Are Christians Hate-Filled Hypocrites?

I was talking with a friend last week about all the dust up regarding Chick-Fil-A and the Christian response to it. Specifically, we were talking about the big Christian turnout for Mike Hukabee's Chick-Fil-A "Appreciation Day" and Matthew Paul Turner's post about how the church failed that day.

Matthew talks about hate in that post, which brought to my friend's mind my review/response to Bradley Wright's book Christians Are Hate-Filled Hypocrites...And Other Lies You've Been Told.

I'm reposting (slightly edited) that review/response here as some of what is discussed--particularly the section toward the end about Christian attitudes about gay persons--seems relevant to the events that unfolded around Chikc-Fil-A over the last few weeks.

...     ...     ...
One of the most discussed posts I've written on this blog was The Bait and Switch of Contemporary Christianity.

That post was a meditation on how we tend to use "religion" as a replacement for being a more decent human being. We'd rather have "quiet time with God" or "get into the word" than forgive our enemies or spend time working at a homeless shelter. In making that observation I made this sweeping statement:
"Christianity" has essentially become a mechanism for allowing millions of people to replace being a decent human being with something else, an endorsed "spiritual" substitute.
I stand by that statement. As would, I think, most of the Old Testament prophets. And Jesus.

But maybe I'm wrong.

I say that because I found myself quoted at the start of Chapter 7--"Do Christians Love Others?"--in Bradley Wright's book Christians Are Hate-Filled Hypocrites...And Other Lies You've Been Told.

Bradley is a sociologist from the University of Connecticut who blogs over at Black, White and Gray. Bradley's book Christians Are... was, I think, somewhat in response to the book unChristian, which used survey research to describe how Christians behave, well, unChristianly. Bradley's book seeks to take a second look and wants to correct some of the exaggerations and negative stereotypes regarding Christians, particularly Evangelical Christians. Hence the title "Christians Are Hate-Filled Hypocrites...And Other Lies You've Been Told."

Toward that end, at the start of each chapter of Christians Are... Bradley begins with quotations selected to illustrate a negative stereotype about Christians. A stereotype that is, presumably, a "lie." Starting with those quotes/"lies" Bradley goes on to review data, mainly survey data from the General Social Survey (GSS), to evaluate these negative stereotypes/"lies." As you might guess from the title of the book, after surveying the data in each chapter these stereotypes come to be seen as exaggerated, overblown or outright wrong--the "lies" from the title. Chapter titles include "Are We Losing our Young People?" and "Have Christians Gone Wild?" And one of the chapters is entitled "Do Christians Love Others?"

And that's where my quote comes in. At the start of Chapter 7 in Christians Are... you read, with two quotes from others, my assessment that "'Christianity' has essentially become a mechanism for allowing millions of people to replace being a decent human being with something else, an endorsed 'spiritual' substitute."

As you might imagine, I was, in turn, startled, flattered and then worried to find my quote at the start of the chapter. Everyone likes to be quoted. But not in this manner! I've never met Bradley and hadn't known he had selected my quote as an illustrative "lie." So after my surprise I was a bit anxious and keen to read the chapter.

Maybe I'd overstated my case. Had I lied?

What I want to do, for the rest of this post, is to walk through the evidence Bradley cites in the chapter "Do Christians Love Others?" to see how my quotation fares. I'm going to break my analysis down by the Chapter 7 subheadings.

Do Christians Love Others?
Summary:
The first section of the chapter is entitled "Do Christians Love Others?" In this section data is reviewed from the GSS about how religious groups responded to two questions: 1) how often the respondent feels a selfless caring for others and 2) how often the respondent accepts others when others do things the respondent thinks are wrong. Overall, "Black Protestants, especially, and Evangelical Christians score highest on these measures, with about 40% or more agreeing that they selflessly care for and accept others. In contrast, only about 25% of the religiously unaffiliated report doing so."

The section goes on to look at other items on the GSS assessing "I often have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me" and "When I see someone being taken advantage of, I feel kind of protective toward them." Again, Evangelicals score high on these self-assessments: "Eighty percent of the Evangelical respondents reported being concerned for those less fortunate, and 86% reported feeling protective toward those taken advantage of. In contrast, the religiously unaffiliated group registered the lowest scores, with 68% reporting concern and 75% feeling protective."

