The Appearance of Evil?

OK, so Calvin College cancels a concert by a group called The New Pornographers, solely on the merits of the group's name. Christian college..."pornographers"...what's the question here? We're not talking music, we're talking appearance. It shouldn't matter that The New Pornographers perform fluffy indie rock. It shouldn't matter that their name came from a cheesy Japanese film. The name "appears" to support something that Calvin College does not, and should not support.


So why are 90% of the comments on the internet trashing Calvin College for being a bunch of narrow-minded, judgmental bigots?

1 Thessalonians 5:22 warns us to "abstain from all appearance of evil." That doesn't seem like bad advice for a Christian college. I may have "Zoot Suit" by The Cherry Poppin' Daddies on my mp3 player, but I'm far more likely to book the Brian Setzer Orchestra for a Christian event than I would be the Daddies. Am I judging their music? No. I'm judging their choice of names.

Perhaps Calvin College should book the Nazi Kitten Killers. I hear their music is great. And after all, who cares about appearance?

Atheist, and Other Religious Fanatics

So I'm sitting on a plane making small-talk with the passenger across the aisle when the inevitable question is raised..."What do you do for a living?" I considered telling her that I herd cats (which to me is an accurate description of pastoral ministry), but instead, I answer honestly. There is a long pause, followed by "Don't take this personally, but I'm an atheist."


Now my first thought is "Why would I take that personally? After all, she didn't say she believed that I didn't exist. Only God." My first words, however, were these. "I'm always impressed when I meet an athiest. I only wish I had that much faith."

"Faith?" she replied, making eye contact with me for the first time. "I told you I DON"T believe in God."

I explained to her that by not believing in God, she was putting all her faith in the absence of anything greater than herself. And since almost every sociologist and psychologist I've ever read have stated that humanity has an inherent need to believe in some form of deity, Christians like me have it easy. We are just following human nature. Atheist, on the other hand, reject all human science, and that requires a level of faith I could only long for.

We never really made eye contact after that, although I did catch several sideways glances throughout the flight. Maybe I should have stuck to my usual response of "I'm sorry, but I don't believe in atheist."