed by the Bible.

But they note that neither side of the culture war is distinctly Christian.

And, I would add, do you think you can actually (or decisively ever) win a culture war?

Would even want to win a culture war?

Do you think that’s a metaphor that leads to anything good in an overly-polarized society?

Maybe I’m in my own bubble and a victim of algorithms, but I see more and more evidence of the approach to public and relational engagement advocated by people like Russell, Giboney, and Butler.

I’m so thankful for it.

Photo by Austrian National Library on Unsplash

Snippet: A Sinful Church

snip·pet | ˈsnipit | noun a small piece or brief extract.

Here’s another take on people “deconstructing” their Christian/evangelical faith. This one is from Tish Harrison Warren:

“The church is a Christ-made institution, but it is also a sinful institution. It always needs reform. If a person’s frustration with the church arises from the biblical vision of community, that’s not deconstruction. It’s calling the church back to the gospel. …What a sinful church needs is not deconstruction but deep construction.”

How much healthier would the church be if so many that are currently deconstructing their faith because of disappointment in other believers were, instead, reforming or deeply constructing the church?

And how much more hopeful would they be? In my experience with many who are deconstructing their faith, their horizon of hope and thought shrinks and, with it, the infinite is often lost. Life becomes a finite game.

Check out the article here: “The Church Needs Reformation, Not Deconstruction: A short guide to the exvangelical movement.”

Photo by jesse orrico on Unsplash