Faith and facts are not mutually exclusive. With our culture drifting further away from civil discourse on issues of the day, we the people of faith, need to also be the people of facts. In other words, much is happening around us as a result of hyperbole, fearmongering, manipulation, intimidation, and peer-pressure. Consider some of these examples:

• The Amaud Arbery Case – Obviously, it is a tragic situation, but instead of being voices for due-process and innocence-until-proven-guilty (which are historic Judeo-Christian precepts) some church leaders were so eager to appear “woke” that they jumped on the racism bandwagon without knowing many facts.
• Climate Change – Many in the faith community whole-heartedly agree with those intolerant of any dissension, while helping to further that sentiment in the minds of those they influence. The fact is, there are many reputable scientists who disagree with the theory of man-made global warming.
• Gender Issues – The fact is that there are two genders, period. People can choose to not believe it, disagree with it, deny it, not like it or be hostile toward God who designed it, but it doesn’t change the facts (which we should be comfortable defending).
• Tough Spiritual Questions – Admittedly, there are some difficult questions regarding matters of faith, but Christian faith is a reasonable faith, not blind faith. Do we have all the answers? Of course not. However, that is not the same as having no answers. There are volumes of books and many recorded hours of world-class apologists answering tough spiritual questions with love, decency, grace and answers based on facts.
• Socialism – The institution of socialism is a systematic destruction of personal rights, private property and religious liberty that is always sold with propaganda based on emotional appeal rooted in class-envy and not facts. Capitalism on the other hand, is a system that has helped more people escape poverty than any other and we should not be willing to give it up without a fight.
• American History – There are those engaged in rewriting and reinterpreting American history to further a narrative that reflects negatively on our founding to support a political agenda. However, the facts are not in their favor and we must be willing to preserve them, teach them and defend them unapologetically.
• COVID-19 – Naturally, there should be sensitivity for those who have suffered loss or are threatened because of compromised immunity. However, that should not cause us to forego seeking answers based on facts (as far as we can know) by simply accepting media narratives and government leaders without question.

The bottom line is this, throughout history the people of God asked questions. God is not afraid of our questions. That is not to say that He will answer them according to our preconceived ideas or framing (as was the case with Job and was often with Jesus), but it’s healthy to ask questions. We should be people who look for reasons behind what is happening around us as. Facts aren’t a threat to faith, they are a friend.