The Plight of the Friendly

We have a problem in America. We're not talking about the right things. We're trying too hard to remove religions subjects and religious reasoning from politics, and that's a bad idea.

I'd like to see more religion in politics, not less. Now, don't get me wrong, I understand the motives behind not talking about religion. Just the mention of it makes people uncomfortable. There's this perception that bringing up religion in a conversation somehow puts you in that John Ashcroft -- Pat Robertson -- Jerry Falwell school of political thought.
The thing is, those people are at the very fringe of Christianity. Most of us are nice, friendly, moderate people. And nice, friendly, moderate people tend to make a big mistake when it comes to influencing a discussion. They are too nice and too friendly. They don't want to bring up a topic that would make somebody uncomfortable. They don't want to get into a debate that might make someone upset.

You can see why nice, friendly, moderate Christians aren't making much headway.

Mean, unfriendly, fanatical people do not have this problem. Fanatics don't care what the social cost of persuasion is. Mean people don't care who they make uncomfortable, and unfriendly people don't care who they upset. While we're being nice, friendly, and moderate, fanatical Christians are vying with fanatical atheists for control of the country's religious debate.

We ignore the topic at our own peril. We need to discuss religion in politics, if only to put the middle ground back into religious politics.

A lot of people from the nice-friendly-moderate camp say we should "show forth our faith through good works" (or some variant), and they're right. But if you've ever met an atheist or agnostic who did good things, you might see where there's problem with that. Good works are (by definition, actually) good things to do, but they don't solve the problems I've discussed here, unless you manage to associate your works with your faith. And we do that by bringing up the topic in discussion.

If you're living by the principles you accept as a Christian, talking about faith is difficult. It's hard to be loving and compassionate towards people, and at the same time say things that upset those same people. But we have to, and that's why I've started this column.

Because the Christian fringe and the anti-Christian fringe are recruiting people every day, and if we refuse to show people that there's a nice, friendly, moderate alternative, then it won't be too long before there's no middle ground left to be a part of.

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