The Shifting Sands of our Post-Truth World

Can we innovate in light of these new philosophies?

[AI image generated my midjourney, prompt “A hyper realistic picture of a man who has a partial robot face. he should be standing in an ancient cathedral church and reading a bible upside down” 3rd iteration.]

Next week I speak at the Converge conference (C&MA leaders) in Columbus, OH. One of the requested talks was about innovation in church missions. If you’ve read my book The Innovation Crisis, you will know that I think innovation in ministry is much more difficult than it is in business. A primary driver of this difference is competition. Businesses are sharpened by concrete competition from other businesses (this is just one of a couple of factors). Ministries do not compete with other ministries. They compete with abstract changes in the fallen aspects of culture. Churches need to understand these changes (which they have done poorly) to “compete well.”

In presenting this talk I will provide two areas in which cultural change is competing with Christian truth. These are the areas that I plan to address. I should note that globally, the changes are a bit different but also shaded by these two.

1.      Epistemology and Truth

2024 will be a tough year for facts. How we understand what is true and what is false is going to be a lot more difficult. Challenges are going to come from politics, AI, and disinformation.

I was recently in California speaking at a church. One of the pastors told me about his congregation’s struggle with political divisions. He disgustedly referred to people in his church who believe, “The Big Lie.” This was how the Democrats portrayed Trump’s claim that the election was stolen, despite evidence to the contrary (and then counter evidence to this, and so on). Republican pastors might instead talk about the Russian Hoax (the framing of Trump as pro-Russian) which many Democrats believe, again, despite evidence to the contrary. Both sides have narratives they tell as truth which the other side repudiates. In 2024, we are facing another political cage fight. Truth will be the loser.

Truth issues are not contained to politics. I have now been in numerous conversations with “Evangelical elites” (professors and ministry leaders in particular) that speak from their “lived experience” as if subjective claims are truth claims. This is a form of subjectivism unlike any the church has faced before. For those under 30 years old, lived experience is a powerful epistemological framework. It is perceived to be as credible as the claim that fire will burn you.

Throw AI into the mix. Who wrote this? Is this picture real? Is this a video of a real event or is it AI? How will we know? This topic needs a few books written about it. In the present (not even in the future, but now), you can’t trust your lyin’ eyes.

2.      The Nature of People

The other area of huge change surrounds who we are as people. This one is coming at us from many different directions. It is related to the previous item and has already been widely disseminated. Thus, it is not new, but the extent and manner of its reach are getting deeper and pose a significant challenge to Christianity.

This is playing out in mass gender dysphoria in our culture already. Christian sexual morality used to be chided because it insisted on faithfulness. Now, it is critiqued because it denies sexual fluidity. Basic Christian ideals such as marriage, the family, and male/female categories are seen as the domain of moralistic fundamentalism. Identitarians redefine humanity around personal identity choices in which we choose our expression of humanity. This stands in stark contrast to a theology that we are created to glorify God as our chief end.

Transhumanism advocates for the enhancement of humanity through sophisticated technology. Its aim is Babel-esque in its goal to reduce mortality and increase intellectual capacity. It seeks to transcend the imago Dei with the “imago Me.” The world’s most famous inventor, Elon Musk, is at the center of commercial transhumanism with his brain implant device. Among the technological overlords of the internet, our phone and computer transhumanism runs thick.

Human dignity itself is up for grabs. Suicide has gone mainstream in Canada. The rights of trees and animals are, to some, more sacred than human rights (see The Rights of Nature Timeline if you think I exaggerate).  Human rights arose from Christianity. As we see them erode, we should understand that this erosion comes as Christian influence in society wanes.

These two areas provide opportunity for the church to reveal Jesus in new and exciting ways. Jesus is our epistemology (John 14:6 - Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”). His treatment of others contrasts with the extreme individualism of identitarianism, the utilitarianism of transhumanism, and the loss of human dignity.

The question is how can the church innovate its approach to take advantage of these ideological and philosophical shifts? We should see these as opportunities, but I fear we fear them instead.