A RELEVANT Conversation With Brian McLaren

Whether you agree with him or not, Brian McLaren certainly has the ability and talent to make you think about what Christianity is today and what Christianity could be in the future. I thought this conversation between McLaren and Relevant Magazine regarding his new book Everything Must Change (which is a must-read) was very insightful and interesting.

----

Six million children under the age of five die of starvation each year, and yet, just one percent of annual global income would provide the world’s poor people with clean water and basic nutrition, health care and education. These are two of the startling facts Brian McLaren includes in his new book, Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises and a Revolution of Hope (Thomas Nelson), to illustrate both the extent of problems such as hunger, disease and environmental destruction and the as-yet untapped potential for solving them. RELEVANT had the chance to sit down and talk with McLaren about his new book and ways in which Christians can enact necessary change.

When was the seed planted for Everything Must Change?

When I was in my twenties, I asked high school kids at a youth conference to name the top five problems in the world and also the top five discussion topics at their churches. The lists they gave me were completely different and that birthed my desire to explore the disconnect between global crises and the inaction of Christians. I’m 51 now, so this idea has been growing for almost 30 years.

What would Jesus think of the state of the world today?

I think Jesus would have a tense relationship with modern religious leaders now, as He did in his day, because so many of them have used Jesus’ name to work against Him and what He stood for. For example, for about 80 years before the Civil War, a lot of American preachers misused the Bible to defend slavery. It was the same when I was a boy, when some Christians misquoted scriptures to advocate racism and to attack the work of Dr. King. I think there are similar things going on today, but our children and grandchildren will see it better than we do, unless we really want to see the truth.

Can you expand on how business can help bring about change?

As individual consumers we can help build justice for underprivileged peoples by changing our buying habits. One example is by buying through fair trade organizations such as Tradeasone.com, and by deliberately avoiding purchasing goods we know were created in unethical conditions. When you go shopping without a conscience, you feel happy whenever you get a bargain. But when you are concerned about ethical buying, you aren’t happy at all if your bargain was purchased at the expense of a young woman working for thirty cents an hour, ten hours a day, or a child being exploited in an unsafe factory that pollutes the air he breathes and the water he drinks. You’d feel a lot happier to spend a little more m! oney if you knew that your purchase strengthened an ethical business in an ethical economy.

Government policies must change if we’re to truly bring justice to impoverished nations. For example, U.S. Government subsidization of the cotton industry allows American producers to sell cotton so inexpensively that African producers can’t compete. Our tax dollars are upholding this kind of injustice, and most of us are completely unaware of it.

Do you think, despite the tragedy that unfolded in New Orleans, that Hurricane Katrina was a necessary wakeup call to Americans?

Hurricane Katrina showed America part of itself that most of us weren’t paying attention to. It showed us a large number of shockingly poor people who were left behind, who weren’t helped. We still haven’t come to terms with that and we need to see more images of what happened in New Orleans, as many times as it takes to wake us up and make us take a stand for those in need.

I hope as people read Everything Must Change they develop a new awareness, a new sensitivity. For example, I hope readers realize that as Christians they have a relationship with the parents of a child who died of diarrhea in Africa last night—that mom and dad are our neighbors. We can’t just keep flipping cable channels to escape the reality of our neighbors who are in need.

Do you think political polarization in the U.S. is delaying such a change in perception and action?

I really do. I represent people who are frustrated by the polarization of religious denominations and political Left versus Right. When we’re facing global crises we can’t afford to be divided politically, religiously, economically—we spend a lot of time debating small, petty issues and we stay in denial about huge problems like extreme poverty, ecological crisis and a trajectory of hate and fear that moves us toward increasing conflict. The divisive partisan issues that preoccupy us! become weapons of mass distraction.

What advice do you give to young people who want to follow the example of Christ?

If I could speak just one sentence to young people, I’d say, “Don’t waste your life in being part of the religious machine, but spend your time on the real work of Jesus: helping to actively heal global crises through the wisdom, love and power of God.”