By John Mark N. Reynolds, Patheos.
Tokenism is one of the great intellectual plagues of our time, infecting right and left, Christians and non-Christians. Tokenism is making a big deal out of a small example. Tokenism is toxic when a company thinks hiring one person of color solves their “diversity problem.” Tokenism is also debilitating when one pretends that one’s little corner of reality represents a “trend” or another point of view.
Tiny minorities are sometimes correct, but they should not claim “equality.”
I am a creationist (of a sort) but have to concede that almost all scientists disagree with my position. If I were to make a list of scientists that agree with me and then make another list of scientists that disagree and put together a graphic that made the two groups look equal, I would be guilty of tokenism. If creationism is to be discussed, and I think it should be, a good argument for the discussion will not be because “many scientists” agree with it.
A common case of “tokenism” happens when people cite the tiny number of global Christian groups that support same sex marriage and pretend there is a huge controversy or “big change.” I have seen this Pew chart [at right] used several places.
Study the chart: it is a classic example of tokenism. The entire religion of Islam (1.6 billion) is placed opposite the PCUSA (1.7 million)! The PCUSA is not even a rounding error in the number of Muslims or Catholics!
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Were the PCUSA alone in this view on GLBT inclusion…were there not also the Lutherans, the Episcopalians, the UCC, Most of the Disciples of Christ, the majority of the North American Methodist congregations (their denom. still officially opposed), the United Church of Canada, the Lutherans of Northern Europe. Most of the Presbyterians of Scotland…not to mention a huge number of the rank and file priests of the Roman Catholics (here, and in Ireland, as the recent activism of said clergy showed, and elsewhere) and the actual Catholics in the pews, again, as polling here, and voting among that Overwhelmingly Catholic population showed where most Catholics in that still very religious nation have made their thoughts well known..As well as many of the churches and religious people in Brasil, and South Africa…well, when all the fact are taken into consideration, and all the others are counted also…the PCUSA, while tiny itself in the global sense, and yes, in the global Christian minority on this issue, that minority collectively is FAR from a “rounding error”.
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A similar and equally flawed argument was made to the Archbishop Tutu of south Africa, who in response pointed out the things I wrote above. And, he added, that while said position is is indeed the minority one at this time, it is no longer an insignificant position. And, he added, it would not matter if it were, for it is the right position for the Church to take.
I’m curious, Gene. Would you argue that the PCUSA should give up its stance on abortion rights since so many religious groups around the world, including the vast majority of world denominations/Christians vehemently oppose abortion, not to mention (as Tutu might say) “…it is the right position for the Church to take.”
Just trying to line up numbers in columns as justification for moral positions is hazardous. For Christians, decisions cannot rest on the winds of popularity but on the perspicacity of revelation. When the church starts to mirror its culture in moral pronouncements, danger bells should sound loudly.
Amen to that. I was about to ask Gene where God figures into the equation. His opinion revealed in scripture settles the matter.
Gene’s rationalizations sort of prove the point of this very interesting and fine article. And by the way, I know many Lutherans and NONE of them agree with Gene here….of course 95 plus out of a hundred of the Presbyterians I know don’t either!
Yeah … as if ELCA were the entire body of “Lutherans”, just as the PCUSA is the entire body of “Presbyterians”. Don’t worry about the rest of the “Split P’s” who hold no such beliefs.
As pertains to “religious” groups/sects on LGBT marriage. The UU and Quakers are not Christian, either in doctrine or confession. And they would be the first to remind of such. They are or may be “theistic” in a philosophical sense, but that would be the extent. To argue other wise would be to extend the same Christology umbrella to Mormons and Jehovah Witness. That dog will not hunt.
As to the PCUSA, that is an organization that is evolving into a post-modern, post-Christian entity that is moving away from the general Christian communion. The entity can be best described as a political/lobbying organization that seeks to get into the property management business, given its episcopal understanding of church property.
As to those who would object to that characterization of the PCUSA, I give you their 40 year association both in support and encouragement, and money due to the Board of Pensions, with Planned Parenthood Inc. and the Abortion Industry, where the last we heard they were into less “crushy” means to harvest tissue and organs for commercial purposes.
Your are known by the company you keep, and for the PCUSA, that is the industry of death and profit. It must pay well.