3. Extreme
3
Extreme
Most people grow out of an adolescent obsession with anything nasty or gnarly, but in some of us there remains a sick fascination with the extreme gross-out. It’s hard to look away, and part of us doesn’t want to. My woodshop-teaching Grandpa Kinnaman used to “fix” blood blisters under his fingernails by using a power drill to—warning to the squeamish—bore a hole in his nail to relieve the pressure. Watching his self-surgery was horrible but also mesmerizing. You couldn’t not look.
Human beings are different from other creatures in our attraction to extremes: diets, coupons, hobbies, sports, home remodeling, hoarding—you name it.
Think about the massive popularity of TV shows and YouTube videos about anything “extreme.” Extreme makeovers. Extreme home makeovers. Extreme weight loss. X Games (the X is short for “extreme”). American Ninja Warrior. Shark Week. Eating exotic foods on a dare (call it schadenfreude, but be honest: it’s hard to avert your eyes when someone is choking down fried grasshoppers or sautéed animal gonads).
The Wrong Kind of Extreme
If the past decade and a half has taught Americans anything, it’s that religious extremism is a real thing. Bombarded by images of terrorism, gun violence, perpetual religious wars, and unthinkable atrocities, we are justifiably wary of people who use their faith as an excuse to do violence and incite terror.
However, perhaps out of fear instilled by 9/11 and an obsession with making ourselves “safe” in a world that is clearly not safe, our society too often counts religious conviction and public observance in the same column with religious extremism. Countercultural faithfulness is conflated with radicalism.
Is it extremism when people live according to what they believe to be true about the world? We can debate whether their worldview gives a true accounting of reality, but even if it does not, the fact that they believe and act differently than the mainstream does not necessarily make them extreme. And yet there is a clear move in US society toward this very idea.
Most people believe being religiously extreme is a threat to society. Three-quarters of all Americans—and nine out of ten Americans with no faith affiliation—agree. But what actions and beliefs, exactly, come to mind when people think about religious extremism?
We asked Americans eighteen and older their views on more than a dozen ways people of faith might express or observe the convictions of their religion.1 We found, as you might expect, that using religion to justify violence against others is almost universally condemned as extremist: more than nine out of ten adults agree doing so is “very” or at least “somewhat” extreme.
But we also discovered that, nowadays, you don’t have to hijack a plane, blow up a subway train, or cut off somebody’s head to be considered an extremist. The perceptions of extremism hit close to home for most Christians, as you’ll see in the table on the next page. Many historic Christian beliefs and practices are considered to be extreme by large proportions of Americans—especially among non-Christians. For example, two out of five adults believe it is extremist to try to convert others to their faith; 60 percent of all adults in America and 83 percent of atheists and agnostics believe evangelism—one of the central actions of Christian conviction—is extremist. A slim majority says that holding the belief that same-sex relationships are morally wrong is extremist. Two out of five adults believe it’s extreme to quit a good-paying job to pursue mission work in another country.
Even at the bottom of the list, many essential Christian practices are now perceived to be extremist. While not majority opinions, millions of adults contend that behaviors such as donating money to religious causes, reading the Bible silently in public, and even attending church or volunteering are examples of religious extremism.
What most concerns people about extremism is the public expression of religion—when beliefs and practices enter the public square. For the most part, people think you can do whatever you want on Sunday mornings, in your churches, just so long as matters of faith don’t spill out into society.
Religious Activities Considered Extreme by US Adults
Here are some things that people do for religious reasons—that is, actions or attitudes motivated by their faith or beliefs. Please indicate whether you think these actions are very extreme, somewhat extreme, not too extreme, or not at all extreme.
% “very” + “somewhat” extreme
% US Adults
a
% Practicing Christians
% Other Faiths
% Atheists, Agnostics, Unaffiliated (No Faith)
Use religion to justify violence against others
93
93
92
96
94
Refuse to serve someone because the customer’s lifestyle conflicts with their beliefs
83
53
68
88
89
Demonstrate outside an organization they consider immoral
64
25
49
71
73
Attempt to convert others to their faith
60
10
29
63
83
Believe that sexual relationships between people of the same sex are morally wrong
52
5
25
55
75
Protest government policies that conflict with their religion
51
15
33
58
60
Quit a good-paying job to pursue mission work in another country
42
13
25
36
47
Wear special clothes or a head covering for religious observance
31
28
28
26
32
Adhere to special dietary restrictions for religious reasons
29
20
22
20
34
Wait until marriage to have sex
24
5
11
20
34
Read the Koran (or Qu’ran) silently in a public place
18
21
23
16
14
Regularly donate money to their religious community (tithing)
18
0
12
15
27
Read the Bible silently in a public place
11
0
11
10
13
Attend church, synagogue, or temple on a weekly basis
7
0
7
5
11
Volunteer to help people in need
6
0
8
2
8
Source: Barna OmniPoll, August 2015, N = 1,000
Beyond the specific religious activities we assessed, broadly speaking, the perception of extremism is firmly entrenched among the nation’s non-Christians. Forty-five percent of atheists, agnostics, and religiously unaffiliated in America agree with the statement “Christianity is extremist.”
That’s just shy of half.
