Ann Marie Cox will get some attention with her latest piece, which is really a rumination on her anxieties about how people will react to her public profession of belief in Jesus Christ. I think her particular path is unique to her and basically none of our business. Yet, at the same time, she’s inviting us in, trying to start a conversation.
And, she seems to be aware that her piece can be misconstrued as an attention-seeking desire for approval. I don’t think she really wants our reaction to be to her specific circumstances. If I understand her correctly, she’d rather open up a debate about how people are treated when they talk about their faith.
Part of it is that she runs in progressive circles where skepticism runs much, much higher than in the population at-large. Will people she respects think she’s a rube?
Part of it is that there are no shortage of conservatives who are willing to judge her for being insufficiently Christian. Maybe she doesn’t go to church enough, or maybe she hasn’t spent enough time reading the Bible, or maybe her political values are inconsistent with a true Christian life, or…
Depending on where you stand, what interests you about this piece will be different. What I find interesting is that coming out as a Christian can be as stressful as coming out as an atheist. After all, polls have shown that Americans would rather elect gay politicians than politicians who don’t believe in God. “Coming out” as a Christian is kind of a weird concept in a country where you’re expected to be a Christian, or at least a believer in some established religion.
But, conservatives have been so aggressive about grabbing the term “Christian” for themselves that there’s a backlash in progressive circles. It’s easy to see why a progressive might not be satisfied with telling their friends that they’re a Christian without explaining that they’re not an Erick Erickson Christian.
I think this whole social space is a construct of the Terri Schiavoization of our religious politics. Even devout Christians on the left begin to see “Christians” as a shorthand term for those folks who believe in Bill O’Reilly’s War on Christmas. They’ve begun a process of conceding control of the branding of their own religion to wingnut charlatans.
One consequence is that a Christian like Ann Marie Cox feels on some level that her personal faith needs explanation. “No, I’m not secretly playing for the other team.” She thinks she needs to reassure us of this, and maybe she does.
But if you look at the numbers, you’ll realize that the right doesn’t own Christianity and atheists/agnostics have modest cultural power and NO political power.
If you want to see anxiety, go down to Alabama and watch someone explain to their peer groups and family that they think Christianity is a crock of bunk. That’s a difficult conversation, too.
