Why Do I Torture Myself
Every so often, I make the mistake of returning to the local Christian bookstore. It’s no secret how much this place irritates me. I grow so tired of seeing the various products that they push (books dealing with the prosperity gospel, books about marital faithfulness written by guys who get divorced and convince younger women to divorce their husbands and shack up with them, and so on). And, over and over I tell myself just to avoid the place.
But, as a pastor, I can receive at least 20% off any product I purchase. So, when I want to buy a new Christian book, this is the best place because it’s cheaper than other outlets. However, I’m beginning to think that paying an extra 20% for the books elsewhere might keep me from balling up in bitter rage.
Today, as soon as I walked in the doors, I was bombarded by books with a big pictures of the Republican vice-presidential candidate plastered all over it. Now, this wouldn’t be such a bad thing, except for the fact that I didn’t find books with pictures of the other Christian candidates in the store (which would be all of them). Where were the biographies of Barack Obama? Maybe they were sold out. How about a small book on the life of Joe Biden? Nope. Okay, we know that all real Christians who live in real America are Republicans, so certainly there was a book on McCain. Um, I came up empty on this one too (I did ask if they had any books on Obama, Biden, or McCain…the answer, “I don’t think so. But we have this nice book on Sarah Palin”). I just wish that Christian organizations would stop being so obvious about their political perspectives.
One of the biggest complaints I hear from my non-Christian friends would be that Christians tend to wear their politics on their sleeves…that Christians tend to talk more about politics than any thing else…that they wish Christians would be as passionate about caring for the world and those around them as they are about their politics.
Obviously, I’m pretty straight-forward about my political leanings. But, I try to do my best to avoid letting my political favorings influence my teaching. I’d rather focus on the Scriptures and try to present a non-partisan front and let people make up their own minds. But, when you walk into the Christian bookstore and all you can find are books about Sarah Palin and George W. Bush, many make the assumption that this is what Christians should support. (I will say that I did find some Jim Wallis, Tony Campolo, and Shane Claiborne books that question the evangelical Republican agenda…but they were tucked away in the back).
Having the Palin book being the first thing customers see walking into the store just helps push the “to be a Christian is to be a Republican” stereotype. And that bothers me.
I really need to take my own advice and just steer clear of the Christian bookstore. Then, I could view my trips to Borders and Barnes&Noble as outreach and evangelistic opportunities.