Implausibility Structures

I still remember the lines from an old D.C. Talk cassette tape I had back in the day. If you’re under the age of 30, I need to give a little context. A cassette tape was the equivalent of a musical file. It’s what we used for “streaming” back in the nineties. It was about the size of an index card. Okay, more clarification. An index card is something we used to write important notes on back in the Middle Ages. I digress.

Here’s the quote. I can recite it from memory. “The single greatest cause for atheism in them world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”

The sociologist Peter Berger coined the phrase “plausibility structures” to describe contexts that make particular ways of seeing the world more believable. A plausibility structure is often defined by the majority worldview of any culture. For example, if you grew up in a southern state in North America, one that is deeply influenced by Christianity, you may have found the Christian faith to seem rather obvious. In contrast, your experience would be very different than someone who grew up in Pakistan where the Muslim faith is the norm.

The plausibility structures of each culture make the respective religions feel and seem more likely to be true. When most of the people around you believe a particular thing, it can be easy not to question it. To adopt the view with little to no scrutiny. After all, is it really possible all the people you know are truly wrong about such important topics? When you find someone holding a different perspective than the majority view, it’s just a lot easier to see them as wrong or simply rebellious.

The idea of “plausibility structures” gives a helpful framework for making sense of the psychological reality of shared beliefs as it relates to shared space. Yet, while the concept is a helpful observation, it is far from a fixed law. How might the predominant worldview of any culture ever change if that were the case? To consider that, I return the D.C. Talk quote.

As it relates to Christianity in North America, we’re witnessing the shifting of plausibility structures before our very eyes with the dramatic rise of those who no longer identify with Christianity. What’s happened? I don’t claim to be an expert, and this is far more anecdotal than grounded in research. But I think the big problem is we’ve established a version of Christianity that doesn’t look a whole lot like Jesus and feels increasingly implausible.

Don’t take my word for, buy that young couple a meal and share a conversation. You know who I’m talking about, the ones who attended your church in youth group and haven’t been back since high school graduation. Ask them to talk about their experience. I can tell you some of things I’ve heard from folks like this in my small circle of the world.

People I knew who grew up in Baptist churches but not longer attend have shared with me their frustration. They’re frustrated with churches and leaders who are passionate about preaching about the position and role of men, yet fail to take seriously the abuse of women. They’re frustrated with leaders who are really excited to chase down any potential threat of critical race theory, yet refuse to talk about the sin of racism or the need for justice.

They’re tired of nuanced arguments against empathy preached by leaders who clearly lack compassion. They’re tired of the marriage of church and political party, of leaders who denounce the immoral lifestyles of candidates they don’t support and then gloss over atrocities committed by their preferred politicians. They’re weary of the straining of gnats and the swallowing of camels, to use a biblical metaphor.

There’s something about it all that doesn’t look very much like Jesus. There’s something about it that seems very . . . unbelievable. It’s just implausible.

This is of course a bigger problem than any of us can fix this week. However, maybe today we can find small, tangible ways to acknowledge Jesus with our lips, and walk out the door and model a life that lines up. Our authentic attempts, however imperfect, can add plausibility to our message — far more than our rote religious recitations, our formal worship activity, and certainly more than a bunch of denominational posturing.

Let’s show that despite all the junk, all the baggage, all the toxicity, and all the dysfunction of American Evangelicalism, we still believe Jesus is worth following. I know for me personally, there’s a lot of things I can get over. Jesus isn’t one of them.