In a recent Twitter thread, Michael Clary, an evangelical pastor based in Cincinnati, addressed an unhelpful attitude pervasive among Christians. I confess it’s an attitude of which I’ve been guilty and, apparently, so has he.
Clary’s words are worth quoting at length:
“There once was a certain kind of evangelical Christian I felt free to make fun of. … conservative, uneducated, backwoods fundies who still read the KJV. They lacked the theological sophistication and cultural insight I had acquired while doing campus ministry and studying at seminary. …
“I would not have admitted this at the time, but deep down, I felt superior to my hometown people and their country religion. My ministry ‘success’ was at least partly driven by a desire to separate myself from them and prove that ‘I’m not one of those fundie Christians.’
“But then it began to dawn on me: I was standing on the shoulders of giants. My grandfather was one of those country preachers. … My great-grandfather was the same way. He only received a third-grade education. He planted a church deep in the hills of [West Virginia] and built a church building for it on his property. … He stayed true to the Lord and to his calling for 80 years. …