Voices
wen, Howard Thurman, Reinhold
Niebuhr and John XXIII offered
the basic framework for what
Christianity meant to the world.
Collectively, these men and
women offered some of the most
philosophically deep and socially
relevant thought of any kind. They
inspired a generation of young people to work in racial reconciliation,
environmentalism, economic justice, and anti-war activism. They
fed the spirit, while also walking in
Jesus’ way of justice and peace.
In those days you could say you
were a Christian and the above
names might come to the mind of
the listener — and they were cool,
meaning relevant, compelling,
edgy and forward-thinking.
Sadly, that has not been true
in recent history. And it has infected the American psyche so
much so that when a stranger
tells even me — a Christian pastor — that they are a Christian,
it puts me on edge. Imagine what
it must do to a person of another
faith or someone who doesn’t
subscribe to any religion.
This has been helped by the
media who, when they have wanted a “real Christian” on the show,
turned to Jerry Falwell, Tony Perkins or James Dobson resulting
PAUL BRANDEIS
RAUSHENBUSH
HUFFINGTON
08.11.13
in a Christian profile that represented a large, but by no means
universal Christian outlook.
The generic Christian profile
that has emerged over these last
decades has been someone who
does not believe in the equality
between men and women, degrades LGBT people, is opposed
to science, especially in regards
to evolution or climate change,
is suspicious of people of other
It is hard to remember
that there was a time in the
20th century when Christians
were cool and spoke with a
powerful, prophetic voice to
the major issues of our day.”
faiths and no faith, and is promilitarism in foreign policy.
In short, it has been a while since
it has been cool to be Christian.
Well, 2013 may be the year
that changes.
Last week was a particularly
cool Christian week. To start with,
the amazing Pope Francis took
advantage of his time in Rio for
World Youth Day to make sure he
visited the nearby favela (slum),
a prison, and a drug addict cen-