Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the World’s Largest Religion by Rebecca McLaughlin
Rebecca McLaughlin holds a PhD in Renaissance literature from Cambridge University and a theological degree from Oak Hill College. She is one amazing lady. I loved (understatement of the year) her book.
The “hard questions” which she deals with–
–Aren’t we better off without religion?
–Doesn’t Christianity crush diversity?
–How can you say there’s only one true faith?
–Doesn’t religion hinder morality?
–Doesn’t religion cause violence?
–How can you take the Bible seriously?
And that’s only the first six!
At first, I thought this was from a critic of the Christian faith. The title is “confronting Christianity,” as you see.
It didn’t take long to see the book is from a defender of the faith and an amazing one at that.
I’m disgusted that the book was published in 2019–six years ago–and I had not heard of it! I stumbled onto it online. However, I am now determined to do what little I can to call it to the attention of my pastor friends, who are always looking for material, looking for great books to read, looking for strong points to make in sharing their faith and bolstering the wavering.
Look at the chapter headings above. Here is a slight taste—
Aren’t we better off without religion? Rebecca McLaughlin says, “To say that religion is bad for you is like saying ‘drugs are bad for you,’ without distinguishing cocaine from life-saving medication.” She concludes the first chapter with this: “No matter what we currently believe, we must all confront Christianity: the most widespread belief system in the world, with the most far-reading intellectual footprint, and a wealth of counterintuitive wisdom concerning how humans should thrive. So let’s begin.”
And off she goes.
Second chapter: Doesn’t Christianity crush diversity? She quotes cultural anthropology professor and proud member of the Naga tribe (from India) Kanato Chophi, who said, “We must abandon this absurd idea that Christianity is a Western religion.”
McLaughlin says, “Contrary to popular conceptions, the Christian movement was multi-cultural and multiethnic from the outset.”
Third chapter: How can you say there’s only one true faith?
Her friend was troubled. A native of Iran, this science professor had “witnessed the full force of religious coercion. He had converted from Islam partly as a reaction against that force.” He wanted everyone to know about Jesus, but wondered if persuading someone to change their beliefs was wrong.
Rebecca McLaughlin asked him to imagine a scene. “He is sitting across from a middle-aged woman from a poor educational background. She has just told him that she believes she’s not at risk of breast cancer and has refused a mammogram. How should he respond?”
The point she was making is that when truth questions carry life-or-death consequences, we do not see persuasion as coercion but as an act of love.
So with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Fourth chapter: Doesn’t religion hinder morality?
While we can certainly cite instance after instance of religious people doing ungodly things, to say that all religion hinders morality is too simple, for three reasons.
- Its lack of specificity. Religion is a huge term. We must evaluate the faith.
- It does not fit the data. There is substantial evidence that religious practice has produced thousands of good results.
- Such a claim (that religion hinders morality) assumes that there is a universal measuring-stick of morality to which we all subscribe. But there is not
Fifth chapter: Doesn’t religion cause violence?
To be sure, much violence has been perpetrated in the name of religion. McLaughlin presents evidence to answer the usual charge that “the Crusades proves Christianity is terrible,” which is worth the price of the book. After numerous examples, she says: Staked at the heart of Christianity is a symbol of extreme violence–the brutal, torturous, state-sponsored execution of an innocent man. Christians believe that this execution was orchestrated by God Himself. Some argue from this that Christianity glorifies violence….. Christianity does not glorify violence. It humiliates it.
Sixth chapter: How can you take the Bible literally?
Our very lives depend on each of us distinguishing literal truth from metaphors. We want the medical team to take literally the training they received on caring for heart attack victims. But if a friend tells you he died of embarrassment because of a rip in his jeans, you would recognize this as a figure of speech.
McLaughlin recommends Peter Williams’ recent book Can We Trust the Gospels? This book, she says, “makes the case that, were it not for the extraordinary claims of the Gospels that lead many to presuppose their falsity–they would pass historical tests with flying colors.” In fact, she says, “we have far more manuscript evidence for the life of Jesus from copies of the Gospels than we do for the lives of some other important historical figures of his time, even including Tiberius, the Roman emperor who ruled during Jesus’ public ministry.”
Mark’s Gospel, for instance, was written well within the lifetime of many eyewitnesses, people who were there, who saw and heard and knew.
We can trust the Gospels.
I so recommend this book.