The Culture of Disent
David Scott
October 1, 1996
A college student wrote me recently asking to talk about some of the teachings of her church (Roman Catholic) and some of the teachings of her boyfriend's church (Baptist). She wanted someone to explain or try to make plausible the teachings she either couldn't understand or accept. Pervading her correspondence is an attitude of distrust toward anything organized religion says or teaches.
While engaged in this e-mail correspondence, I heard a lecture by Alvin Toffler, the futurist, that put my e-mail correspondence in a new light. Toffler noted an increase in deep distrust of the truthfulness and honesty of all public communication, whether from political and business leaders, church leaders, or educators. Toffler's observation about people distrusting institutions was, of course, not new. What was striking was a cause he named for this growing cynicism in the messages from institutions: our image-driven media. The electronic medium of most modern messages, Toffler claimed, breeds distrust in all institutional discourse and public statements. Toffler suggested to me that we need to add to our list of reasons that people distrust institutional religion our image-driven electronic culture itself.
I am certain that Christians should care about Toffler's suggestion. Christians should be concerned if the dominant mode of communication in our culture breeds distrust because Christians should care about human demoralization and the erosion of human community. Further, Christians should care if Toffler is right because the church lives by communication, or ought to. The body of Christ receives the commission and mission from God to proclaim a Gospel and to communicate God's love by word and deed. More theologically, the Christian ...
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