>I grew up in a Christian home. Consequently Christianity has had a profound affect on my life. When I was a kid I became frustrated with the overly simplistic and emotional approaches to truth that has come to be a part of so much of Christianity. I began to seek out Christians who used their brains and valued rationality. In my teens I came across the philosophical writings of C. S. Lewis. I also came across the writings of Francis Schaeffer. These men, and others like them, helped me to see that faith and reason can, and should, go together. They helped set me on a better course in my search for truth.

Francis Schaeffer (1912-1984) was an interesting character and noted Christian apologist. He, and his wife Edith, were the founders of L’Abri in Switzerland. For a while in the 1970s, because of his stance against Roe v. Wade, he was lumped together with the far right-wing Christian camp. Later, in conversation with his son Frank, he said those people are crazy, or something to that effect. His thinking was far to deep and far too wide ranging to be pegged by any narrow and rather dogmatic camp.

Schaeffer writing

Francis Schaeffer wrote a number of books including, How Should We Then Live: The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture (1976), which was then made into a film. One of Schaeffer’s key critiques was of the personal peace and prosperity ideology that has come to mark much of Western culture, including Christianity. Thanks to YouTube I get to “re-live” a moment from my formative years. Here is a part of that somewhat clunky, but still interesting film:

One of his statements always catches my attention. He says he wept when the sixties gave way to the seventies and the radical cultures that were seeking truth gave way to mere hedonism. Although he did not agree with many of the conclusions of the sixties protesters, he saw their project as valid, which was a different stance to take than that of mainstream Christianity at the time. I wonder what he would have thought of the WTO protests we first witnessed in 1999 in Seattle. I think he might have applauded.