I’ve been reading Tim Keller’s The Reason for God It’s a great read and I highly recommend it. He spells out the major objections to Christianity and takes them quite seriously and considers whether there are good answers to these objections.
One of the biggest deterrents to Christianity for the average Sydney sider is the fear of ‘fanatical’ Christians. Fanatical Christians seem to have gone off the deep end and are against all sorts of things – internet, television, movies, art, homosexuals, members of other religion… When arguing for the truth of their faith they appear intolerant and self-righteous. This is what many people would call fanaticism.
Keller rightly argues many people try to understand Christians along a spectrum from ‘nominalism’ at one end to ‘fanaticism’ at the other. A nominal Christian is one in name only, who doesn’t practice it and may believe it. A fanatic is someone who over-believes and over-practices it. On this understanding, the implication is clear – avoid both extremes! The ideal is in the middle – don’t go overboard with it!
The problem with this understanding is that it mistakenly sees Christianity as a form of moral improvement. The fanatics are the ones most committed to intense moralism, who look down on others who don’t share their religiosity. In Jesus’ day these people were known as Pharisees and Jesus condemned them for their assumption that they were right with God because of their right doctrine and right behaviour.
What if Christianity is, at its very heart, not about moral self improvement but grace? Grace – salvation not because of what we do, but because of what Christ has done for us? Belief that you are accepted by God by sheer grace is profoundly humbling. The people who are fanatics, then, are so not because they are too committed to the gospel but because they’re not committed to it enough.
People we see as fanatical are overbearing, self righteous, opinionated, insensitive, and harsh. The problem is that they are not Christian enough – they are not fanatically humble, sensitive, loving, empathetic, forgiving, or understanding – as Christ was.
The antidote is not to tone down and moderate their faith, but rather to grasp a truer and fuller faith in Christ. In his teaching Jesus continually says to the respectable and upright, ‘The tax collectors and the prostitutes enter the kingdom before you’ (Matthew 21.31)