The section also reviews three other GSS questions similar to the ones above and the results come out the same: Evangelicals rate themselves higher than others.

Analysis:
So, what can we say about this? Hard to say, right? This could be good news or bad news depending upon behavior. Particularly when the label hypocrisy is in play. It's clear that Evangelicals see themselves as loving and caring. But are they? If they are, this is all good news. But if they aren't this is very, very bad news. In fact, this would be the news I delivered in my chapter-leading quote: religion is making Christians feel better about themselves at the expense of actually being better.

So is this a case of self-description or self-deception? For my part, to pick one example, I have some serious reservations about Evangelicals rating themselves so high (the highest!) on accepting people who are doing something Evangelicals think is wrong. Seriously? Evangelicals are the most accepting people when, say, they are dealing with a woman getting an abortion or gay marriage? There's not a wee bit of self-deception in play here?

Do Christian Actions Reveal Love?
Summary: Acts of Charity
In this section we move away from self-assessment to behavior (though even these "behaviors" are still self-reported survey items on the GSS and, thus, still prone to bias). The GSS asks two charity-related items: During the last twelve months how often have you "given food or money to a homeless person?" and "done volunteer work for a charity?" (Bradley focuses on those who said they have done either of these at least twice a year.)

The results for the first question: "Forty-eight percent of Evangelical respondents had given food or money to the homeless twice or more in the previous year. This put them at the low end of the observed range, for 60% of the Black Protestants gave to the homeless as did slightly over half the Catholics and members of other religions. The Evangelical rate of giving is similar to the 44% of Mainline Protestants and religiously unaffiliated."

The news was a little better for Evangelicals on the question about volunteering for a charity (does teaching Sunday School count here?): "Mainline Protestants were the most likely to volunteer (43%), followed closely behind by Evangelicals (37%), members of other religions (35%), Catholics (33%), Black Protestants (31%), and, lastly, the religiously unaffiliated (25%)."

Analysis:
Hmmmm. So let's get this straight. Evangelicals see themselves as very loving. And yet, when it comes to, you know, helping homeless people they aren't any different from the religiously unaffiliated (a group that could include, say, Satanists). This isn't good news for a group claiming to follow a Lord who taught:
Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
So I'm wondering. Might this disjoint between self-assessment and behavior be the thing that's grating outsiders about Evangelicals?

Summary: Small Acts of Kindness
This section of the chapter goes on to discuss GSS items that assess more workaday acts of kindness: How often in the past year have you "looked after a person's plants, mail, or pets while they were away"; "offered your seat on a bus or in a public place to a stranger who was standing"; or "carried a stranger's belongings, like groceries, a suitcase, or a shopping bag?"

For my part, as huge advocate of kindness, I'm very interested in this sort of behavior. The results: "When it comes to looking after other people's stuff, Mainline Protestants and Evangelicals were the most likely to do so (52% and 46% respectively). But with offering a seat to others or helping them carry their stuff, on the other hand, Evangelicals and Mainline Protestants scored low. Members of other religions are the most likely to do both (35% and 40% respectively)."

Analysis:
This seems pretty damning. Looking after people's stuff is a nice gesture. But it doesn't assess acts of kindness to strangers, a key teaching for Christians: "Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it." But on this key criterion, kindness to strangers, other religions and the irreligious do better than Evangelical Christians.

Attitudes Toward Other Groups
In this section Bradley turns to attitudes about social groups: social class, race, and sexual orientation. I'll summarize each in turn.

Summary: Attitudes toward Rich and Poor
Bradley remarks that he couldn't find a good measure of attitudes regarding justice-related issues. As he notes, positive or negative feelings about a government program aimed at helping the poor conflate "a concern for the poor with attitudes toward government involvement in social programs." Still, I would really like to see the numbers on this. If care of the poor is a top priority wouldn't you feel more, rather than less, positively about your tax dollars being spent in this way? If Christians don't mind the government building bombs why would they mind it building, say, schools or health care clinics?

