Mac Pier, head of a
parachurch organization in Manhattan called The New York Leadership
Center, is calling for unity in the church.
Fox News thinks Pier’s “confessions” on behalf of the church are important enough for Bill O’Reilly to spend five minutes quizzing Charles Krauthammer about the church and how its longstanding divisions are alleged to encourage atheism in the world.
Fox News thinks Pier’s “confessions” on behalf of the church are important enough for Bill O’Reilly to spend five minutes quizzing Charles Krauthammer about the church and how its longstanding divisions are alleged to encourage atheism in the world.
Our
reader Qman asks, “What’s your take, is it valid?”
“We confess that we are a divided church. We are divided by race, by denomination, and by geography. We confess that division in the church breeds atheism in the world. We confess that we have yet to fully answer the prayer of Jesus that we be one that the world might believe. As Jesus wept over Jerusalem, we weep over the condition of our cities.”
So does division in the church breed
atheism? I’d say that’s a leap.
The
Non-Rise of Atheism
First, it does not appear the statistical
evidence supports Pier’s assertion.
If the Pew Research stats quoted here by O’Reilly
are meaningful, atheism is not growing significantly at present. Asked to
comment on the “rise”, Charles Krauthammer correctly points out that the number
of self-identified atheists in the U.S. remains relatively static at around
2.4% of the population. He says, “Those numbers are pretty flat. I don’t see
any eruption of atheism upon the land”.
So if a divided church breeds atheists, it currently
breeds them at about the same rate as former atheists are electing to self-identify
as Christians.
Division
over Doctrine
Second, as I’ve looked at that subject and
at the scriptures about unity and being “one” over the last couple of years, I’m
finding myself less and less concerned about the scourge of denominationalism.
Part of this relates to a realization that the sort of “oneness” Pier and his friends at The Park Church in North
Carolina are looking to achieve is not the unity the Lord had in mind when he prayed. The Lord was not praying to us, notwithstanding the unfortunate wording of Pier’s confession. People don’t answer prayers, God does. The oneness for which the Lord Jesus prayed was not and can never be accomplished by mere human effort.
The accusation that divisions among
Christians over the interpretation of scripture lead to denominationalism and promote
atheism has also been leveled by atheist Kendall Hobbs. I’ve tackled that
subject at length, so I will only reiterate this bit from Walking in Lockstep:
“All things being equal, Hobbs’ indictment might be quite daunting.
If, for instance, every Christian began the search for understanding on a perfectly equal footing — that is to say with identical default assumptions, background, training and study tools; with an identical amount of time to devote to the study; with precisely equivalent levels of commitment, intelligence, education and spiritual maturity; with a correspondingly equal level of open-mindedness about new ideas; and if there were no innate differences between the sexes, and all men and all women thought alike and studied alike; not to mention that it would be necessary to all start our studies at the same time — then we should rightly expect all believers to arrive at the same place in our understanding, shouldn’t we? We would reasonably anticipate that every believer would come to the same conclusions about what the Bible teaches and to apply them the same way.
But it should be obvious to any rational being including Kendall Hobbs that not only is this rarely the case, it is never the case. No two individuals in the history of the world have ever begun in precisely the same place at the same time to search out the same truth.”
The Inevitability of Division
Division within the
kingdom of heaven on earth was anticipated by both Christ and the apostles. False teachers and teachings are an ongoing feature of Christendom to be
battled in every century. Unless the entire church is prepared to embrace false teaching (not a good plan), over time Christians who flock to teachers serving
up doctrinal error generally tend to end up meeting separately from those who do not.
But if we must have division, one unexpected positive of denominational
affiliations is that they serve as boundaries that keep certain wolves from easy access to even larger numbers of sheep.
Further, whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. If denominationalism allows Christians with convictions to meet according to
the dictates of their consciences, that is all to the good. It doesn’t mean,
obviously, that all these different interpretations are equally correct. Existing
in a state of sincerely-held sectarian error is far from desirable, but it
seems preferable to a disingenuous claim to be in full agreement.
Finally, since it is physically
impossible for millions of believers in different countries, states, provinces,
counties or even within the same city to meet together anyway, I see the
existence of denominationalism as little more than a convenient excuse for
people like Hobbs who have already made up their minds about the existence of
God to justify their position.
The church, we must
never forget, is a work in progress, not a finished product.
Divided by Geography
Pier also claims we
are “divided by geography”. I must confess I cannot see a big problem there.
From the first century on, the church has existed not just in Jerusalem but all
over Asia and beyond. If the message of the gospel has now gone out into the
four corners of the earth, that’s a good thing. Short of the Father’s House, I’m
not sure how such an issue is to be resolved, now or ever, or even that it
should be.
As long as we are conscious
of the reality that we and Christians elsewhere in the world are members of one
spiritual body; as long as we are praying for our fellow believers, sending teaching aids and gifted men and women as appropriate and contributing to their needs according to our ability, I cannot see a problem with geographic division.
Divided by Race
More serious might be
the accusation that we are “divided by race”. Americans are certainly divided
along racial lines, and the problem has become even more evident in the last
few years. Inter-racial strife is on the uptick, and it’s going to get worse.
But is this reflected
in the church? Is racism a major problem within Christian congregations in
North America?
My observation is
that, while we are far from perfectly embracing the New Testament ideal of “no distinction”, the level of tolerance for other races and cultures is higher among Christian believers
than in any other segment of society. If anything, we are too tolerant.
Professing Christians are among the most strident advocates for higher levels
of immigration and often attempt to make their case from scripture. Some even advocate for it when it’s illegal.
Further, the fact that
there are Christian gatherings in North America that are almost exclusively
black, Chinese, Hispanic, Indian or Filipino is, for the most part, less a
function of racial intolerance than a convenience attributable primarily to common
language and culture.
If we ever get to the
point in society in which we all speak a common language and live side by side
in racially mixed communities in which tolerance and equality are the order of
the day but still find ourselves segregating on Sundays, THEN I’d say there might
be a problem.
But I cannot see any
substantive evidence for Pier’s concern on this subject in the present
environment. Atheists, it appears to me, are as inclined to racial intolerance
as Christians, if not more so. I cannot see how a church “divided” in such
a way breeds atheism.
The
Real Issue
Pier’s real issue comes out in his last
line: it is not the condition of our churches but of our cities that
troubles him. That is understandable coming from him, since it is the vision of the organization he founded to “become a model of Christian leaders impacting the spiritual and social
climate of an urban center”, to “catalyze Christian leaders to impact their city”
and to “focus on training ministry and marketplace leaders who will collaborate
on innovative initiatives in Greater New York”.
Pier wants to transform a North American
city. It’s a laudable goal. There is practical value in what he’s doing. But
social transformation is not the primary focus of the Body of Christ. Pier’s
need to keep his organization viable by drumming up funds and motivating
volunteers does not justify the hyperbole, in my opinion.
Are divisions in the church breeding
atheism? Pier asserts it, but doesn’t prove it. I find myself unconvinced by either
his rhetoric or the evidence of my own eyes.
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