Over the last several months I’ve been traveling a lot, mainly in connection with the release of the book What Good Is God? I’ve also done radio interviews from my home in Colorado and written blogs for the likes of CNN.com and The Huffington Post. Those last two assignments gave me a window into just how much hostility the topic of religion stirs up.
In answering the question, “What good is God?” I respond that I note positive benefits on three levels. 1) On an individual level, faith can help transform the lives of the needy, such as prostitutes, alcoholics, Dalits (Untouchables), and leprosy victims—the stories I tell in my book. 2) The community of faith also responds with comfort and practical help to those in need: both in natural disasters, such as an earthquake in Haiti or a hurricane in New Orleans, and in human ones such as the mass murders at Virginia Tech and Mumbai. 3) Finally, the gospel spreads like yeast in bread, as Jesus predicted, affecting whole societies. Google the websites that rate countries on freedom, prosperity, freedom from corruption, charity, or gender equality, and virtually all have in common a strong Christian heritage. To take a striking example, what changed Sweden from a tribe of pillaging warriors—the fearsome Vikings—into the civil, generous society we see today?
I had no idea that such assertions would whack a hornet’s nest of protesters. Hundreds of people must cruise the Internet daily looking for anyone who says something good about religion. What an idiot I must be! How can I possibly suggest that religion ever does any good! Don’t I know about the Crusades and the Inquisition? Religion does little but delude people, strip them of money, and further violence and ethnic division.
Here are a few samples of those comments:
–God makes waffle batter fluffy. His only power. Little known fact.
–Religion and a nickel will get you a cup of coffee.
–The question for evangelical ministers isn’t whether there is or isn’t a God or whether God matters. The question for their flock simply is; WHERE’S THE MONEY? SHOW ME THE MONEY!
–The guy looks like a wacko, like all evangelicals…
–if there is a god, he sucks. no good god would allow some of the things going on around us to exist. conseqently, if the there is no god we would have no one to blame. assuming there is a god he doesn’t do any of us any good at all.
Some got more personal, such as the writer who posted about me, “He needs his neck broken, I think. Too bad he didn’t die before writing such a pathetic book. What a waste of paper and medical resources.”
Lest you think these sentiments represent a radical minority, consider that before a debate on “Is religion good or bad?” between Tony Blair and Christopher Hitchens in Toronto , the organizers commissioned a poll of 18,000 people in 23 countries. Final results: 52 percent of those surveyed concluded that religion does more harm than good. (The nation with the most appreciation for religion, 92 percent, was Saudi Arabia; the nation with the least appreciation for religion, ironically, was Sweden, at 19 percent. Ah, what short memories have those Swedes.)
As I’ve often written, in my fundamentalist past I saw the toxic effects of religion gone bad. And in my career as a journalist I’ve met my share of characters who seem more suitable for Worldwide Wrestling than for spiritual leadership. In fact, the Huffington Post responses caught me off guard because I’m far more accustomed to hearing from Christian flame-throwers who judge me soft or heretical.
Yet I must acknowledge that some of the oddest characters I’ve met, the larger-than-life ones with a surplus of ego and a deficiency of sophistication, are those who have accomplished most in the work of God’s Kingdom: organizing relief work, feeding the hungry, proclaiming the Good News of Jesus. That pattern simply replicates what the Bible shows so clearly: God used Jacob with his slippery ethics, David with his moral lapses, Jeremiah with his morosity, Saul of Tarsus with his abusive past, Peter with his bodacious failures.
Thinking back over the Christian personalities I’ve known, as well as those featured in both Old and New Testaments, I’ve come up with the following principle: God uses the talent pool available.
To adapt an analogy I heard recently, when the Pueblo, Colorado, Symphony Orchestra plays Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony—don’t blame Beethoven. On the other hand, the only way many Coloradans will ever hear Beethoven is through that struggling ensemble. Unlike Christopher Hitchens and the defenders of non-religion, I can still hear strains of the Good News wherever I go in the world, which is why I keep writing about it.
Dear Philip,
Thank you for your advice.
