The Worst Parts of Being a Christian #2: You Can’t Discuss Disagreements
Discussion with a conservative Protestant is only permitted when you already agree
The Series So Far
I’m writing this series to identify characteristics of conservative Protestants in the US that you should adjust for when talking with one. I spent decades of my life immersed in the conservative Protestant world. However, I didn’t enter that world until I was 17, which means I wasn’t indoctrinated into it as a child. That background has given me an ability to switch back and forth between a conservative US Protestant worldview and a broader one.
I communicate regularly with conservative Protestants here on Medium and also at church. The ideas I’m presenting in this series have helped me understand and handle those discussions better. What I’ve learned applies to more than the “typical” US conservative Protestant. It applies also to pastors and to young people studying to become future leaders in this group.
In “Worst Parts #1”, I explained that the conservative Protestant view of Christianity itself is restricted in both time and space. You might think of Christianity as a religion (or faith community) with a rich, complex 2,000 year history and 2.6 billion members around the world today. But if you assume the conservative Protestant you are talking with has the same view, there will be confusion.
For the conservative Protestant, there is very little church history between those glorious days when most of the Christians were eaten by lions and today’s events. You will be making a mistake if you try to bring up any aspect of church history. This is because church history is viewed as irrelevant.
It would be understandable if the conservative Protestant didn’t happen to be familiar with some specific aspect of church history. It would also be understandable if the conservative Protestant didn’t necessarily accept your claims about church history. But this isn’t what happens. Instead, in the conservative Protestant worldview, almost all aspects of church history are simply irrelevant to their own, personal faith. Your attempts to bring up anything they don’t already know will simply puzzle them.
Regarding the size of the Christian population today, the conservative Protestant not only excludes Christians outside the US but even (unconsciously) excludes Christians in the same town who attend other churches.
If you respect this restricted worldview as you speak to and listen to a conservative Protestant, you’ll understand what’s happening better. But, as noted in part 1, this can make you feel dishonest or a bit crazy.
Now it’s time to step back and lay a foundation for part 2.
Historical Reasons for the Impossibility of Discussion Between Protestants
One thing that really stands out about Protestantism, whether it is compared to other branches of Christianity or to non-Christian religions, is the vast number of its denominations. Most of the differences are minor, but that observation only reinforces the point — the point that Protestants are not really able, as a matter of principle, to handle even small disagreements among themselves.
In the US, we all know about the Puritans. They were Protestants who moved to a new continent because, in the the church they were already part of, pastors were required to dress in a way they disagreed with. There may also have been a few other issues, but the main point is that, within 75 years of their arrival in the New World, the Puritans were literally killing each other over their own internal disagreements. (I am referring to the Salem witch trials.)
This inability to handle disagreements is baked into Protestant theology.
Protestantism was invented to solve the problem of the Pope having too much authority, so the Pope’s authority had to be replaced with something else. The Reformers came up with the idea of using the Bible for this purpose — after, of course, tweaking the Bible a bit to make it fit better into its new role.
Initially, the Reformers were confident that everyone reading the Bible would come to the same conclusions. They invented a brand new doctrine called “the clarity of Scripture” and included it in Protestant theology. According to this Protestant doctrine, everyone who reads the Bible properly will see its important truths clearly, without needing any help from anyone else. This means that if someone reads the Bible and draws different conclusions than you do, that person must be in error. Discussion is inconceivable.
The Reformers were eventually disappointed to discover that they couldn’t even agree with each other about what the Bible said. But unfortunately, by then the die was cast. Protestantism naturally fragments itself over time into multiple groups, each one certain it has the right answers to every question based on the Bible.
In the US, the cultural tendency towards extreme individualism amplifies this weakness in Protestant thinking to the breaking point.
Implications for Today
This all means that the conservative Protestant you are talking to may not be able to comprehend that you could have a different position than theirs on any issue relating to Christianity.
If you are a Christian and you want to get along with a conservative Protestant, you can’t reveal that you disagree with them on any aspect of faith. You have to set aside everything you know about handling disagreements and, instead, pretend there are no disagreements to handle. Skills and experience you may have from other settings, at work or within a family for example, must not be brought to bear.
A humorous example: a couple of years ago, I sat down with the pastor of the conservative Protestant church I was attending to discuss membership. The pastor asked me about the church’s specific Statement of Faith. I said that I agreed with 19 of the 20 points, but I was thinking and praying about the remaining one. He was horrified that I was even attending services in his church if I wasn’t already certain about all 20. Discussion of the issue was inconceivable to him.
Series Summary So Far
When talking with a conservative Protestant, things will go much better if you adjust yourself to their worldview:
#1 The conservative Protestant is not part of a faith with a 2,000-year history and 2.6 billion members. Instead, the conservative Protestant is part of that very small and historically recent group of believers who “get it right”. People outside that group don’t really count as true Christians.
#2 No disagreements are possible within the group. The definition of “getting it right” is “agreeing already”. If you identify as a Christian yourself, but don’t agree about something, there is nothing to discuss, you are simply excluded. Within the group, the only discussions possible are discussions about how wrong everyone else is.
Coming Up Next
In part 3 we’ll look at the perils and disappointments of talking with conservative Protestants about the Bible itself.
