Now, that I’ve made it clear that the way we think is a product of our culture, I think it would be helpful to clarify the motive or MO of the Christian Rationalist, at least this CR. There are no “hidden agendas.”

I am not a dogmatist. I was a dogmatist a long time ago when I was part of the evangelical culture. We nitpicked the Bible, looking for precise dogmas (rules from God) that we could follow. Looking at it honestly, I think the MO of that game was, 1) to help us feel more loved by God and 2) to help us feel more pious than other Christians. We knew of and followed more rules than they did. We consider those who did not follow our plethora of rules were at least not good Christians, or going to hell.

When I speak about Christian Rationalism, I am not saying that those who don’t follow it are in sin or worse of a person than myself. I am certainly not saying that my relationship with God is better than theirs because I am a Christian Rationalist. My MO is not evangelistic in nature. As a matter of fact, I think many people whose spirituality is based on more of a postmodern approach would not be happy as a Christian Rationalist. It is only if they become disillusioned with the mystical approach, like what happened to me, should they consider Christian Rationalism. I am speaking to the disillusioned that they consider Christian Rationalism before abandoning Christianity altogether.

I just left a small postmodernist group, where I sat and listened to postmodernist, irrational speakers (not all were) for almost three years and said nothing. The reason I said nothing was my respect for the people in the group and knowing that these speakers mean a lot to them. I had no reason to challenge them until someone softly and politely challenged my faith and then I knew it was time to go.

I have three reasons for identifying myself as a Christian Rationalist.

First, to defend myself. Whenever I say anything about thinking, reason, science, etc. in a church setting, almost without fail, someone will point out that I cannot have a relationship with God using reason (of course everyone uses reason in their relationship with God, but it is not cool to admit it). It must be mystical and irrational. If you don’t believe me, I challenge you to stand up in front of an entire church and say something like, “Science has been helpful in my relationship with God.” They will think you are a nut case and I bet at least one person will tell you that your personal relationship with God is not authentic. I’ve been through this so many times, my tendency is to over-react each time it happens now, which I regret.

The second reason, which I’ve spoken about many times, is that Christianity is dying as a culture and the polls say that one of the major reasons people are leaving is the irrationality (bs) of the movement. You are more likely to hear baseless conspiracy theories in a Christian group than anywhere else in our society and I believe that is the fruit of the irrationalism that persist there.

I believe that society functions better when it is in sync with reality and reality is best known through cognitive processing. For example, as I have mentioned, Donald Trump and the swarm of conspiracy theories that cloud our government, making it impotent and dangerous, is the fruit of postmodernism. The fact that 1.1 million people died from COVID was the result of postmodernism. If all opinions are the same, then the Doctor who spent decades as a virologist is not more of authority on COVID than a talk show host with the gift of gab, but who never finished high school. Lies are dangerous and reason and knowledge is the best way to avoid them.

I will close with one more reason which is not why I’m a Christian Rationalist or why I speak about it and that is as an act. Someone suggested once that I have lofty questions as an act. I guess he supposed that I was trying to prove to others I was smarter than I really am. This is profoundly wrong. I’ve been a rationalist by nature my whole life. I only left evangelicalism when the bullshit and superstition got so deep, I could no longer walk. If I was forced to become a mystic, postmodernist, as many people tell me I must do to be a “real Christian,” I am afraid I would soon be an atheist as that would not work for me. It is my nature and has nothing to do with arrogance or intelligence. To borrow a line from the postmodernist Richard Rohr, “Be true to yourself.” Reason, the beautiful reason that God has given us, is a deep part of myself and I can’t change that. If the word “reason” seems unspiritual or a little shallow to you, go back and re-read my post on how we got here, but I beg that you give me the same respect I give you.

Mike