Reputation Matters

What Should Christians Be Known For?

As a Christian, I have struggled deeply with the manner in which my faith and spiritual tradition have been co-opted by White Christian nationalism — the entanglement of race, power, and the sacred.

Many public figures are acting as though one only needs to assert that one is Christian to be one. Or that somehow a shallow placation and mentions of God, mixed with anti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion stances, make an individual, an administration, or a nation Christian.

These gestures, which on the surface give the appearance of allegiance and devotion to Christ, ring hollow. They are a perversion of his way.

Our President has stated numerous times, “To be a great nation, you have to have religion… you have to have God.”

But God is not a prop to be placated at convenience for political points.

Additionally, God does not impose himself on people. What draws people to God is God’s reputation — a reputation often tarnished by the reputation of God’s loudest followers.

In essence, if your goal is for people to follow your God, make sure you have a good reputation.

Unfortunately, in the USA, Christians do not have a good reputation among non-Christians. Barna Group found in 2023 that 7 out of 10 people had a more favorable view of Jesus than of his followers. The single most important factor causing people to doubt Christianity was the hypocrisy and judgmentalism of Jesus’ followers. And most recently, their conflation of religion with politics.

Shocker — Jesus had the same critique of the religious elite of his time.

While many equate this disapproval with persecution due to their religious convictions, the truth is, Pope Francis stands in direct contrast to this narrative. His clear moral compass and clarity has drawn wide praise from people of all faith traditions, and even those without religious affiliation. He has earned a reputation of integrity, moral fortitude, faithfulness, and a heart for the vulnerable.

What gives him his good reputation is that he is living out of an understanding of Jesus’ way that gives imagination to a reality the world has not yet achieved: one of community, where the Other becomes a potential friend and God’s creation is treated with dignity.

To media pundits and political actors who like to parade Jesus’ name and cross necklaces:

Reputation matters.

How you treat your enemy matters.

How you welcome and treat the stranger matters.

How you engage the modern-day Samaritan matters.

To claim that eternal salvation is the greatest reward and then live a life that does not cultivate nor display the very virtues that are foundational in that afterlife, is confusing to all.

Rather than being known for what we are against, why are we not known for who we have been born into?

Isn’t that the whole point of being born again?

Being born into a different way of being?
A different way of engaging?
A different way of relating?
A different way of thinking?

A counterintuitive way of approaching disagreements and human relations?

Shouldn’t love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control be our reputation?