Bradley eventually settled on two "feeling thermometer" (1 to 100) ratings about the rich and poor from the 2006 Social Capital Community Study. The results aren't all that interesting, likely due to the measure: "Each of the four religious groups [Protestants, Catholics, Other Religions, Unaffiliated] stated warmer feelings toward the poor than the rich...In terms of the gap between poor and rich ratings, there wasn't a lot of difference between groups."

Analysis:
The rich can't catch a break! It's nice to see the preferential option for the poor found among just about everyone.

Summary: Attitudes about Race
The actual title for this subsection is "A Disappointing Discovery About Race." Bradley only looks here at data for White respondents. His opening salvo: "The analyses that I present here constitute, in my opinion, bad news for Evangelical Christians..."

The analysis starts with data from a 1-8 point "feeling thermometer": "In general, how warm or cool do you feel feel toward Whites, Blacks, Asians, and Hispanics." Every religious group liked themselves (fellow Whites) the best. The data on those Blacks, Asians, and Hispanics: "There is some variation in feelings toward minorities, however, with members of other religions having the overall warmest feelings toward Blacks, Asians, and Hispanics." The highest ratings came from Catholics and the religiously unaffiliated. The lowest ratings? Evangelicals.

Bradley goes on to look at another question: Would these religious groups hold race against a political candidate? The results: "A full 19% of Protestant respondents would hold a Hispanic candidate's ethnicity against them, as would 11% of Catholics and about 9% of members of other religions and the religiously unaffiliated. Similar proportions hold for Black candidates, albeit at substantially reduced levels. Seven percent of Protestants would be less likely to vote for a Black candidate, compared to 6% of Catholics and 3% of the religiously unaffiliated and members of other religions." For some reason, the Protestant group here wasn't broken down to reveal the particular feelings of Evangelicals. But as Protestants they are the religious group most likely to hold race against a person running for political office.

The final question examined in this section had to do with attitudes toward inter-racial marriage within the family. The question: How do you feel about "having a close relative or family member marry a ____ person?" with the blank being filled in with Black, Asian-American, or Hispanic-American. The results: "According to the survey, opposition to marrying a non-White person varies widely by religion, and, overall, Evangelicals were the most opposed to it." Guess who were most accepting? You guessed it. The religiously unaffiliated.

Analysis:
To start, let's be clear that most Evangelicals are not racist. But based on this data Evangelicals are more likely to be racist compared to all the other religious groups, including the irreligious. And that's just embarrassing. Beyond embarrassing. When non-Christians are more Christ-like we have a problem.

Summary: Attitudes about Gays
No surprise that Evangelicals don't approve of gay sexual relations. This is expected given their views that this activity is sinful. But what about the "love the sinner, hate the sin" dynamic? And let's remember the finding from above: Evangelicals report being the most accepting of people (compared to other religious groups), even when those people are doing things they disagree with. So, do Evangelicals separate their feelings about gay behavior from their feelings about gay persons? The results from another "feeling thermometer": Of all the religious groups Evangelicals score the lowest with the most negative feelings toward gays as people.

What about a GSS question regarding freedom of speech and Constitutional liberty: "If an openly gay man wanted to make a speech in your community, should he be allowed to?" As Bradley says, "Denying anyone the right of free speech seems particularly harsh." So how do Christian groups fare? Bradley's summary: "Evangelical Christians show relatively high levels of this form of intolerance." Higher than all other religious groups, including the irreligious.

Analysis:
Not surprisingly, Evangelicals are the most rejecting of gay persons. Willing, even, to scrap the Constitution and First Amendment rights.

Some Good News: Young People & Church Attendance
The chapter does end with some better news pointing to more positive trends among younger Evangelicals and among the most church going Evangelicals.

Overall Conclusions: Did I Tell A Lie?
So, what are we to make of all this? Are Christians hate-filled hypocrites? And what about the status of my quote in light of all the data?

Let's start with the label hypocrite. I take this label to mean a disjoint between self-appraisal and behavior. Do we see that in the data Bradley presents? I think so. Recall, Evangelicals rated themselves the most "loving" of all the other religious groups. And yet, when we look at the ratings of actual behaviors and attitudes toward others, Evangelicals are no better, and often worse, than others. The word hypocrisy could be applied here.

