Changing the Minds of the “Hattersleys”
September 20, 2005 Posted by Amy Hall
To continue with my thoughts from Monday on Roy Hattersley’s article, I think it’s important to ask, how do we reach the “Hattersleys” of the world? How do we change the minds of those who hate and fear Christians? Hattersley was affected by seeing the compassion of Christians in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, so you might be tempted to say, based on that article, that all depends on our living out our faith with loving actions. But it’s clear from the article that something else needs to be done as well. One paragraph gives a clue as to the source of Hattersley’s prejudice against Christians:
The arguments against religion are well known and persuasive…Stem-cell research is forbidden because an imaginary God–who is not enough of a philosopher to realize that the ingenuity of a scientist is just as natural as the instinct of Rousseau’s noble savage–condemns what he does not understand and the churches that follow his teaching forbid their members to pursue cures for lethal diseases.
The root cause of his prejudice is not Christians behaving badly, it’s his belief that Christians are gullible, primitive idiots who believe ridiculous things and think it’s wrong to try to cure lethal diseases. It was his lack of understanding of our ideas and the reasons for our beliefs that first shaped his perception of us. Any right-living Christian he views at this point will do some damage control (as he described in the article), but this, by itself, will still leave people like Hattersley suspicious of us. For him, we Christians may do some good, but we’re still, ultimately, a danger to society because of our “irrational” ideas.
It’s clear from this that, yes, we need to show people God’s love with our actions, but we also need to explain the reasoning behind our ideas clearly, openly, and publicly. Both steps are necessary and must be taken to reach the “Hattersleys.”
Related posts:
- Life-Changing Apologetics
- Calvinism Improves Your Vision
- Maybe Religion is Okay After All
- Closed Minds And Arrogant Hearts
- The Third Mission to the West
- Tonight: Brokaw Investigates Evangelicals
Posted in Amy's Posts, Apologetics, Culture, Main Page
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September 25th, 2005 at 4:43 pm
Thanks for this post and your previous remarks. I appreciated the comments because of my situation, which may not be all that unique: after becoming a Christian at a young age, I fell into a vast quarrel with God and churches which lasted for about ten years. I always felt the presence of God, but I was furious because of some losses I'd suffered. Three years ago, I reclaimed my faith and my relationship with God, as a result of the very quiet witness of a (somewhat troubled I suspect) Christian. No proselytizing, no exhortation, no motto on a t shirt: just a lived witness that was really compelling. Now I see that witness as a sign that God doesn't let anyone go, not even one so stubborn and mistaken as I. And I'm grateful for the sheer love manifested by Christians. I was a hater of churches, very resentful. But here I am, in church again. Thanks again for writing–
September 25th, 2005 at 11:22 pm
Vicky, thank you for reading! What good and happy news that you have recently returned to God. The angels rejoice at this, and so do I!