During the EU Referendum campaign, the term ‘Project Fear’ was frequently used by the Leave campaign to describe the position taken by the Remain campaign, as they so emphasised the dangers to our economy of a departure from the EU. Sometimes the term was used the other way round, i.e. to refer to the fear of immigration and the fear of ever closer union.
Regardless of the relevance to the issues, the term reminded me of the way many people have described Christianity. They claim the Church tries to use fear to recruit and to dominate. I have also come across people who claim to have been brought up in a churchgoing family where fear was the main driving force in their religion. These were usually people who had ceased practicing and often ceased believing, although some had discovered a different kind of Christianity to which they were happy to belong.
Was Project Fear around in the past? One source of misinformation is historical drama on TV. Almost all clergy and other ‘religious’ people are portrayed as narrow-minded censorious hypocrites. Occasionally there is one who is nice but rather naïve. This may lead viewers to develop a negative view of the Christianity, whether past or present. A view too often built on assumptions rather than observation.
Why do I dispute this view? Because of my own experience. Throughout my life I have known many Christians and few if any have conformed to the stereotypes. I have found the same of Jews, Asians, businessmen, public officials and lots of other ‘stock characters’ of fiction and of popular imagination. The only Members of Parliament I have met were honest, sincere people trying to serve the community. I have also found that most of the writings of all kinds by Christians of past ages do not sound as if they were full of fear but rather of hope.
Why does it matter?
· All stereotypes are dangerous. They help build prejudice and are obstacles to real encounters and to creating healthy communities.
· I think it is important to have a truthful understanding of our past, as it affects our view of the present and of ourselves.
· I do not want anyone to miss out on the opportunity to experience real Christianity due to an unreal image, however acquired.
What about me?
· My own experience of God is something I may write about at more length on another occasion, but I can assure you that fear has seldom played much of a part in it.
· When I first stopped to ask myself where I stood, I was not afraid of Hell: I just did not want my whole life to be based on a falsehood – either way.
· And now? I do not obey out of fear of punishment, but because I want to do what I know to be right. Can you love your neighbour out of fear?
What about the Big Stick?
There is a lot in the Bible about God’s Laws. This sounds like a man with a big stick is watching us. Surely that is Project Fear? I used to think of God’s Laws as somehow analogous to the laws made by Parliament. I now know there is an important difference. God’s Laws are more like the Laws of Science. They are based on the principles on which the World was intended to run. You cannot really break them, only ignore them – at your peril. If you ignore the Laws of Gravity and fall from a height, it does not make Gravity unfair or tyrannical. If I as a Risk Management Consultant advise you of the likely consequences of an action, am I part of Project Fear?
What about the Ultimate Big Stick?
Hell-Fire preaching has rather gone out of fashion. People who do not believe in God tend not to believe in Hell and so are not likely to be impressed by Hell-Fire preaching. I am not alone in having far different reasons for choosing to be a Christian. Does this mean we can dismiss Hell as fiction? Not necessarily. If you spend all your life choosing to ignore God, is it right that you should find yourself forced to join him and all us godbotherers in Heaven in the end? Are you not excluding yourself?
Further reading? Try the First Letter of John in the Bible. Not the Gospel of John, although probably by the same writer. All of it, if you can, otherwise just Chapter 4 verses 18 and 19. “Love casts out fear”.
