One of the most disturbing aspects of anti-Christian rhetoric is its almost complete, (and sometimes one is tempted to believe this is quite intentional,) failure to address actual mainstream Christian beliefs. Instead of engaging the true beliefs of Christians, the purveyors of this rhetoric will direct their scathing attacks at gross misrepresentations of Christian belief, or at beliefs held by only a small minority of Christians generally those on the lunatic fringe. Having been in residence at three universities I am quite used to this form of bigotry.

One has only to turn on the television to observe a similar pattern. We have all seen scores of inarticulate, uneducated, and rhetorically defenseless Christians utterly demolished by talk-show hosts and smug investigative journalists. Think, however:when was the last time you witnessed a television interview in which a Christian lawyer was allowed to give her opinion about religious freedom in our public schools? When did you last see an intelligent and articulate Christian layperson with a Ph.D. given the opportunity (in a popular forum) to publicly and fairly engage critics of Christianity or Christian-derived social policy? In a society that values honesty and openness it is unfortunate that these scenarios are but pipe-dreams.

Experience indicates that this is not likely to change. Mr. Stromberg and uncountable others will continue to direct calumny against Christians by endlessly insisting that genocide and other heinous deeds of the past were explicitly Christian deeds, rather than simply the evil acts of greedy human beings. Similarly, Mr. Lantzes without number will continue to assert that Christians portray God as a vengeful being that would strike down all who would not bow to him, the near-comical inaccuracy of this view notwithstanding. To open-minded people who are interested in learning about actual Christian beliefs from (of all people) an actual Christian, I highly recommend the book, Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. Reading this book will allow you an opportunity that the present state of our society all but will not:the chance to freely and fairly hear what Christians truly believe.

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