Righteous Anger?

Today, there was an excellent article in Touchstone Magazine from Theodore Pulcini entitled "Cultivating Christian Anger." I don't necessarily agree with everything that he has to say. For example, he questions whether God becomes angry, categorizing along with other biblical anthropomorphisms.  But the general flavor of the article is well heeded.  Christians do indeed come across as angry and vitriolic at times and we must be very cautious about that tendency. 

Reflecting on a student's rejection of religion because of his perception of anger, Pulcini writes, " have to admit, this student’s observations hit a nerve. For some time I had been peculiarly uneasy with much of what I was reading in Christian publications, both popular and scholarly, both “traditionalist” and “modernist.” In many cases, it was not that I took exception to what the author was arguing. It was, rather, that the tone was shrill, high-handed, pedantic, mocking, and caustic. These works caricatured and dismissed the other as villainous, insidious, or just plain stupid. What was ostensibly an informed discussion of a topic sometimes even lapsed into sheer harangue. In short, anger took over."

Granted, I believe there are some issues worth standing our ground for.  Still, in so doing, we need to remember to treat others with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15).

Read the rest here.