I’ll try to make a small group in my church with some Christians who fell the gap between the church and the world, in another word, the graceful world and the anti-grace world.
My pastor agreed my opinion already.
So please pray for this group.
Philip, I just wanted to drop you a note and thank you for your honest and sincere work. I have been working my way through your books (my original intro to you was from your CNN article, which really grabbed my interest) and they have given me some great insight and helped me in my faith.
Please continue to “ask, seek, and knock”, we are all the better for it.
Thank you, Dwain
Hi Philip – we met a while back after you spoke at Rhema, I’m a CS Lewis nut.
I’m acutely aware of the hostility toward Christians from the educated and privileged, amongst whom I am numbered, and where I sheltered as a fundamentalist atheist until 1970, when something happened that shattered the shelter. As a mining engineer, I’ve also had to confront this issue of the literalism in scripture, especially earth-age and evolution, and as a pain-in-the-butt fanatic for answers, I’ve experienced contempt and isolation from within the faith as well as from without. I’ve come to the conclusion that nobody really makes decisions rationally – though I like to think that I do more than most, since I’m aware of the issue. We’re carried by our passions, and when these are dominated by pride, fear, greed or lust, we interpret or ignore the information to satisfy that driver. Unfortunately, having a passion for God doesn’t work any better than having a passion against Him, since if our concept of Him is twisted or limited, we attribute to Him incorrect demands or insensitivities.
Again as an engineer, I’m strongly driven by “What works”, and “What is real?” – not “what do you want to be real?”
CS Lewis is one of my passions, for the above reason, and I see your books in the same light. I’m re-reading “Disappointment with God” (I think for the 4th time) and pondering on whether people realize how important it is to re-read good material, not keep rushing on to the next publication. This is still a landmark book on the issue of facing reality and getting expectations right – the real critical issue behind much of the derision in which Christianity is held by those who should be thanking the faith for their privilege.
I’ve gotten bored with the evolution-new creation debate. It’s only relevant because of the ridiculous division it causes within the faith, and the ridicule it brings to the whole faith from outside, as well as turning off those who would otherwise listen and be healed.
I’m looking forward to getting the new book – have heard good stuff about it.
I started to read your books soon after my husband of 40 years died after a dreadful illness and much suffering. He is with his Lord and Saviour, and I am healing partially due to your wrtings. I started with Disappointment with God. I couldn’t put it down and I searched for more and found six more. Intrigued by Soul Survivor and The Bible Jesus Read just to name two more. Just finished What Good is God , and I am full of the grace of God and know His love on a higher level because of your own journey. As you call yourself a pilgrim, so am I as I continue to see a holy God laugh at our plans when He is dismissed as not to depend on Him for all the necessities in life.
Oh how I wish to meet Dr. Brand in heaven one fine day. Loved Fearfully and Wonderfully Made. I am a nurse only gifted be God with mercy and understanding in a worshiping manner in what we are as created beings, sinful yet forgiven through His gift of Salvation.
I talk about you and what I have learned about the world outside my comfort zone and how our God is so worthy of praise and adoration. Your sense of what Job went through as we sat in the audience knowing the plot but unable to tell Job what was up behind the scenes. I embellished your account of Handel’s Messiah at the end of one of your masterpieces. I read also What’s So Amazing about Grace and have so much more grace myself as I try to see through Jesus and His love.
This is a thrill to spend time talking about all you know and how you have affected me to a point that I have grown in my walk of faith. I am stronger through my loss, even though my life is extremely lonely without good manly hugs and a spouse’s love.
Thank you for the web site and hope you stay well for many more adventures. Can I ever come along? I could help in some way.
Forever grateful, Sherry
Dear Mr Philip Yancey.
I`m a roumanian young christian, and I want to tell you that I enjoy reading your books. I pray God to bless you , for family and your work.
This is all I`ve wanted to say. Sorry for the writing mistakes.
I`ve wanted to write this to you trough your e-mail, but I coudn`t find it on this site, so I`ve picked randomly a topik and wrote my ,,greeting” at comentary section.
God bless you…forward :))