Osler's Razor

Here is a hard question that is too rarely discussed: How do we express our faith in a pluralistic society? That is, how do Christians live out their faith and mission without seeming arrogant, and without denigrating other faiths, all while not hiding that which is most important to them?

My answer to this is in the title of the post-- I think we should be authentic, we should be unashamed, and that we should be honest.

By authentic, I mean that our faith need not bend to the will of society. Importantly, this is different than feeling the need to impose our beliefs on others; rather it means not changing ourselves. For example, consider the question of the Sabbath. An authentic Christian should probably (as Jesus advised) try to keep the Sabbath holy. However, we can do that without insisting that everyone else close down on Sunday.

By unashamed, I mean that Christians should talk openly and publicly about the way their faith influences their actions. Most of us do not accept a two-sphere morality-- that is, we hope that the same values inform us all the time, at work and at home. We should live that out. If we choose to do something or not do something because of our faith, we should say so.

By honest, I mean that we should not pretend that our faith or our life in faith is perfect, or makes us perfect, or is easy. We should be honest about our doubts, and about our own failures. Christianity is humbling, and we should be willing to be honest about our problems and struggles. I once heard someone say "you can't be an alcoholic and a Christian," and I completely disagree. You absolutely can be a Christian struggling with that problem, just as we all struggle. To claim that Christians are different than others because they behave better just is not honest.

It is tempting to hide our faith in a secular society, but if we do, is it really faith?