Christianity in a Skeptical Age

Living for Christ in a Secular Post-Truth Society.

Over the last year and a half, I have slowly read through a book by Charles Taylor called A Secular Age. Charles Taylor is a ninety-year-old Christian and philosopher who lives in Canada. This book, A Secular Age, is regarded as his magnum opus. Now reading this book has been an arduous task. At 874 pages, Taylor’s book is one which I read a couple of paragraphs, and then I have to reread to ensure I understand. Yet the book is phenomenal in laying out how secularism gradually developed over the last four hundred years and how secularism works in the Western world today.¹

One of the ideas that Taylor unpacks is what he calls a “social-imaginary,” which has to do with how people “collectively imagine” human existence.² As Taylor uses the concept, a social-imaginary is different from what we might think of as a worldview in that it’s not a carefully constructed set of beliefs but more like assumed beliefs. Some of these accepted beliefs are ideas that operate below the surface of people’s awareness. So the way the social-imaginary works in life today is the loss of transcendence in people's lives.³ In other words, people can easily live life without any awareness of God at work in life — Christians included.

You and I, as well as almost every other person, can go about our day without ever praying, and for the most part, there isn’t any noticeable difference. Now I’ll come back to this because there is a difference, but to see it takes more intentionality. We’ll return to this because I want to explain why these words of the apostle Paul in Philippians 4 matter. But before I do, there’s one other wrinkle I want to bring to your attention, and it has to do with why I titled this message Christians Among A Skeptical Society rather than just a secular society.

In 2022, we are living in a post-truth culture. Lee McIntyre, another philosopher, wrote a book called Post-Truth in which he describes our society as one in which all kinds of people are trying to make us believe in ideas whether there’s good evidence or not.⁴ But he’s not talking about the car salesman trying to convince you that the Ford sedan you’re taking for a test drive is the best car you’ll ever drive. In his book, McIntyre mentions the Tobacco Industry as an example. For years cigarette manufacturers colluded to fabricate so-called expert evidence that said smoking cigarettes was harmless to our health. The Tobacco Industry engaged in this disinformation campaign even though they knew there was conclusive research showing that, in all likelihood, the tar in cigarettes caused cancer. 

Over time, spreading disinformation and spinning facts has helped create a culture where truth seems relative. Although we are now to the point where truth no longer matters as much as feelings.⁵ As a result, people may now add adjectives to the word truth and, in doing so, seemingly claim whatever they believe as truth, whether true or not. For example, a part of our vernacular now includes phrases like "my truth" and "alternative facts" to justify a claim. Of course, this accomplishes making our opinions, perceptions, etc., a totalizing reality, even if it is self-deception.

This post-truth reality is also why what we do as Christians, and not just what we say, matters more than ever. If we claim that the good news of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God is true, our claim must be seen in what we do and how we live.

The secular age we live in means belief is always contested. Almost everyone has doubts about what they profess regarding religion and spiritual life. But the silver lining is that unbelief is always contested too. That is, no matter how much atheism and agnosticism press the case for unbelief, there will always be questions that raise doubts about their unbelief. Taylor mentions the aesthetic awareness of beauty, the awareness of a need for ethics and morality, and the awareness of the creative capacity that humans possess as reasons why there are questions that cast doubt on unbelief. The awareness of beauty, morality, and human capacity evokes a wonder that a secular framework of unbelief cannot explain.⁶ In other words, beauty, morality, and creativity raise questions that go unanswered in a life without God. Furthermore, as Taylor explains, “there must be some way in which this life looks good, whole, proper, really being lived as it should.”⁷ Therefore, even in our day, where moral relativism flourishes, people know there is a right and wrong way to live, good and evil.

I believe the questions that contest unbelief, including the awareness of right and wrong, open space for the church. Knowing that people still have a sense of right and wrong and wonder where that comes from is a gateway for the church to point to God's existence and redemptive work. This opening is based on how we live life, particularly by practicing what Paul describes as true, honorable, just, pure, pleasing, and commendable (cf Phil 4:8-9). This life described by Paul is why we must live a life that rejoices in the Lord. As Paul writes, “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say rejoice”(Phil 4:4).⁸

This verb rejoice occurs in Philippians nine different times (cf. 1:18 [2x]; 2:17, 18, 28; 3:1, 4:4 [2x], 10). The key to rejoicing is in this little phrase “in the Lord.”⁹ When we are convicted that “living is Christ and dying is gain” (Phil 1:21), the kenosis life of living Christ—emptying ourselves for the sake of others and becoming a self-sacrificial servant to others—is doable. That’s because we know this kenosis way of living is not a defeat. Rather, participating in Christ like this is the road to resurrection. So we rejoice and demonstrate our joy in the Lord by letting our “gentleness be known to everyone” (Phil 4:5). We strive not to be anxious or fearful, which is probably easier said than done. But we have God near us and, as Paul says, “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard [our] hearts and [our] minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:7). Because this peace of God rests on the conviction that Jesus is the crucified, resurrected, and exalted Lord and Christ, it dispels whatever anxiety we have. When that happens, we can live according to what is true, honorable, just, pure, pleasing, and commendable.

Now there is an issue that comes up when we think about living as Christians in a skeptical society. Some people will point out the times when Christians have utterly failed to live according to what is true, honorable, just, pure, pleasing, and commendable. And I think we have to be honest about that and say, “Yeah, they’re right. It was wrong, and we’re sorry it happened.” That’s true today when we hear about churches covering up abuse and other unethical behaviors, and it’s true for those who professed to be Christians while riding around at night in white hoods, terrorizing and lynching Black people. Yes, it was wrong, and I’m sorry it ever happened.

But I also know of the wonderful good done by people who became Christians and had their lives transformed by the Spirit. These people have committed to living their lives for Christ according to the teaching of scripture, and I’ll briefly share two examples. First, I think of someone like William Wilberforce, who becomes a Christian in the later part of the eighteenth century. Not only did Wilberforce’s new life as a Christian transform the way he believed and lived, but he also went on to lead the way in abolishing slavery. Second, a Christian organization here in Delaware called Zoë Ministries works to free underage girls from the contemporary slavery that is human trafficking.

You see, despite the wrongs that Christians have sometimes done, there are still Christians who can see the beauty in every living person, including underage girls caught in the vicious web of human trafficking. These Christians clearly understand the morally right response and use their God-given creative capacities to do what is true, honorable, just, pure, pleasing, and commendable.

What I have described is how Christians live in a skeptical society. We let our actions reflect what is true, honorable, just, pure, pleasing, and commendable. Then we let the reflection from our efforts open space for people to wonder where such beauty, moral character, and creative goodness come from. Then when they ask, we tell them the truth about God, the God who has revealed himself in Jesus as the Way, Truth, and Life — crucified, resurrected, and exalted as the Lord and Christ who is saving the world from sin and death.

1. This article was originally a manuscript for a message I preached to the Newark Church of Christ on Sunday, October 9, 2022. I have made some edits to present this article as a written message for this newsletter.

2. Charles Taylor, A Secular Age, Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2007, 146.

3. Ibid, 294.

4. Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2018, 13.

5. Ibid, 116.

6. Taylor, A Secular Age, 596.

7. Ibid, 600.

8. Unless otherwise noted, all scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition Bible, copyright © 1989, 2021 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. and are used by permission. All rights reserved.

9. G. Walter Hansen, The Letter to the Philippians, The Pillar New Testament Commentary, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009, 287, who says that regardless of the circumstances, there is still an “in the Lord we rejoice.”