Is a belief in absolute truth the enemy of freedom?

Christianity names some beliefs “heresy” and some practices “immoral”, therefore barring from its community those who transgress its doctrinal and moral boundaries. That would appear to endanger civil freedom, dividing rather than uniting the population. It is culturally narrow, failing to recognize that diverse cultures will hold different perspectives on reality. Observers reason that Christians are enslaved to a belief system that tells them who they are and how to live, denying individuality, creativity, and emotional and spiritual growth. Emma Goldman, an early 20^th-century social activist, called Christianity “the leveler of the human race, the breaker of man’s will to dare and to do … an iron net, a straitjacket which does not let him expand or grow.” (Goldman, The Failure of Christianity, 1913, Goldman’s Mother Earth Journal)

To many people “true” freedom is liberty to create your own meaning and purpose. In that view, Christianity appears an enemy to social cohesion, cultural adaptability and authentic personhood. Its truth claims sound suspiciously like power plays, attempts to control others and get power for yourself.  Of course, that suspicion in itself is a power play. CS Lewis explained that quite nicely in The Abolition of Man. Some kind of truth-claim is inevitable and unavoidable.  To make any sort of moral judgment in the absence of an objective standard of morality is inconsistent, yet we do it all the time. We state the Chinese are violating human rights, but who defines human rights for the entire human race? The West? China? China sees our call for the protection of human rights interference in their governmental sovereignty and therefore a violation of human rights. They want to know why our definition of human rights should apply to them, but not theirs to us. Truth claims are untenable in a world without objective standards for morality, yet we all recognize certain truth claims as “right”. For the postmodern thinker, such questions inevitably lead to an inability to judge reality on any sort of objective basis. CS Lewis noted that the transparency of a window is a good thing, because it allows us to see the garden beyond, but if we also insist upon looking “through” the garden, then we find the world to be invisible and ultimately completely unknowable. To insist upon “seeing through” everything means to see nothing.

Christianity requires particular beliefs in order to be a member of its community. Critics argue that such exclusivity is socially divisive. They point to diverse ethnic neighborhoods where members respect one another’s privacy and rights and participate in a “liberal democracy” without any common moral beliefs and say this is proof that common moral beliefs are not necessary.

Liberal democracy is based upon an extensive list of assumptions – a preference for individual to community rights, a division between private and public morality, and that sanctity of personal choice. Many other cultures find such ideas utterly foreign. Communities (whether a liberal democracy or some other form of governance) share a common set of very particular beliefs. Western society is based upon a shared commitment to reason, rights and justice, even though we may have no universal definition for these. Yet, we must be honest and recognize that other cultures do not share this same commitment. Therefore, a completely inclusive community is an illusion. Beliefs create boundaries within every human community, including some people and excluding others.

Don’t believe that? What would happen if the board member of the local Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Community Center announced he had become a Christian and now believed that homosexuality is a sin. Trust me, he would be asked to step down from the board because he no longer shares a common commitment with the rest of the organization. No one would find that odd and most if not all members of the homosexual community would applaud their actions as protecting the integrity of their organization. Yet, when a church insists that an actively homosexual person cannot be a Sunday School teacher or pastor, that is labeled “exclusive” and deemed harmful to society. Neither community is being “narrow” – they are just protecting the specific boundaries of their community. One aspect of community is that we hold members of that community accountable for specific beliefs and practices that define our corporate identity. Standards for members do not define the openness of a community so much as the way that that community treats those outside of their circle.  We should criticize Christians when they ungraciously condemn unbelievers in unfair and cruel ways, yet why do we not complain when the local GLTC group excludes vocal homophobes from their meetings? We should not criticize churches when they maintain standards for membership in accord with their beliefs. Every community must and generally does do the same.

As for the charge that Christianity is a cultural straitjacket, a quick look around the world will put this lie to the rest. Christianity has been more adaptive of diverse cultures than secularism and many other worldviews.

Islam remains centered in the place of its origin – the Middle East. The historical lands of Hinduism and Buddhism remain India and China/Southeast Asia. Christianity was first dominated by Jews and centered in Jerusalem, then it was dominated by Hellenists and centered in the Mediterranean. Later the center shifted to Northern Europe and the United States. Today, most Christians in the world live in Africa, Latin America and Asia. Christians comprised 9 percent of the African population in 1900 when they were outnumbers four to one by Muslims.  Today, Christians comprise 44 percent of the population and passed Muslims in number in the 1960s.  Africans have a strong traditional belief in the supernatural that secularism has failed to address. Christianity allows them to critique their traditions without completely rejecting them as Islam had demanded they do.

Cultural diversity is built into the Christian faith. In Acts 15, the Jerusalem church declared that the new Gentile Christians did not have to enter Jewish culture in order to have full standing before God. No one owns the Christian faith for there is no Christian culture in the same manner as there is an Islamic culture that you may find in any Islamic country you visit. Chinese Christians look and act, even worship, in significantly different ways from African Christians who look, act and worship in significantly different ways than South American Christians, and all diverge from European Christianity. Christianity is not a “Western” religion that destroys local cultures. It has taken on more culturally diverse forms than any other faith, gathering deep layers of insight from Hebrew, Greek and European cultures of the past and now being further shaped by African, Latin American and Asian cultures of today.

The false accusation that Christianity is a cultural straitjacket has been laid to rest by the example of its diversity throughout the world’s cultures. Christians bring Christianity into their culture; critiquing their culture through the lens of Christianity, but ultimately keeping those aspects of their culture that work within a framework of Christianity.  Rather than being destructive of ethnic cultures, Christianity has proved to be remarkably adaptable to native cultures.