Hasn’t the Church been responsible for so much injustice?
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It’s a fair question. And related to it is the objection that Christians are hypocrites who don’t practise what they preach, or self-righteous fanatics. Particularly if a person has had personal disappointment with Christians and churches, this becomes a major stumbling block to faith. On the other hand, where people have known kind and loving Christians and have seen churches that are not only devout but civic-minded and generous, then the intellectual case for Christianity seems much more plausible.
It’s true that many non-Christians live better lives than many Christians. Join any church and you’ll soon find that people there have plenty of character flaws. But this shouldn’t really be too surprising. The Bible teaches that all humans are made in the image of God and know his common grace. “This means that no matter who performs it, every act of goodness, wisdom, justice and beauty is empowered by God” (Keller). And the Bible also recognises that real Christians are also very flawed – it is by God’s grace alone, not our own moral efforts, that we are able to receive the gift of salvation. That is the start of a gradual process of change, but it is a long journey for us all. Many who turn to Christ do so from a broken past, recognising their need of God, and all of us are broken in some way, gradually being mended by God’s grace.
Some would say that religion of any kind does more harm than good, causing war, violence and the oppression of minorities. And certainly there are plenty of examples of that. Yet it is also true that the same thing happens in secular societies. The Communist regimes of Russia, China and Cambodia in the twentieth century rejected all organised religion and belief in God and yet each produced massive bloodshed against its own people. “We can only conclude that there is some violent impulse so deeply rooted in the human heart that it expresses itself regardless of what the beliefs of a particular society might be” (Keller).
Perhaps the biggest deterrent to Christianity is the fear of intolerant fanaticism. Such people are “over-bearing, self-righteous, opinionated, insensitive and harsh. Why? It’s not because they are too Christian but because they are not Christian enough... They are not fanatically humble, sensitive, loving, empathetic, forgiving or understanding – as Christ was” (Keller).
Extremism and fanaticism are a constant danger, but the antidote is not to tone down our faith but to grasp it more faithfully. The Old Testament prophets are scathing in their critique of religious practice, as is Jesus too. In his teaching it is religious people he criticises, urging a true heart-religion rather than empty religious practice. (E.g. Matthew 6:1-8, Matthew 21:31, Luke 11:39-46, Proverbs 14:31, Isaiah 58:2-7, Amos 5:21-24.)
Keller concludes: “What is the answer, then, to the very fair and devastating criticisms of the record of the Christian church? The answer is not to abandon the Christian faith, because that would leave us with neither the standards nor the resources to make correction. Instead we should move to a fuller and deeper grasp of what Christianity is.”
The African slave trade is a particular example of a deep wrong which had for many years received church support and justification, and then of Christians fighting long and sacrificially to right that injustice. The financial cost of compensation to the plantation owners was huge but eventually the House of Commons voted to abolish slavery, simply because it was wrong. Similarly, in the USA, Martin Luther King confronted racism by urging white churches in the south to be more true to their beliefs. To follow Jesus truly is to live for justice (Amos 5:24).
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