Understanding Christian Motivation

The online news-and-speculation site Slate has run an extended article about Walden Media backer (and Christian) Philip Anschutz. With regard to the Narnia movies, Slate's Jack Shafer opines, "Nobody dumps hundreds of millions of dollars into the movie and exhibition business—or newspapers—to uplift the masses. There's got to be an angle." They'd say the same about what Christ did on the cross, too, I imagine.

Now, it's entirely possible, of course, that Slate's cynicism is well-founded. But why does such cynicism always have to be the first option, especially when it comes to Christians? The history of the faith is filled with examples of selfless behavior. Apparently, such motives are just harder to accept when it comes to millionaires than when dealing with nuns in Calcutta. But Jesus didn't say it was impossible for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven: he just said it was really difficult (as if it were easy for the rest of us, eh?).

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Slate, 24.03.05