I’ve expressed concern before that Rachel Held Evans didn’t understand her influence. Turns out, I was quite wrong.
This is a really good reflection not only on “branding,” but also more broadly how we judge others based on limited knowledge.
http://rachelheldevans.com/blog/brand
I think there’s a couple reasons for her popularity. Broadly, she writes in a very accessible way about faith that is often easier to understand and better written than many pastors’ blogs. In the evangelical world, I think she’s an important voice as a woman and a liberal. Because those voices have traditionally been absent in evangelical circles, people have been waiting for someone to speak their faith language.
However, that popularity comes with a price. She becomes a face of liberal Christianity. If you don’t like liberal Christianity, you can take a shot at her and people who agree with you will understand. But instead of taking a shot at an institution, now you’ve taken a shot at a person. We all do it. Stereotypes exist because they’re easier. But when we forget that there’s a real person on the other end, we can do real damage to one another. And the Internet can exacerbate this damage because we never have to get to know the person in real life, never have to meet with them face to face.
Perhaps the most radical thing we followers of Jesus can do in the information age is treat each other like humans—not heroes, not villains, not avatars, not statuses, not Republicans, not Democrats, not Calvinists, not Emergents—just humans. This wouldn’t mean we would stop disagreeing, but I think it would mean we would disagree well.
Coal Burned Lips 