What about being hate-filled? Well, hate is a pretty strong word. In social psychology it's a word to describe feelings toward out-group members (though each of us can hate particular people for a variety of reasons). So how to Evangelicals look when we examine their feelings toward out-group members? What we find is, in Bradley's own estimation, the most disappointing findings in the entire book. Compared to all the religious groups, including the irreligious, Evangelicals are more prone to hate when it comes to out-group members (e.g., Blacks, gays). This is not to say that Evangelicals are more hate-filled. But the seeds of hate seem to be more deeply sown in the soil of the Evangelical heart than anywhere else in American society (or, at least, among the groups examined in Bradley's book, which did include the irreligious).

Let's now turn to my quote. Is "Christianity" a mechanism for allowing people to replace being a decent human being with an endorsed "spiritual" substitute? If we examine the overall group means from the chapter we are left with the conclusion that Evangelicals aren't any better, and are often worse, than others. And yet, they seem to feel pretty good about themselves, morally speaking. What can account for that disjoint? I think my hypothesis of "religiosity" creating an illusion of morality is a plausible explanation. (For more on the psychological dynamics of this "replacement" effect see my discussion of the Macbeth Effect in Unclean.)

All in all, then, I think I'll stick by my original analysis. I didn't see anything in Chapter 7 of Christians Are Hate-Filled Hypocrites...And Other Lies You've Been Told that would make me change my mind.

In fact, I might have been telling the truth.

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24 thoughts on “Are Christians Hate-Filled Hypocrites?”

  1. I think you hit the bulls-eye, both here and in Bait & Switch. From my own observations, "love" gets conflated with a sappy sentimentality and/or preachianity. And such never judges itself to be judgmental, nor anywhere near in-the-wrong.

  2. Here's a lie from Turner:  "Whether or not hate actually existed is not the point, people felt hated."  The Culture Wars distilled down into one sentence!

    So no one is allowed to be happy and enjoy their own life as long as one other person, animal, or rock on the planet is "suffering".  The reason for the show of support for CFA was so strong was because so many people are fed up with being told how "a compassionate person thinks and acts". 

  3. "religiosity" creating an illusion of morality is a plausible explanation. 

    I'm reading David Fitch's The End of Evangelicalism? in which he uses Slavoj Zizek's political/cultural theory to critique evangelicalism. Don't know if you've read Zizek but your hypothesis regarding illusion fits his theory of Master Signifiers around which people rally to make sense of their reality. The Master Signifiers don't have a lot of content - they mean different things to different "believers" - but functionally, they do precisely what you're describing:  give people the illusion of participation in the life of God without requiring anything of them.

  4. Not hate-filled, perhaps; just too lazy to be disciples (as too many of us are).

  5. "When non-Christians are more Christ-like we have a problem."

    Gandhi had it right then, and you have it right now (still).

    My husband and I have experienced being an interracial couple in different ways.  I tend to be naive and mostly oblivious to subtle racism.  He is hyper-aware of long stares and innuendo.  Laws have changed, but the hearts and minds of many have still not turned (repented).  When we go to India, the shoe is on the other foot.  I sometimes feel like the "unclean" intruder.

    I do not understand hating a person because of his or her skin color.  This has not been my struggle in life to overcome, ever.  I have, on the other hand, struggled with my response to the intolerant and hateful.  D'oh!

    What exactly *is* the Christlike response to that kind of evil?  What does peacemaking look like?  I want to know, and I want it to be my Way.

    There is so much more that I could say in response to this post.  It was a very comprehensive analysis.  Thank you.  ~Peace~

  6. From a different perspective, it seems like evangelicals actually do pretty good at "loving one another" as we are commanded, in that we love those who are in the club.  So perhaps the problem is how inclusive and diverse the club is to begin with (a la "who is my neighbor?")   It would be interesting to see how more diverse churches respond to these questions.  For example, a diverse church with rich and poor, black, white, Hispanic, gay, straight all worshiping together on a regular basis would probably have different responses to several questions.  Unfortunately I'm not sure how many of those churches exist!

  7. Hi Sam, maybe the issue isn't so much that people feel actively hated.  Maybe it is more a feeling of being unloved?

    I am thinking of this in terms of my own personal relationships, versus at the level of whole people groups (e.g., CFA and American Evangelicals).

