Faith and Doubt

in a Culture of Disbelief

  • Home
  • About
  • Milestones
  • Contact

What’s Your Slant? (pt. 2)

January 25, 2017 2 Comments

Share this post:

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Email

Public life is a “…battlefield where everyone’s individual private interests meet everyone else’s” (Hegel).  If beliefs could just be private, it sure would simplify things. Some people think they should be private. Ironically, that’s a belief.

In the U.S., faith-based views in public often trigger concerns about separation of church and state. But public life is broader than government. Church, state, the press, the entertainment industry–all these influence social norms.

Imagine what the country would look like if churches just circled in cul-de-sacs without concern for neighbor or nation?  Universities, hospitals, and charities are the result of faith going public to serve the common good. Where things run amuck is when it goes public for power rather than influence.

Are all beliefs religious?

Everyone believes something. Every conclusion we draw is based on partial information. Even today’s science can become tomorrow’s science fiction. That’s not to say there are no facts, but only that our values profoundly influence how we interpret what we observe.

Now and then, I see people of faith selectively dismissed as biased. But an emotional investment in any idea can produce blind spots no matter your worldview. Self-awareness assists objectivity better than raw skepticism.

“A great many of those who ‘debunk’ traditional values have in the background values of their own which they believe to be immune from the debunking process.”  C.S. Lewis

“The truth will out”

Christians sometimes are labeled as hypocrites. I take this concern seriously rather than defensively. For faith to have integrity it must be lived from innermost identity to outermost public influence. The inward call is to recognize one’s heart of darkness, freed by grace alone, like a beggar finding bread. The outward call is to express through deeds what might later be explained through words. When people have been changed inwardly through faith and express it outwardly through service, words are invited rather than inflicted.

Someone’s values are always influencing public life. Words get invented or sharpened as weapons to slice up opposing values. Instead, values become compelling by living them. A great test of any value: “What if everyone lived it?”

Should faith trump politics?

If genuine Christianity seeks to live grace and truth from the inside out, then why (you may ask) did many Christians seem to identify with a presidential candidate so devoid of public virtue? I share this concern. But which candidate?

Click here for Part 1

Related

Filed Under: News & Culture

Subscribe to Faith and Doubt

Subscribe to Faith and Doubt today and receive a free copy of Milestones.

Trackbacks

  1. What's Your Slant? (Pt. 1) - Faith and Doubt says:
    February 21, 2017 at 7:02 AM

    […] Click here for part 1 […]

  2. What's Your Slant? (Pt. 1) - Faith and Doubt says:
    June 22, 2017 at 9:22 AM

    […] Click here for part 2 […]

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Who is Behind Faith and Doubt?

Tim FilstonTriplets+1 Dad. Smokies trout stalker. Spandex warrior. Comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable.
More about Tim.

FacebookLinkedInTwitter

Get updates from Faith and Doubt by email!


Subscribe to Faith and Doubt today and receive a free copy of Milestones.

Main Topics

  • Personal Growth
  • Relationships
  • Leadership
  • News & Culture
  • Tough Questions
  • Great Reads

Latest Tweets

  • How to Die a Little to Live More www.faithanddoubt.com/personal…

    February 23, 2023 12:39 PM

  • Time doesn't automatically heal all wounds. It only dulls them until we start doing this.... www.faithanddoubt.com/personal…

    November 18, 2022 11:27 AM

  • Turning your past into compost www.faithanddoubt.com/personal…

    November 17, 2022 5:15 PM

Facebook

Facebook

RSS Featured Links

  • Why Church Leaders Need to Practice Theological Triage
  • Easter Music Resources and Holy Week Playlist
  • Black Christians, White Christians, and George Washington Carver
  • How to Test Ministry Ideas
  • Chinese Christians Adapt Under New Restrictions

Latest Tweets

  • How to Die a Little to Live More www.faithanddoubt.com/personal…

    February 23, 2023 12:39 PM

  • Time doesn't automatically heal all wounds. It only dulls them until we start doing this.... www.faithanddoubt.com/personal…

    November 18, 2022 11:27 AM

RSS Leadership tips from Tony Morgan

Recent Posts

  • How to Die a Little to Live More
  • Turning your past into compost
  • How to make peace, not just keep it

all content © 2023 by Tim Filston | Design by Robin Cornett