Christian Narcissism: I Bet You Think This Tragedy Is About You

Last updated on: October 4, 2015 at 6:47 pm by Benjamin Dixon

Christian Narcissism: I Bet You Think This Tragedy Is About You 2015-10-04T18:47:11-04:00 Benjamin Dixon

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I’ve grown weary with the incessant need of some Christians to believe they alone are the victims of persecution in the United States. Nothing drives the pulpits on Sunday mornings more than a good narrative of persecution or martyrdom. It is the most desired part of the faith, to some. And to this ilk, persecution is sought underneath every rock, around every corner, and in every tragedy.

In the most recent national tragedy at Umpqua Community College, witnesses have corroborated the account that the killer asked the victims their faith before killing them.

Within minutes, blog articles, videos, sermons, rants and social media posts forwarding the idea that there is an attack on Christianity, bombarded our spaces — both physical and mental. You couldn’t refresh a page without hearing or reading rants from social media pastors about how “we are living in end times” and how “atheists and secular humanists” are targeting the faithful. It’s almost as though Christians morbidly thought, “We’ve got one!”

Sadly, even in instances where the perpetrator clearly indicated his motivations, Christians–so desperate to believe that we are living perpetually in the End Times–co-opted the tragedy and made it about an “attack on our faith.” In Charleston, S.C., the shooter directly expressed that his intention was to kill African-Americans. Some Christians saw that the tragedy took place in a church, so it had to be about Christian Persecution and not racism, right?

Are tragedies less concerning to you when they aren’t about your faith? Is it, somehow, less tragic when there isn’t a Christian persecution narrative?

This is America. And in a nation that has apathetically brushed off the brutal slaughter of 20 elementary school students because of the debilitating false dichotomy between reasonable or practical gun control and protecting Second Amendment, we are all fair game. We are all the prey. We are all targeted.

May 23, 2014, a 22-year-old, sexually frustrated man targeted and killed six of his neighbors in Isla Vista, California.
July 20, 2012, a 24-year-old murderer targeted and killed 12 moviegoers at a midnight showing of the “Dark Knight Rises.”
September 16, 2013, a former Navy enlistee target and killed 12 civilians and contractors.
December 14, 2012, a 20-year-old killer targeted and killed 20 children and six adult teachers, volunteers, and staff members. His actions, like so many, attributed to mental disorder and social rejection.
February 10, 2105, a gunman targeted and killed three Muslim neighbors. A married couple and their sister — each enrolled in or seeking graduate level studies –cut down in their prime.
June 18, 2015, a 21-year-old self-declared racist and white supremacists targeted and killed nine African Americans during a Bible study at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C.
October 1, 2015, a 26-year-old man entered a classroom at Umpqua Community College, asked students their religion, and killed nine –including a professor.

Neighbors, moviegoers, co-workers, children, Muslims, African Americans, students and, yes, Christians have all been targeted in the United States.

Christians are no more targeted than the random citizen walking down the street who looks at a psychopath the wrong way. Christians are no more targeted in the United States than children who now have to practice Active Shooter drills along with fire and tornado drills. Christians are no more targeted than black Americans are for simply being black, no more than whites are for simply being white, no more than Muslims are for simply being Muslim, and no more than human beings are simply for being human beings.

Not every tragedy is about us. Not every tragedy is about our faith. And if we need the narrative always to be about an attack on our faith, then not only are we self-absorbed narcissists, but we are also so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good.

The Christian Persecution narrative is the greatest excuse to do nothing to change the fact that we are all, at sundry times, the targets of gun violence. The only solution to Christian persecution is the return of the King. Christians would never look for policies to end their persecution because they are waiting for that “great getting up day” when we will all be “caught up in the twinkling of an eye.”

We merely use it as one of our three preaching points to rev up the pews and then abdicate our responsibility to the broader society by waiting on God to fix a problem that we are fully capable of addressing. We get thunderous applauses, collect offerings, close our Bibles, and then go home.

All the while, the next shooter is gearing up to inflict the most pain possible by killing those towards whom his particular rage is directed. Those targets very well may be Christians. But as my friend Jonathan Picken stated:

Christians today, little kids tomorrow, Muslims last week; everyone gets their turn in some psycho’s crosshairs. It’s not tragic because they were Christian. It’s tragic because they were alive.

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