Survivor Fan
December 19, 2007
I have to admit it – I’m a huge Survivor fan. I don’t know if there is more entertaining (and many times insightful) TV available.
This season I found the resident Christian on the show to illuminate some interesting questions. Leslie is a Christian radio talk show host and by all accounts she seems to fairly represent the evangelical culture I grew up in and am overly familiar with. She wasn’t some Hollywood stereotype – I felt like I knew this person.
I cringed as I recognized her using language that I have used all too often in the past and watched her fellow survivors reacting to that language.
For example, Leslie immediately began identifying through conversation other survivors who were “Christians” and she’d openly and directly begin labeling people as Christians. How did the other survivors perceive her worldview and process her language? They perceived her as forming an alliance that excluded them and, consequently, Leslie was the second person voted off the show.
Does anyone else find this somewhat telling?
It appears to me at this time that many Christians only know one way in which to influence culture…by condeming it. Usually, this is in the form of some sort of judgment-evangelism method of interaction with our society. The segregation of church and culture that many seem to adopt keeps us out of the loop, and we often refer to others as outsiders while appearing as outsiders to those we would claim to “invite” in.
It starts with our language, because words create worlds. But I have been challenged to find positive, affirming, creative ways to interact and influence my world for Christ…service to the community, involvement in politics, arts, and sports, working hard at my job.
Thanks for the comments Brian – insightful as usual. You know, the crazy thing about Leslie was that she wasn’t pushy or overly zealous (like Christians are often portrayed on TV). To a person familiar with the evangilical culture she was very normal. I’m positive that she is an incredibly nice person.
It was crazy, however, to step back and see how that “normal” was percieved by people not from the evangelical culture.
Also – remember our conversations about the word “nice?” Sure enough – another reason she was voted off – stupid and not a clever thinker.