The American church as a whole has failed intellectual people by consistently excluding them from its target audience. It has done little to alleviate the despair that those who seek proof or evidence must confront when they begin to question their Christian ideals and the veracity of the Bible. If anyone is willing to actually engage these people in conversation, all the doubters usually hear about is why they should just believe despite doubts and lack of evidence [1] or that there is no evidence and thus searching for it is futile. Right now, even after the enormous quantity of time I have spent educating myself about philosophy, apologetics, and Christian theology, I can relate to the terrified doubter described above far more than I can relate to the relaxed apologist who is perfectly willing to concede that 100% certainty on many matters is unattainable.
As someone who has been what appears to be the one person (or one of the very few) in my present congregation who truly cares about apologetics, reason, and the intellect, I have often found myself distressed by the sense of solitude an apologist will discover in the church at large--and even more disturbed by the response average churchgoers will offer to those who doubt. Fallacy-filled cliche answers do not address true intellectual questions, and though verbal encouragement may comfort the feelings of the doubter, since the doubter is usually rejecting emotional grounds for belief in an idea in exchange for the pursuit of rational certainty or proof, emotional support does little to diminish the terror of an existential crisis. The insistence that "faith" (a vague and controversial term as it is) is the answer and benevolent but superficial words of sentimental comfort have failed to prevent thousands of Christians from abandoning Christianity at the college age or when they are confronted with those who challenge their often-assumed beliefs.
At best, the occasional attempts by churches to appease the few intellectuals among them usually amount to painful misuses of logic which only frustrate lovers of reason even further. I have gone from being deeply irate with the shallowness and inconsistency of general popular theology in common church services to believing that the average church at the present time has little to nothing to offer a true seeker of truth. Whether or not the Bible has anything to offer a truth-seeker is an entirely separate issue, just as whether or not Christianity is true has nothing to do with the Bible. But I now experience revulsion at the thought of the ignorant fitheists who are viewed as representing Christianity in the current American culture.
Do Christians not see that one can have faith in ANYTHING? That someone can have faith that Islam and its associated morality are true, that prison rape is justice, that Christianity is incorrect, that life has no meaning, that logic is an unnecessary obstacle to life and is therefore unnecessary? Do they not realize that faith in one idea of history and theology is no more objectively compelling than faith in another view of history and theology and that one unverified belief is not superior to another? Do they not understand that truth is far too valuable a thing [2] to be approached through helpless guesses and implausible assumptions? Do they not comprehend the pain of someone who wants answers or do they not empathize with those people enough?
As I wrote in the first paragraph, I myself am in a period of severe doubt about many matters despite my intimate familiarity with a great deal of different philosophies and Christian apologetics and theology in particular. If this is what has become of a dedicated Christian who sought knowledge with true devotion to truth and reason, then what will become of the unequipped and the ignorant? Churches have indeed largely failed and neglected those among their congregations and cities who long for certainty and something verifiable and intrinsically meaningful to love and place their hope in. This does not surprise me; if churches can't even understand what the Bible teaches about matters both trivial and significant, they certainly can't understand philosophy, science, and reason. The American church needs to change or become rightly obsolete.
[1]. By this I mean that there is usually a lack of evidence that has been presented to the doubter. Obviously this blog is dedicated to the fact that there is great evidence for Christianity that intelligent people can grapple with.
[2]. A true rationalist will start from nothing, seeking truth with the knowledge that truth may turn out to possess no meaning, that it just is but has no actual value because nothing does. I am not assuming that truth is valuable in this post but merely making a point.
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