How's Your View?

Type the word "worldview" into google. You'll find a lot of stuff, but not the least of which is an abundance of "Christian" resources promoting a "Christian worldview."

Am I the only one who is bothered by this phrase? For some reason, when I hear it, I get the same bristling feeling that I get when I hear people talk about "Christian" art or "Christian" history. My little red propaganda flags start going up.

I haven't exactly figured out why it bothers me, but I think it's because the people who traditionally use such a phrase have a very limited idea that they're trying to communicate. What they mean is a good citizen who promotes "family values", goes to church&trade, is against abortion, and believes that prayer should be re-instated in all schools, public and private.

As with so many other things, we in the church&trade have dumbed down what was once a good word. The wonderful thing about the word "worldview" (and the thing that makes its kidnapping by the Christian culture so much more unfortunate) is that it encompassed so much. Think about all that the word itself would include. You're basically talking about all of a person's assumptions and foundational beliefs about how the world works and how they operate inside of it. This included everything I've learned in childhood experiences to my ideas about the nature of reality.

And yet we've reduced it to some kind of socio-political statement. Churches&trade now want to promote a "biblical" worldview in their parishioners.

I think it's a misuse of the term, and it bothers me, because the Christian sub-culture of the larger culture around us is taking something that was important and substantive and making it a flavor of the day idea, stripping it of all meaning and significance. What could be a great opportunity to meet people where they are and find out who they are is turned into a trendy program... and we get to sound smarter to boot.

Heck, I guess we need some high-falutin' language to go with our fancy coffee and candles.
posted by Stephen at 9:37 PM | |