Almost as troubling is the fact that only 14 percent of these “nones” (a term used to describe the religiously unaffiliated) strongly disagree that Christianity is extremist; 41 percent disagree somewhat. You might say disagreeing somewhat or disagreeing strongly is the difference between “I guess not” and “Of course not!” So even among non-Christians who reject the idea that Christianity is extremist, there is a lot of ambivalence.
What happened? And what is behind the growing perception that public expression of religious conviction is extreme?
Putting “Extremism” in Context
North America is becoming more religiously plural. There are more faith groups represented among the population than there were fifty years ago, and more faith “tribes” have a significant voice in our cultural dialogue. Example: the 2012 presidential campaign of Mitt Romney would have been unthinkable five decades ago, but Mormons are no longer considered a fringe group as they once were. Muslims now comprise a significant proportion of the population of several US cities and are an even larger proportion of Europe’s population. And don’t forget the recent advance of atheists and their philosophical cousins, the religiously unaffiliated.
Meanwhile, the Christian share of the population has shrunk. The voice of evangelicals, for many years among the most politically and culturally resonant, sounds less persuasive to an increasing number of ears—especially to those who think religion should be always private, never public. Evangelicals’ fundamental belief in the importance of sharing the gospel (a public act, if ever there was one) is seen as extreme by a majority of adults in a society trying to come to grips with religious diversity.
But it’s not only evangelicals. We asked US adults about several minority groups, religious and otherwise. How difficult would it be for them to have a natural and normal conversation with a person from that group? As shown in the following table, a majority of Americans would struggle to have a conversation with a Muslim (73 percent), a Mormon (60 percent), an atheist (56 percent), an evangelical (55 percent), or someone from the LGBT community (52 percent).
It’s interesting how often certain segments feel the difficulty of natural conversations with those on the opposite end of the faith spectrum. For example, the no-faith segment is most likely to perceive difficulty in talking with evangelicals.
Practicing Christians and evangelicals are also likely to perceive major conversational barriers. Think about it: Christians are commanded by Jesus to go and make disciples—and doing so requires conversations. It demands partnering with the Holy Spirit to have “conversations that are gracious and effective” (see Colossians 4:5–6). But for some reason, Christians are among the most likely to feel tension that could prevent a conversation with people who are different from them.
If Christians are to be agents of good faith, we’ve got to overcome the real or perceived barriers to talking with people who don’t already agree with us. We need to become experts at engaging in difficult conversations.
People with Whom It’s Difficult to Have a Conversation
Which groups do you think it would be difficult for you to have a natural and normal conversation with? Mark all that apply.
% “very” + “somewhat” difficult
% US Adults
% Evan-gelicals
% Practicing Christians
% Other Faiths
% Atheists, Agnostics, Unaffiliated (No Faith)
% LGBT
Muslims
73
87
81
73
63
57
Mormons
60
67
65
66
61
63
Atheists
56
85
75
38
29
39
Evangelicals
55
28*
44
69
66
58
LGBT community
52
87
74
47
39
39
N
* Barna’s definition of “evangelical” is based on agreement with a series of belief statements, not on self-identification. (See the Glossary for the complete definition.) Thus, not all those who qualify under Barna’s definition identify themselves as “evangelical.”
In broad strokes, many people think it would be difficult to have a conversation with anyone who’s not a part of their group. Many of us, in other words, find it challenging to connect and have meaningful conversations with others.
The state of our union is one of dis-union.
The conversational health of our society is in bad shape.
As a culture, we are trying to figure out how to make sense of the widening religious and ideological differences we experience every day. Sometimes it feels like we’re all in an epic tug-of-war to decide who gets to narrate reality and determine what is true and good. And, by default, the mushy middle seems to be winning. Many people are gravitating to a contrived centrist position that says everything will be okay if none of us holds too tightly to any particular belief. Ironically, this contrived center is itself becoming an ideology, as people grip it more and more tightly and call the people tugging on the ends extremists.
Given this backdrop, we can see how Christians who do talk about their faith threaten a fragile cultural consensus. And, make no mistake, that faith is a threat. Christians believe God reveals what is true and good—and are willing to keep on tugging even if everyone else disagrees.
Extremism and Difficult Conversations
An ever-increasing number of people do disagree, as we will see. And based on extensive research and our own experiences, we believe perceptions of extremism (and irrelevance) are creating tremendous tension in four areas. By tension we mean that good faith Christians feel pulled between their religious convictions and a desire to live at peace with others. Later chapters of this book explore these four areas, with the hope that you’ll come away from Good Faith feeling less negative tension when it’s time to engage in those difficult conversations that are a part of living in our diverse world.
By book’s end we hope you’ll feel more confident about what to believe, how to live in agreement with those beliefs, and how to love others whose beliefs are different.
The four areas we explore are:
Christians have been wrestling with big concepts and real challenges like these since the time of Jesus. We don’t have a secret solution that has somehow eluded thinkers and practitioners of the past. But we do hope that reliable data, careful analysis, and a commitment to understanding our times will help you know what to do today and in the years to come.
First, we need to talk candidly about what, exactly, has happened within the broader dominant culture to bring us to this moment.