aThinker's Faith

Not too very long ago, I found one of those emails in my inbox. You guessed it, big bold letters and lots of exclamation points head a message which seeks to enlighten all of Christendom to some moral outrage or attack on Christian liberties. Of course, at the end is the obligatory message jumping off the screen in bold underlined caps framed with another generous helping of exclamation points. If you are not a coward you will forward this message to everyone in your inbox, and if you don't, God will judge you accordingly. As I hit the delete button, I look outside to see if there are thunderclouds nearby...

This particular email was detailing one Madelyn Murray O'Hair's attempt to ban Christian radio broadcasts. Wait a second... A few minutes with Google and sure enough: This is the same old myth that has been circulating since before I was born. I think I remember my dad talking about chain letters (remember those?) with the same story, and the same threat of doom for those who failed to pass on the message. This myth falsely connects O'Hair to a failed petition to the FCC in 1975! What's more, sadly, she was murdered in 1995.

So, here's the twenty dollar question. Why is this myth still circulating? How in the world did it make the jump to electronic communication? Why can't we just leave poor Mrs. O'Hair to face her Maker? These sort of emails come to my inbox from intelligent and educated people, yet they continue to circulate. I suspect that many of us just are too busy to take a couple of minutes to fact check before we hit the forward button, but what does this cost us?

Many Christians seem to have a blind spot when it comes to certain things that support our conclusions regarding the world. I remember years ago when a tract circulated among churches telling how the Russians had installed speakers into a deep hole in the earth and could hear the sounds of tormented souls wailing in Hell. It didn't take me long even as a child to see the problems with that scenario. I could go on. Do I even need to mention backmasking? These sort of things continue to plague Evangelical Christianity when we should all know better. Can we expect the unsaved world to believe that Jesus died, and rose from the dead, when we saddle ourselves with numerous fanciful conspiracy theories?

I'm not saying that there are not true accounts of attacks on Christianity, or even things going on behind closed doors that would shock all of us. We are indeed engaged in a spiritual battle with Satan and the powers of darkness, and that should not be ignored. However, if we do not exercise discretion, when we do have important information to relay, no one will take us seriously.

I propose this: Christians need to be more skeptical. Not in the sense of the philosophical skepticism that doubts everything - what I am talking about is the smell test. If something seems fishy, its time to do a little research. That is the wonder of modern technology. Five minutes on Google can often supply basic info on many scams and myths that are circulating. At the very least, we should never forward something with questionable veracity. I also propose that we refrain from propagating stories that are unverifiable. For example, if I believe that a member of the President's cabinet is a Satan worshiper, but I don't have hard evidence to support this fact, there is nothing to gain from spreading my theory. If I do, once it is obvious that I am unable to prove anything, people will just write me, and my faith, off as foolish (even if my belief happens to be true). There are more than enough public actions of the President that I can challenge morally - I don't need a conspiracy theory.

Fellow Christians, I entreat you to be wise and to avoid giving Satan occasion to discredit Christianity, the Cross, and the Gospel. Our message is too important, and there is too much at stake for us to be marginalized by falsehood.