    I was thinking on my walk this morning that maybe I could be more understanding of insecurities on the part of others (that I don't feel), and go the extra mile to actively express my love toward them.  It is what I wish for others to do for me, when I am feeling scared and sad and cast off.

    There is a zero sum mentality at play.  As if giving love to one person will create a shortage for another.  Working from the assumption that God's love is infinite, the supply is endless, there should be enough to go around for everyone, and then some left over.

    I like the way Dr. Beck has explained the concept of "being a sacrament" -- no heroics, just small acts of love and kindness.  If we each did our part, imagine how the world would change?  Small acts of kindness tend to transform the recipient; one feels joy that can't be repressed.  Only one thing to do:  Pay it forward.  I think that, in a nutshell, is the definition of "making disciples for Christ."  What do you think?

    Blessings, friend.  ~Peace~

  8. I had a couple of evangelical friends in high school, and was always astounded by their complacency. They were immovable on subjects like evolution and whether or not Bush was a good president.

  9. Reading this overview of a chapter in Wright's book, I couldn't help thinking the methodology seems, at best, highly suspicious. And since the book was published by an evangelical trade publisher, it sounds like the whole thing might have been an exercise in self-congratulation. Seriously, what objective social science conclusions can be drawn from asking people to self-identify as belonging to one of a handful of broad religious categories, then asking them to assess their "feelings" about moral issues, and then to report accurately their moral behavior? Did the researchers make any effort at all to identify an increased or decreased likelihood of any respondents to lie about their answers? Did they attempt to distinguish between respondents who "practice" -- itself a squishy term -- their religion, and those who merely "identify" with a religion, or with none? If not, does the research have any real value at all?

    And can anyone read without laughing the statistic that a maximum of only 7% of white people believe they'd hold a black political candidate's race against him?

    I'm not sure if it would be possible to use social science research to confirm or deny your claims, Richard, but even if it somehow IS possible, this plainly isn't the way to do it.

  10. Matthew Paul Turner's website is down. I found a cached version of the page you linked -- it had 1755 comments! Bandwidth issues, I guess.

    I don't even know who this guy is, but obviously a lot of other people do.

  11. Doesn't James say something about the rubber meeting the road, and Paul something about in I Cor. 15. I sit at a coffee table where especially evangelicals are pretty badly banged up for their bigotry and hypocrisy. It's hard to assess objectively words and behaviors of people with whom one disagrees. But I try to do this admitting vulnerability at the outset. I just wish all of us would get off our high horse and give peo
    Le we disagree with a little slack. None of us are righteous....not one! We. Eed called out and need flushed from our self-righteous campaigns of intolerance that goes so far as to try to shut people up who hold views differe t from ourselves. We are must acting like jerks and then self justifying. This happens all over the spectrum! Is civil discourse being bludgeoned to death in the name of "righteous causes?" if I give my body to be burned and have not love.....it's a worthless activity. Much less demonizing persons Jesus ate and drank with and died for! The rich man sought to be justified and ultimately went away sorrowful. At least he was an honest man.

  12. One of the things I've noticed in the last ten years that is different from the evangelical Christian environment I grew up in is that many evangelicals feel like they need to angrily fight with others who disagree with them.  Being a peacemaker is seen as wimpy and weak (I hear a similar rhetoric on Fox News, but that's another story). An older Christian leader at the last place I worked said something along the lines of: "They (that other religious group) can be rude and forceful, why can't we?". It's as if some people think the Christian race is about to be wiped out and they need to fight tooth and nail to preserve it. My grandmother (who would be almost 100 today) held very conservative beliefs and I'm sure she disagreed with the gay lifestyle. However, she would never say anything unkind or judgmental to or about someone who was gay or whose lifestyle she disagreed with. While I did not agree with all of her points of view, I witnessed her restraint, discretion, charity and prayers for others throughout my childhood. What happened to graciousness? How did spewing "righteous" anger and unkindness become acceptable to Christians? I'm really curious about this change in evangelical culture in the last few decades and what has brought it about. I guess I hope that knowing the root cause will help us unravel the frustration and enable us to take the higher ground.

