What should Christians be doing?
The first task of the church is to be the church, because only when you do that do you have the ability to be a witness to the wider society. It is only when you worship God that you are then able to say what is true. Most Americans think that everyone believes in God. The God most Americans believe in is not the God of Jesus Christ. (For instance) Christians can’t assume that it’s okay to be in the military.
The title of your lecture is intriguing: “Why No One Wants to Die in America.” What does that mean?
It means that we live in a society that’s in deep death denial. Assuming that most Christians live like other people, thinking they can get out of life alive. It’s not going to happen. People care more about who their doctor is today than who their priest or minister is. Most Christians live lives of practical atheism. … Atheism isn’t explicitly a denial of God, it’s to live in a way that God does not matter.
—Theologian Stanley Hauerwas in a 2007 interview with the St. Petersburg Times
I don’t think Christians have to assume; it’s clear, if you’re not sectarian, that it’s “okay” for Christians to be in the military.
Rather than pursue that old rabbit trail of pacifism vs. just war theory, I’d rather focus on some other parts of this typically provocative and stimulating quote from the ever inflammatory Stanley Hauerwas. The Duke theologian has been a fire brand for years, and people either love him or they hate him.
I admit that I oscillate between the two. I love parts of his work and hate other parts, but it’s hard to be neutral about Prof. Hauerwas.
I happen to agree with that last line of the quote Kendall highlighted. “[i]Most Christians live lives of practical atheism…Atheism isn’t explicitly a denial of God, it’s to live in a way that God does not matter.”[/i]
Ouch. That’s convicting. Alas, so much of what passes for Christianity in our modern church life could go on perfectly well if God never existed; the programs would chug along just fine without him. And the same’s true in the personal lives of many of us, myself included (alas).
David Handy+
What should Stanley Hauerwas be doing?
Being nice to people.