(UNDATED) Dwight L. Moody, the great 19th century American evangelist, once said that of 100 people, one would read the Bible, and the other 99 would “read the Christian.”
Let’s face it: Christianity has an image problem.
When you hear the word “Christian,” what comes to mind?
Is it love, compassion, service, humility and grace? Or is it more along the lines of anger, self-righteousness, judgmentalism and hypocrisy?
As long as there have been Christians, there has been something called apologetics — a veritable cottage industry of writers, thinkers, theologians and other culture shapers who have rallied in defense of the faith.
Recently, a new crop of apologists has added its voice to the mix, producing books with titles such as “Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile,” “UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity … and Why It Matters,” and “They Like Jesus but Not the Church: Insights from Emerging Generations.”
These mostly young evangelicals are not just pleading for a return to Christianity’s true meaning; they’re calling for a revolutionary rethinking of the apologetics enterprise.
In a word, what they want to reintroduce civility into the public discourse about faith.
Perhaps the best bit of these neo-apologetics I’ve seen is a documentary film called “Lord, Save Us from Your Followers.” The film, by Dan Merchant, has slowly been building a following of loyal fans that presses DVD copies of the movie into the hands of anyone who will take them. Count me among them.
With humor and humility, Merchant traveled the country (wearing a white jumpsuit covered with religious-themed bumper-stickers), trying to answer the question: “Why is the gospel of love dividing America?”
The genesis of the film was a trip he took to Ethiopia in 2004. There, Merchant met Christians who endured hardships he says “would break me in half” but who were happy — deeply joyful and fulfilled — simply because “they know God loves them.”
Merchant wanted to find out why American Christians have gone off the rails, trading the gospel of love for the gospel of “being right.”
Lest anyone have the impression that “Lord, Save Us from Your Followers” is an attack on American Christians and Christianity, Merchant includes divergent voices from all points on the political and spiritual spectrum, from unapologetic critics such as Bill Maher and Janeane Garofalo to a whole roster of Christian pastors and church leaders, including evangelist Tony Campolo.
Christians need to stop shouting and start listening, Merchant says. Our culture as a whole has taken a sharp turn into incivility when it comes to discussions of religion, politics, sexuality and even professional sports.
The church is meant to be the hands of Jesus in the world, but “it’s had its hands and feet amputated, and all we’ve been is a big mouth,” Pastor Rick Warren says in the film.
Merchant interviews farmers and hipsters, preachers with megaphones and members of the cross-dressing Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence in San Francisco, in an effort to better understand how Christians are perceived and what can be done to right the ship.
He even sets up a confessional booth at a gay pride festival, and, rather than ask folks to confess their sins, confesses his own sins of judgmentalism, arrogance and a general lack of the kind of radical love that Jesus demanded of his followers.
Perhaps the most powerfully moving scenes involve Christian volunteers who regularly set up camp in an area of Portland, Ore., frequented by homeless folks, providing health care, washing and cutting their hair, even bathing their feet.
That quiet service, unconditional love and hands-on compassion, Merchant says, is what Christianity really is. And that’s a message that cannot be heard if it’s shouted.
(Cathleen Falsani is the author of the new book “Sin Boldly: A Field Guide for Grace.”)