Two weeks ago, The King’s College hosted a debate between Dinesh D’Souza and Christopher Hitchens over the question, “Is Christianity the Problem?” D’Souza, a former policy advisor to President Reagan and author of eleven books including his current New York Times bestseller What’s So Great About Christianity?, argued that, no, most if not all of the problems in our world and the atrocities throughout history, even if not explicitly carried out under the banner of atheism, have been the result of denying the existence of a god. Hitchens, a prolific author and regular contributor to Slate Magazine, Vanity Fair, and Atlantic Monthly, defended the premise of his own recent NYT bestseller God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. It would be almost as difficult to wrap up each polemics’ points and counter-points in a single blog post as it would be to completely defend or refute theism in a two-hour debate. If you weren’t present, you can check out the debate in its entirety on the King’s website. You can also catch D’Souza’s apperences, along with clips of the debate, on Fox & Friends and Hanity & Colmes. There is one aspect of the debate, however, I will try to address.
I wanted to wait off on replying to this topic until I had a chance to browse through D’Souza’s book. He makes some valid arguments that would further solidify a believer’s faith, but in both the debate and what I’ve read of his book, D’Souza leaves out the greatest part of Christianity: grace.
You can’t fully understand our need or Christ’s sacrifice without delving into the theology of the issue. While refusing to use Scripture may have perked the ears of some skeptics in the audience, D’Souza was conceding his greatest weapon. Hitchens is right–on its face, the cross is ludicrous. The Son of God coming as an obscure, itinerant preacher in an obscure corner of the Roman Empire, leading a seemingly-insignificant life, and dying a cruel and shameful death sounds ridiculous, and in many ways it is. It is not until you look at the grotesqueness of our sins and God’s need for justice do you see why we must submit to this “divine tyrant,” and why it was so loving that God only waited as long as He did to intervene. It is not until you see the divine plan of salvation weaved through the first epoch of human history do you recognize the beauty in the nuances of the Gospel story. It is not until you examine the effects of this insignificant life on the past two millennia do you find the exceptionalism in Chrstianity.
You can’t effectively defend Christianity by arguing body counts–if you believe, as Christian orthodoxy teaches, that every life holds infinite worth, you can’t debate justice in terms of who’s tyrants have killed less people. You can’t defend Christianity by comparing charitable donations–any member of any faith can exhibit altruism for any number of selfish or selfless reasons. And, most of all, you cannot defend Christianity by ignoring its exceptional doctrine–grace.
This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t appeal to secular authorities in defending the faith, but the message still needs to be there. Augment the gospel of grace with science, history, and comparative analysis, but don’t make the accidents the essential element. What’s so great about Christianity? I’m a sinner saved by grace, heir to a gift I could never earn nor deserve, freed from bondage to enjoy God more fully.
