Save Us From Your Followers v.2

The Evangelical Conscience Scandal Dissected
By Lee Salisbury

To the dismay of Christian propagandists, their morality proves no better than that of the non-religious.

In Christianity Today's Jan/Feb 05 Books and Culture, there is the following article "The Scandalous Evangelical Conscience" by Christian theologian Dr. Ronald Sider. He is one of the very few Christians who take seriously Jesus' advice to take the log out of your own eye.
Speaking of American evangelicals Sider states "Scandalous behavior is rapidly destroying American Christianity. By their daily activity, most "Christians" regularly commit treason. With their mouths they claim that Jesus is Lord, but their actions demonstrate allegiance to money, sex, and self-fulfillment.. The findings in numerous national polls conducted by highly respected pollsters like The Gallup Organization and The Barna Group are simply shocking. 'Gallup and Barna,' laments evangelical theologian Michael Horton, "hand us survey after survey demonstrating that evangelical Christians are as likely to embrace lifestyles every bit as hedonistic, materialistic, self-centered, and sexually immoral as the world in general."
"Divorce is more common among "born-again" Christians than in the general American population. Only 6 percent of evangelicals tithe. White evangelicals are the most likely people to object to neighbors of another race. Josh McDowell has pointed out that the sexual promiscuity of evangelical youth is only a little less outrageous than that of their non-evangelical peers."
"To say there is a crisis of disobedience in the evangelical world today is to dangerously understate the problem. Born-again Christians justify and engage in sexual promiscuity (both premarital sex and adultery) at astonishing rates. Racism and perhaps physical abuse of wives seems to be worse in evangelical circles than elsewhere."
"One of the most common themes in the Scriptures is that God and his faithful people have a special concern for the poor. Why this blatant contradiction between belief and practice?"
Sider stated, "Unless we face these questions with ruthless honesty, we can never hope to correct the problem." For a moment, I was hopeful that at last we have a Christian with the intestinal fortitude required to deal with Christianity's immorality dilemma, i.e. "ruthless honesty".
But then Sider lapses into the guaranteed-to-fail, "God's gonna" regimen of Christianity's 1,900 year history, saying "no matter how bad the current mess, no matter how unfaithful the contemporary church, God stands ready to keep his promises. God is eager to do the same mighty deeds today that he has done in the past. All we must do is trust and obey. The Lord stands at the door and knocks. He longs to be truly invited in. We cannot invite only half of him. But if today we dare to embrace and surrender to the full biblical Christ, he will perform mighty deeds that transcend what we dare ask or imagine. He will turn our weeping into joy. He will end the scandal of blatant disobedience in the people who call on his name."
What happened to "ruthless honesty"? Instead, Sider reverts to religion's greatest appeal: we avoid our responsibility by putting the onus on God. Christianity creates the ultimate mental welfare program shifting our responsibility to someone else. No "ruthless honesty" demanding critical thinking and following the evidence or logical thought to its own conclusion is required. Instead, Christian theology starts from its predetermined conclusion and concocts a fabricated rationale for believing what one is supposed to believe. Whether it's Intelligent Design or posting the Ten commandments or the infallibility of scripture, the rationale is always made to fit the required conclusion.
This is the thought process of virtually every religion. In contrast, "ruthless honesty" demands an examination of both the motives and thought process. The evidence must be followed to its logical conclusion. No ground is given to immoral or unacceptable behavior.
Speaking as a former evangelical pastor, I see the problem of the evangelical conscience scandal as a paradox: the desire to know reality conflicted by the necessity to deny reality. Whether the topic is "Christian borrowing of pagan god stories", "the evidence for the historicity of Jesus", "interpreting prophesy", "evolution", "the rapture", or "biblical contradictions and errors", Christians are required to put round pegs into square holes. Pre-determined theological conclusions override contradictory considerations. On some level Christians should suspect there is a distortion, but are intimidated by fear and peer pressure resulting in denial and a skewed conscience. This thought pattern perpetuates and like a virus spreads in varying degrees to other areas of one's life oftentimes resulting in the "shocking" behaviors described.
Hence, to the dismay of Christian propagandists, their morality proves no better than that of the non-religious. Is there a way for all of us to prevent racism, injustice, divorce, and sexual immorality? The real good news is Yes! It is the hard work of applying critical thinking skills and "ruthless honesty" in every decision of life.