On Not Being Surprised If the World Hates You

"My unpopular beliefs come with a social cost? I am shocked. Shocked! Well, not that shocked."

This is Clusterhuck, my newsletter about faith, culture and a flourishing future for all! I’m glad you’re here. I can only do this through the support of my readers, and I’m grateful for every one I’ve got. If you’d like to join, just click here. You’ll get a free seven-day trial, including access to all the archives. 

---

“Do not be surprised if the world hates you,” John wrote in 1 John 3. I wonder if he ever wishes he hadn’t. That verse has been irresponsibly used to condone a lot of ugly stuff. In the U.S., most Christians seem to have interpreted it to mean not only should we not be surprised if the world hates us, but the world does hate us and will always hate us and in fact if it doesn’t hate us with every fiber of its being, we’re doing something wrong and need adjust course until we are being hated again. 

But there’s a wrinkle here too. “Just because they hate us doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be nice to us.” We want to be insulated from their hatred. So the way it often works out is that, yes, the world should hate Christians. But they shouldn’t be able to say anything about it or meaningfully express it. It should be a distant, easily ignored hatred. We should be allowed to state our most unpopular beliefs like a bulldog and then turn into a smoll defenseless bean when people respond.

There is an Atlantic article making the rounds on the hilarious strength of its opening anecdote that illustrates this.