Jared Wilson has a terrific post up on that. Since, even aside from the current political ill-making, this is a particular peeve of mine, I greatly appreciate what he has to say.
Jared Wilson has a terrific post up on that. Since, even aside from the current political ill-making, this is a particular peeve of mine, I greatly appreciate what he has to say.
“Christians follow Jesus, who is The Truth. This means we should be people set apart, keepers of truth, zealous about truth, relentlessly devoted to protecting and perpetrating truth.”
So, I spend significant time talking with Atheists about religion – those I know well as close friends and those I hardly know at all. I feel like I have a good idea of what the Atheist outlook on religion is, and I keep it in mind so that I can remain respectful to my friends and also so I can have that corrective in my own thinking.
From the outside/Atheist point of view, Christians are the exact polar opposite of lovers of the truth or earnest seekers after truth. They are a profoundly credulous bunch that is, at best, borderline gullible. Christians seek a truth, a very particular truth, and if anything are more often than not actively hostile to other truths. Its in the language – if there is only The One Truth, Jesus, then everyone else is lying or deluded or evil. There is no other option, no respectful, open-minded option. You don’t have to look far to find Christians saying things like this.
Christians; religious people in general; even the “spiritual but not religious” crowd look for a particular kind of truth. The delve into truth discriminately. When a Christian encourages us to seek truth, what that Christian usually means is seek after truth *in the Bible* or truth *that is part of the tradition*. This is not truth-seeking, and is in fact something that a truly credulous person can engage in without any problems. It does not require a great deal of critical thinking, and does not encourage true discernment. “Look only in the Bible for information supporting your pre-existing belief in the Bible” – just doesn’t cut it.
I do think, honestly, that there is a lot that goes on in the Church that exhibits a lack of critical thinking. On the one hand, this is *necessary*. Critical thinking is a particular kind of thinking that will lead to particular kinds of conclusions – likely mechanistic, reductionist conclusions. On the other hand, this is incredibly sad, because, at least I *hope*, careful and skeptical thinking can and should be utilized in one’s religious life. I try to, anyway, and I feel enriched by the practice.
I think this will be a perennial problem, and I’m not sure what to think about it. I see how Christians can’t be reductionists, can’t be 100% skeptical, but I also screamed in frustration today when once again someone on the radio talked about how Obama is a secret [invective] Muslim.
Actually, I disagree that “Critical thinking is a particular kind of thinking that will lead to particular kinds of conclusions – likely mechanistic, reductionist conclusions.” Indeed, I disagree that there are “kinds” of thinking at all, let alone that there is any such thing that can pre-determine one’s conclusions. All truth is God’s truth, as Augustine said, and as long as we’re really pursuing truth, rather than some agenda of our own–as long as we truly seek to know what is, rather than to confirm what we want to be–then we’re good.
Otherwise, I agree with you completely. The gullibility of so many Christians just makes me want to scream–and the fear of the truth in so many, and the misunderstanding of what it means that Jesus is the truth, makes me sad.
And on a side note: it’s a false statement that Sen. Obama is a Muslim, because he clearly isn’t–but if he were, so what? (Honestly, if he were a Muslim, he’d clearly be a pretty liberal one.) Of all the canards floating around this election season, that is in some ways the most unfortunate.
That’s also a big part of the issue – the so what part. I definitely agree, but we can hardly say that a majority of America is ready for a Muslim President. I honestly think that at this point we’d see a black lesbian first, as long as she was vaguely deist like all politicians have to be at the national level.
I definitely think that there are kinds of thinking – this belief of mine is reinforced whenever I have an encounter with someone from a different culture. For whatever it means, I definitely felt like the Chinese immigrant members of my internship congregation, for exsample, often thought differently from me and the other Anglos. We still got along and had great community, but it took a lot more effort.
I’ll also stick by critical thinking, applied in all situations and to all questions, will lead to materialism and reductionism.
I also think that everyone practices a limited type of critical thinking, of necessity, so the problem will always be “what are you coming to the table with that you already think is true, and why?”
As often is the case, I type a lot but we basically agree. I’ll try to stop screaming at my radio, but it’ll be hard.
🙂
I’ll certainly agree that not everyone thinks the same way, and if that’s all you mean by “kinds” of thinking, then fine; but I disagree on critical thinking. One can certainly think critically and end up with a reductionist, materialist worldview; one can also think critically and end up a brilliant Christian philosopher (I know a couple of them). Or many other things in between.
As for a Muslim president–you might well be right; I’m not half sure it wouldn’t depend on the kind of Muslim. 48 years ago, nobody thought America was ready for a Catholic president, either.
Rob, thanks (as always) for the link.
As always, you’re welcome, and thanks for the post.