South African liberalism has a culture of debate. It also has a culture of introspection. You could argue that, properly understood, the two things are intimately related; debate leads to introspection if it is taken seriously. The current debate over Christianity, however, reeks of sideshow and distraction, maybe even virtue-signalling to progressive critics, as if to say: ‘See, we can go after those religious nuts if we feel like it.’
I hope I am wrong, because the debate might lead to some introspection among Christians who are politically liberal. There can be no question of Christians approving of all behaviour that results from individuals enjoying their liberty. Many Christians are liberals because of their religious beliefs, as illustrated by Hermann Pretorius (with the caveat that this does not imply the inevitability of government, an argument for another day). I do not think that liberals necessarily appreciate this fact.
How can an atheist or agnostic understand the concept of surrendering to Christ, of putting Him above all else? They cannot understand that the basis of your agreement is precisely the thing they dislike about you.
I do not expect to change anyone’s mind on religion; in fact I was under the impression that most adults understood how useless and unproductive religious arguments were. Religious arguments are at their best between people who believe the same premise (we both agree this God does or does not exist, but you are wrong about X), otherwise debate becomes impossible. The only way to settle things is to have a definite metaphysical answer about the nature of the universe, which is impossible.
Mature Christians
Similarly, mature Christians know they cannot argue for Christ to non-believers. You can only be an example: give praise to God in your own life, and people will reach their own conclusions. Yet, atheist liberals keep coming after Christians, for whatever reason. It does not matter that Christianity is demonstrably correlated to the degree of liberty in a country, or that many countries on Earth that can be described as liberal democracies, including South Africa, have a majority Christian population, one exception being Israel (another target of virtue signallers).
It may be time for South African liberal Christians to chart their own path. There is a recurring pattern among liberals who are non-believers. Why on earth people who claim to love liberty would have a problem with peaceful private institutions is beyond me. Especially institutions which have proved themselves to be robust over time, certainly much more robust than governments or even liberalism.
It is a silly belief in their own rationality. They don’t realise that any notion of objective values is made redundant through their premises. Christians see but do not criticise; we are good allies and we do not lose focus. We do not judge the sinners we have to deal with to preserve our freedoms, but they want to judge us.
Christ will save this country, not the Constitution, not parliament, not our rational thinkers, who keep being caught off guard by events – as many liberals were who thought the Constitution would last forever.
Our limitations
We Christians understand our limitations, we know that we are just as weak as everyone else in the final analysis. That is why we put our faith in a greater power. Not just that; we act in accordance with that faith. So when the rationalist thinkers give up on this land, we religious fools will stay behind because we know that our God can fix anything, he can free the slaves from the shackles of poverty and dependence on the ANC and other socialist parties, who are clear about Christianity being their enemy.
I am tired of walking on eggshells with people who do not give a fig about my beliefs and how important they are to me. I want to advocate my Christianity along with my liberalism. And liberal Christians should feel comfortable in doing that. Liberals will have to accept being judged by Christians. It’s only fair.
[Picture: Rohan Reddy on Unsplash]
The views of the writer are not necessarily the views of the Daily Friend or the IRR
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