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Baptist, Brian McLaren, Institute on Religion and Democracy, interfaith, IRD Blog, Kristin Rudolph, religious freedom
(Photo credit: Greenbelt)
By Kristin Rudolph
Brian McLaren, prominent evangelical left writer and speaker is on tour promoting his new book, Why did Jesus, Moses, the Buddah, and Mohammed Cross the Road? On September 13, 2012 at Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, DC, McLaren discussed his view that Christians are too hostile toward those of other religions and must learn to embrace those with whom they disagree, while retaining their Christian identity. McLaren explained his view that Christians either “know how to have a strong identity that is hostile toward people of other faiths,” or on the other extreme, “[achieve] tolerance by reducing the strength of their Christian identity.”
Instead of these two options, McLaren argued for a “third way” that blends a strong Christian identity with a more tolerant disposition toward other religions. He asked: “Is there a way of building a strong identity that doesn’t involve … finding a common enemy?” He suggested perhaps “the real enemy is hostility itself.” If so, according to McLaren, people of different faiths could join together against “hostility” rather than oppose each other based on differing religious beliefs.
Read more here.
Gabe, You are so right that it is NOT hostile to share Christ. If we truly believe that people will spend eternity in Hell without Him; not sharing would be hostile! It would be like seeing somebody drowning and failing to throw them a life preserver. Christ is my life preserver and I would be remiss if I didn’t share with a dying world!
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Sara, reading his latest book was equivalent to be spat on. I don’t think any atheist writer could be more harsh toward Christian conservatives. He claims his target is “Christian hostility,” and it’s a subject he is an expert on.
I just reviewed McLaren’s new book for Amazon, and the book is an eye-opener, to put it mildly. I learned that non-Christians in America fear the “hostility” of Christians – not all Christians, mind you, just conservatives – so the author says. He fails to explain why non-Christians keep immigrating here, not does he cite a lot of data to confirm his “hostility” thesis. “Hate” and “hostility” are attributed to evangelicals throughout the book, so much so that a psychologist might wonder if projection is taking place. He says we are “uneasy” about other religions (evidence, sir?) and that we feel compelled to emphasize our difference from other faiths, which makes me wonder why he doesn’t cite lots of Christian books, websites, or sermons that show this obsessive hostility.
He claims he would never proselytize (no surprise), but then approvingly cites the story of Peter and Cornelius as a commendable case of “crossing the boundaries of otherness” – yet Peter was sent by God to convert Cornelius not to “celebrate otherness.” Did McLaren never read Acts closely and notice that in the multi-ethnic, multi-religious world of the apostles, they were constantly proselytizing, and didn’t feel the need to do what McLaren insists on: apologize for being Christian. Maybe he hasn’t noticed, but a faith that is ashamed of itself just isn’t very appealing to outsiders. He speaks glowingly of a faith that is “strong,” but “kind,” which, as the book shows, translates as “try your darndest to do nothing that would make people ask `Are you a Christian?’” After all, it would be “unkind” (even “hostile”) to be too outspoken about our faith.
He drags in the Constantine issue, as if today the Republican party is the “empire” and evangelicals are the “state church.” Is he delusional? Does any clearheaded person really believe that evangelicals have a huge influence in America? Did he happen to notice we have a liberal president and a liberal Senate?
This author is becoming the Michael Moore of Christianity, and though he might take that as a compliment, it isn’t. His book is one long smirking, screeching libel against evangelicals, and while we are, heaven knows, far from perfect, it is immoral and unjust to malign such a large group of Americans. In this book where his constant refrain is “break down the barriers between ‘us’ and ‘them,’” his contempt for “them” evangelicals is palpable. How he squares that contempt with the “kind” Christianity he espouses is anybody’s guess. It does seem to fit with the secular liberal’s habit of constantly preaching tolerance while flinging contempt at the whipping boys of the modern world, Christian conservatives.
Thanks for reading it, so I don’t have to. “Generous Orthodoxy” was enough for me!
Sadly, this is a familiar trope from the emergent thought of the post-modernist. Set up four religious leaders as normal guys heading down the same road and the most he can say about Christ’s interaction with the others is that He would show them kindness and understanding as “He had such insight into the character of other people. Truth getting sacrificed on the altar of “niceness” (as if Christ would not engage in the most incredible conversation with all of these men to lead them to the truth on who He really is, as Christ often did in His encounters.) Brian McLaren’s illustration leaves one wondering whether Jesus in this hypothetical situation would do anything more than nod his head like some sympathetic talk show host while Buddha and Muhammad presented completely different religious ideas and philisophies
Rather than pointing to the devil as our ultimate enemy as the Bible does, McLaren props up the ill-defined concept of “hostility” as the enemy and calls people of all faiths to fight this hostility. But what constitutes hostility? Does my belief that Jesus was right about man’s identity, problem with sin, need for redemption and ability to have a personal relationship with God mean that I am hostile to non-Christians when I share my faith with them? I don’t condone being mean to people of other faiths, but if I say that Jesus Christ is Son of God and one needs to have a personal relationship with Him, is that being hostile to the Muslim who rejects that belief? Is a Muslim being hostile to me in saying that Jesus Christ was never crucified and thus never experienced a resurrection? These differences present a massive chasm in belief that no amount of kindness or understanding can harmonize without watering down both religions.
I would love to know if Brian McLaren believes that Christianity offer anything different or true that other religions do not.
Rather than buying McLaren’s upcoming book that will likely use even more words to not say anything, I would recommend the book “The Lotus and the Cross, Jesus talks with Buddha” by Ravi Zacharias. It presents a serious study of the major differences between these two figures and the religions that they founded while doing it in a lighthearted way.
Gabe…see my reply above under “Jan said”..it should have been posted under your comment.