2 minute read
There’s somethin’ weird going on in American Christianity. Well, there’s lots of weird things going on, but what I mean is this growing populist impulse to reject expertise offhand. A board certified doctor is trusted less than a stay-at-home mom selling Multi-Level Marketing essential oils. A theologian with a PhD is trusted less than a youth pastor who got two-year degree from an unaccredited Bible academy. An epidemiologist at the CDC is trusted less than a college dropout turned self-published author and podcast host who got Cs in high school science. What the hell?
Seriously, though, I don’t get it. This phenomenon boggles my mind as I place the utmost value on knowledge, training, and experience. If I’m building a custom home, I hire an architect. If the power keeps flickering, I call an electrician. If I’m managing a business that gets sued, I get a lawyer. If my 5-year-old stutters, I schedule a speech pathologist. If my marriage has some strains, I go to a licensed therapist. If I want to know about a current event, I check out a media outlet with an editorial review board. I habitually seek out experts in literally every area of life.
Historically speaking, I understand where this radical populism comes from in terms of spiritual matters. It’s a result of the 16th century Protestant Reformation and the belief in the priesthood of the believer. Martin Luther rejected the corruption of the top-down Roman magisterium and sought a bottom-up renewal movement that put the power in the hands of the people despite contemporaries like Erasmus warning him how it would spiral out of control. Turns out both sides were right. Unfortunately, knowing why it happened does nothing to mitigate the nonsense.
Maybe it’s the inevitable shadow side of the continuing march toward technological innovation and democratic equality, but it’s terribly frustrating when people spend three minutes flipping back and forth between Instagram and a Wikipedia article on the porcelain throne, call this behavior “research,” and then expect to be treated virtually as peers of those who’ve written the dissertations. No, ma’am, that’s called taking a dump with reading material. Expertise belongs to those who’ve done the hard work, not those who agree with you. That’s confirmation bias.
The original beatniks were often criticized for the informality of their intellectual pursuits, but they were counterculturally pushing up against the cultural rigidity of 1950s academia. We’ve gone so far in the other direction it’s dumbfounding. I’ve actually had Christians at a Mainline church say I’m being a pretentious ass for saying, “Sorry, but I trust the real astronomers and astronauts when it comes to the shape of the earth.” Some of ’em had college degrees! It makes me wonder, ‘Is Christian culture reaching a point where valuing expertise is countercultural?’
