Editorial: Back to square one, time for community

When all is said and done, there are two things that I don't quit like as I approach the end of my university career. One of them is writers that use clichéd, overblown lines to open their paragraphs. The other is more serious, and although it is not isolated to the Redeemer community, it is far from foreign.  Some well-meaning Christians mistake their gut instincts for a conviction of truth, and call their actions zealous.  This impulse can get even the best of us on the wrong path, and cause us to abandon critical thinking in favour of what seems like basic truth.  Our instincts tell us to attack those who do evil and oppose what ought to be eliminated from our society with in-your-face protest, such as the "Show the truth" campaign that so many pro-lifers adhere to.  We feel that our instinct leads us in the right direction, when that feeling might instead be a false sense of superiority left over from how we felt when Canada was a Christian nation.

Once upon a time, you see, Christians were at the top of the political and cultural food chain. We made policy, shaped culture, and acted in every way with scripture as an ideal guide. We were the majority. Today, however, we are a minority. As Christians, we are called to be salt and light in the world. Being salty means we need to preserve what is good. This brings us into a complicated relationship with our no-longer Christian government: we cannot stand for what we believe is right without being called intolerant; we cannot achieve public funding for our schools because our students are being indoctrinated, rather than made autonomous; and we cannot seem to get a decent handle on what our role should be, now that the world has changed.

Since the dawn of time, there have been such ideological changing-of-the-guards. The old brass become victim to a new world order, and the institutions and worldviews that are sustained either are the culture-changers themselves, or have found a way to adapt their role in the new culture in a fresh, yet resolute way. Some have responded to postmodernism by trying to reestablish Christianity as a Canadian staple. In a multicultural and secular country, however, this is largely impossible – at least, not the way these folks go about it. Such people think that being salt and light means that impurity cannot be in sight; they think that they can drive away darkness with a whip and their zeal. What they seem to forget, however, is that the only way to drive away darkness is to be light.

At its deepest roots, Christianity is an act of community. The early church grew because it radiated brotherly love.  By losing out to secularism, Christianity is effectively moving back to square one, and that might just mean that we need to act like a loving community again.  I'm not suggesting that we should let legislation and policy slide by without opposition; instead, we should be acting as members of a diverse country representing our unique beliefs.  Rather than displaying images of cut-up babies at a pro-life rally, for instance, we should promote the value of life - celebrate the miracles from conception to birth, and help people see that truth, rather than one that only spreads guilt (after all, it's 'pro-life', not 'anti-death').  Rather than shunning homosexuals, we should invite them into our churches and let them experience love in a full sense.  Rather than accuse others of making pacts with the devil, we should help whenever possible, and give to each other as we have need.  We can do all of these things without changing even for a second what it means to be a Christian - in fact, we might discover that the term has become over-defined.  We might realize that we were followers of Christ before we called him Saviour, and the right thing to do might be to let the world come in, see the light, and give God the time to heat the wick and give them light to shine, too.  Instead of following our instincts, we might look at Jesus' example.  If we earnestly strive for that, then maybe we will forget about whipping away the darkness - maybe we will focus on lighting candles.