The Secular Creed (Rebecca McLaughlin)

In The Secular Creed, Rebecca McLaughlin engages five contemporary slogans: Black Lives Matter, Love Is Love, Gay Rights are Civil Rights, Women's Rights are Human Rights, and Transgender Women are Women. In each, her goal is neither to destroy nor affirm them, but examine "each claim through the lens of Scripture and in light of culture," with her aim being "to disentangle ideas Christians can and must affirm from ideas Christians cannot and must not embrace." And the first step, for the Christian, is humility and repentance, recognizing "that the tangling of ideas in the secular creed has been driven not only by the sin in the world out there, but also by the sin in the church in here." 

This is a solid introduction to these charged and divisive topics. McLaughlin writes with firsthand experience (in one area in particular) and her compassion radiates throughout. At the same time, she does a good job presenting and standing by her Biblical convictions. Across these five areas, some themes come up consistently:

1) There is a Christian worldview underpinning any claim to rights. If there is no God, and this material world is all there is, any talk of rights is . . . bizarre (as several prominent atheists have noted). Regardless of our stated convictions, we would all do well to examine the underlying beliefs behind statements we make. What truths do you hold to be self-evident . . . and why?

2)  The Church, throughout history, has often failed to do what it ought in loving others, recognizing their needs, and living out the Gospel. That doesn't make the Bible or Christ wrong . . . it makes Christians who misinterpret and/or misbehave wrong. 

3) Contemporary society bundles ideas together (or over-simplifies them), and we need to stand against that. In any given hot-button topic, we need to learn to appreciate nuance, separate topics appropriately, and clearly affirm, reject, or explain as needed.

4) Jesus and His self-sacrificing, unrelenting love humbles and overcomes those on both sides of these (and any) arguments. We all need humility as we navigate these spaces, looking to Him.

Overall, as I said, this is a solid introduction. It is short (107 pages), and thus a cursory treatment, sometimes more focused on disentangling ideas than debating the ideas themselves. And though she tries to be fair, in places I felt she wasn't fleshing out the opposing viewpoint enough (perhaps due to brevity; she is compassionate and doesn't strike me as someone who would knowingly do this). Overall, this is an important read for Christians and non alike.

Rating: A-