Our Outrage as Christians Is a Window Into Who We Are
by Benjamin Cremer | 9 December 2024 |
I grew up as a conservative Christian. I pastored for the majority of my adult life in conservative churches. I have always heard staunch advocacy for the lives of the unborn—yet such advocacy seems to stop with the unborn alone.
Then I watched with great embarrassment and shame as my former faith tradition made its outrage go viral over such trivial things.
Things like Starbucks red cups, Easter eggs, green M&Ms, people saying “happy holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas,” and so on. As a pastor within this movement, I just couldn’t believe that this was the kind of thing that we wanted to be known for in the world.
It seemed as though we wanted the reputation of being outraged over symbolism rather than actual injustice and hate against the poor, the sick, the marginalized, the immigrant, and the oppressed. The very people Jesus talked about when he said, “Whatever you do for these, my brothers and sisters, you do for me.” (Matthew 25)
Then I saw my faith tradition be so easily beguiled by politicians who simply paid performative lip service to God and the Bible, yet lived lives and treated others in such demonizing ways that couldn’t be more opposite from the Jesus I learned about growing up.
I saw my faith tradition become more offended by the Ten Commandments and the Bible not being in public schools than it did about how kids were going to school hungry and had to go to school wondering if they might be the next victims of mass shootings.
I saw my faith tradition get more outraged over Black athletes kneeling during the national anthem at football games than it was about the reasons why those athletes were kneeling in peaceful protest in the first place.
I saw my faith tradition become more offended by the idea of abortion than it was over poverty, the lack of education, the lack of paid family leave, affordable childcare, domestic abuse, maternal and infant mortality rates, lack of living wages, misogyny, and the erosion of women’s rights, all of which cause abortion rates to increase. Tragically, abortion rates have only increased since my faith tradition finally got what it wanted, the overturning of Roe. Now women are dying due to harsh and vague laws, but there’s no outrage over that.
It will never make sense to me how we can claim to be “pro-life” yet seem so ambivalent about the lives and rights of women, let alone so resistant to consider the unjust use of the death penalty, or war, or guns.
I saw as my faith tradition got more outraged over how our society defined gender roles than it did over how women and children were being abused in our own churches.
I saw as my faith tradition would get more outraged over the idea of a poor person misusing the welfare system than it did about how billionaires might be using their wealth to sway policies over our entire nation in their favor.
I saw my faith tradition get more outraged over how rainbows were being used than they were about how the people who were waving rainbow flags were being treated by many.
I saw my faith tradition become more offended by ideas about illegal immigrants it has come to believe than over why someone would risk their lives and the lives of their children to come here.
I saw my faith tradition get more outraged over messages that called for opposing climate change than it did about policies and economic practices that are literally destroying God’s creation and causing great suffering.
I saw my faith tradition get more offended over the idea that God was mocked by choreography at the Olympic Games than it was about supporting prominent people who claim to be Christian who have mocked entire people groups, all of whom are created in God’s image, since 2016.
I saw my faith tradition get caught up in a political movement that is solely based on outrage, political grievance, and vengeance, advocating the politics of “hate your enemies” rather than the theology of “love your neighbor.”
I saw my faith tradition become more outraged over people “deconstructing” Christianity and possibly even leaving the church than it did over the reasons that caused such a crisis of faith in the first place, like all the reasons mentioned above.
I saw my faith tradition get outraged at people and even pastors like myself for speaking about these things, even moving to push us out rather than faithfully addressing the actual injustices and hypocrisy itself.
I could go on and on here, but my heart has been broken over this dynamic for almost a decade now. I just wish Christians were known for getting outraged over the right things.
I just wish love were our reputation.
“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” -Jesus (John 13:35)
Rev. Benjamin Cremer has spent the majority of his life in Evangelical Christian spaces. He has experienced a lot of church hurt. He now writes to explore topics that often are at the intersection of politics and Christianity. His desire is to discover how we can move away from Christian nationalism, religious fundamentalism, and church hurt to reclaim the Gospel of Jesus together. This article is an excerpt of a longer one published in his own newsletter. Published with authorization.
