Brian McLaren Says Evangelicals Dislike Him

Brian McLaren has been a frequent guest blogger on the Huffington Post lately. Yesterday (April 5, 2010), he penned a post with the intriguing title, Why Do Evangelicals Dislike Me So Much?

Why Does Brian Dislike Evangelicals So Much?

As I read Brian’s article, the question kept coming up, “Why does Brian dislike Evangelicals so much?” He describes Evangelical leaders as “testy under stress,” “multiplying their power,” “keeping moderate elements afraid,” “the most strident inquisitors,” etc.

He seems to be equally disdainful of Evangelical “followers.” He compares people disagreeing with his theology to subjects in Milgram’s classic authority/pain experiment. In the experiment, actors posing as authority figures commanded subjects repeatedly to press the pain and punishment button on their innocent fellow subjects. It supposedly demonstrates the extreme willingness of adults to go to almost any length on the command of an authority figure.

Brian then claims that the reason so many Evangelicals “dislike” him is because they’re afraid of their authority figures and therefore, like the Milgram subjects, keep pressing the punishment button to hurt Brian. According to Brian, these fearful, robotic, submissive, mindless followers become “agents in a terrible destructive process.” Out of fear of being zapped for daring to agree with Brian, these followers compliantly “press the punishment button when anyone dares to differ by giving the ‘wrong’ answer.”

In Brian’s thinking, they subject Brian and his followers to the pain buzzer in many ways. “Our motives are judged, our words are twisted, our proposals are misinterpreted, and our books are even banned or burned. But we aren’t complaining; we’re just sayin.’”

So…anyone who disagrees with Brian…dislikes him, wants to punish him, judges his motives, twists his words, burns his books—and does it all either to maintain power (if one is a “leader”) or out of fear of authority (if one is a “follower”). Not a pretty portrayal of Evangelical leaders and followers.

Another Version of the Story

There’s something a tad sad when a rich, successful, white male plays the victim card. And it’s very sad when he plays the victimizer card against anyone who disagrees with his theology.

I’ve read a good deal and written a good deal about Brian’s latest book, A New Kind of Christianity. Not a single thing I’ve read, nor a single thing I’ve written has even had even a hint of dislike for Brian, no questioning of his motives (even though he questions the motives of Evangelical leaders and followers), no twisting of words, no banning or burning of books, no desire to inflict pain or punishment.

Could it simply be that some of us, Evangelical leaders and followers alike, have a mind of our own and choose to disagree respectfully and lovingly with Brian? Why is it terribly destructive to disagree with Brian, but totally fine for Brian to disagree with 2,000-years of church history? (See my Final Recap for all the links to my posts where I respond question-by-question to Brian’s new kind of Christianity.)

Join the Conversation

Why do you think Evangelical leaders and “followers” disagree with Brian?

Share/Bookmark

RPM Ministries--Email Newsletter Signup

Get Updates By Email

Join the RPM mailing list to receive notifcations of my latest blog posts!

Thank you so much! You have been successfully subscribed to our newsletter. Check your inbox!