Osler's Razor

I have often said that I am unashamed and unafraid to be a Christian in public life. That is becoming harder to say.  These have been difficult times. I am ashamed of what many of us have said and done, and frustrated by the inability of myself and others to do much about it.

Last week, I gave a talk to a large conference room full of death penalty defenders about faith and capital punishment. These are the people who follow (whether they are aware of it or not) Jesus's directive to "visit those in prison," and who bear the approbation of many because they seek to avoid the death of a man or woman at the hands of the state.

As is true with people in that business (and in many of my advocacy circles), relatively few of those in the audience were Christians. Many of them, in fact, were alienated from Christianity by what it has come to represent in our society: sexual predation, political ambition, protestations of victimhood by the rich and powerful, and the promotion of "religious freedom" as a permission slip to stigmatize, reject, and harm some of the most hurt and powerless of those among us.

I felt compelled to begin my talk by acknowledging all of this, before identifying myself as a Christian. My first slide showed a cross on a hillside, and I discussed how that image is going to mean very different things to people in this day and time: to some it is a symbol of salvation, and to others a symbol of oppression or dysfunction. Beginning that way that felt right, but also deeply sad. We are in a bad place.

After my talk, several people came up to talk to me. One of them was a Dominican nun who is a death penalty defender. She was one of those people who is tough and warm; a combination too rarely found. Our conversation was brief, but I left it more hopeful.

Christianity, here and in much of the world, can no longer assume respect. We must earn it. That nun is doing so. Many are not. I am not doing enough.

It may be a healthy thing for this faith. We have become fat and lazy and arrogant as a majority; losing that status will make us work to reflect the true example of Christ.