  13. You know I ask the exact same thing, often. I think it is a matter of many feeling threatened and insecure, while not fully grasping the greatness and soverignty of our God. The thought pattern may be that "if I don't defend this ideology, it will be taken from me and no longer valid and my identity will be lost..." when in reality, the Lord needs no human protector to sustain the gospel, as the gospel flourishes under even the heaviest oppression (i.e., eastern underground churches). Just a thought but I am right there with ya.

  14. So how did everyone else do? By which I mean every other form of Christianity on the planet outside of American Evangelicalism? I ask because your line wasn't " 'American evangelicalism' has essentially become...", or more broadly " 'Evangelicalism' has essentially become...". Rather, it was " 'Christianity' has essentially become..." I think anyone familiar with your blog might easily infer that you mean 'Christianity' in this instance to stand in for practices largely associated with American evangelicalism (though neither entirely nor exclusively), but it's a pretty sweeping rhetorical stance to take. (And, not to be a hypocrite, one that I frequently use myself in conversation, I'm sorry to say). If, in fact, it is 'Christianity' that is to blame, then why focus so assiduously on the numbers for evangelicals? Just some thoughts that came to mind as I read.

    Having said that, I thought your point well taken with respect to the disconnect between evangelical self-perception and reality. I have my quibbles with the methodology at work here (self assessment is always questionable) and I don't think the information presented (I would love to see how these numbers break down regionally, for example) gives us a decent enough picture of attitudes and practices to get at the 'why' (some of the numbers improve, for instance, between casual church goers and those that attend 'religiously', so maybe Frank Meyers is right and it's not hate but laziness) but in the main it jibes with my own experience as an American Christian. We have tremendous need for a new depth of genuine repentance.

  15. My thought was the same. I witnessed the same kind of quiet confidence of faith in my own grandmother (thank God for grandmas), but I imagine that at least some of it derived from an assumption that took Christian cultural dominance in America for granted.

  16. I have been reading your blog for about a year now. Many things that you write about reflect my own spiritual journey. But forgive me for asking. How does ACU respond to your writings? I grew up in the church of Christ system (my brother went to ACU and I to OCC) and I'm sure there was a time you would have been viewed as a heretic :) I left legalism behind years ago but occasionally still run into it as a graduate student in the clinical counseling program of a prominent Christian university in the south. I wrote something about the chick fil a debate not being our best day as a church and was the lone voice of that opinion. Fortunately, I'm almost 50 years old and have a little more life experience behind me. Also, if you don't mind my asking, why have you stayed in the church of Christ? It's a sincere question. My brother and I both left for community style churches (he is a pastor and I have led various ministries) but lately I find myself being drawn to both the church of my youth and to the liturgical churches. I don't know if it is a function af age, maturity (or lack of), or just a constant quest for deeper relationship, but I'd be interested in your answer if you are able to answer it.

  17. There's not much of a reaction at ACU. A few people know I have a blog. Some colleagues read, regularly or irregularly. But it's just not a topic of conversation. Some of this, I think, has to do with me being a psychology professor. I teach survey psychology classes and statistics. 0% of the blog is a part of what I do on campus. I'm invited to speak in chapel venues from time to time, but I'm not a theological voice on the campus. The bible professors are the leaders in that regard.

    As for why I stayed in the CoC I don't have a great answer. It's just the tradition I grew up in and I care about it deeply. But I should also say that I've never had a history with the toxic, legalistic and sectarian strain of the CoC. As I've said to many people, I think the ecumenical Churches of Christ have a whole lot going for them.

    As I've written before, I don't like the labels "legalistic" versus "progressive." The real distinction in the CoC is between the sectarian and the ecumenical strains. I'm with the ecumenical crew.

  18. Thank you so much for your reply. My experience was more toxic but I have wonderful friends who grew up in churches of christ and had a completely different experience. I'll have to go back and read more of what you've written about sectarian and ecumenical strains. Since many of my own psychology professors are also actively involved in ministry it seems that they are less likely to voice differing opinions especially in contoversial areas such as homosexuality. I so enjoy your blog. Thank you for sharing.

  19. Its ok cause we all will be judged one day by God and how u live your life for him and you guys are committing blasphemy against him. Its better living like there is a GOD and finding out there isn't,than living like there isn't and finding out there is.

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