More than once, I have been charged with using this site to generate controversy, to stir the pot, to rock the boat, upset the apple cart, and challenge the status quo. I plead guilty as charged. With a caveat:
- I believe controversy generates blog traffic.
- I want traffic.
But I also believe this:
- Some controversy is a reflection of our own bubble.
During my ministerial years, I once preached a sermon discussing the long-term effects of childhood molestation. I discussed how, if the issue is not 
addressed, a person may never learn how to trust and potentially develop warped concepts of sex and their own sexuality. I talked about the need for honesty, confession, forgiveness, and the grace of God to heal. After the service, a couple approached me to announce they were leaving the church. That subject, they said, was far too personal to be speaking about publicly. The woman then admitted that she had been molested as a child.
Did I overstep my bounds? Was the subject really too personal to address during a Sunday service? Perhaps. Yet I couldn’t help but feel that the “controversy” was more on their end than mine.
I feel that way about a lot of the “controversy” generated here.
While I rarely address issues as sensitive as molestation on this blog, I also don’t shy away from similarly touchy subjects. And being this is primarily a Christian writing blog, many of the “controversial” issues I address have to do with Christian fiction, the Christian publishing industry, Christian art, and related theological intersections.
Which is where the bubble comes in.
When I started blogging (back in ’05), I quickly learned that the Christian writing community is fairly tight and, in some respects, rather insular. (And, did I mention, touchy?) There are lots of taboo subjects in Christian writer’s circles. One of my first salvos (Jan. ’06) was to simply question why Christian reviewers don’t give out more critical reviews. Is that a “controversial” subject? I didn’t think so. Boy, was I wrong!
Over the last five years, I’ve returned to that subject time and again. I have alienated some readers, angered others while addressing topics like sex in Christian fiction, language restrictions, demographic tilts, moralistic guidelines, artistic integrity, theological murkiness, etc. So why keep addressing these “controversial” issues? Why risk readership for stirring the pot? Simply put, I think the subjects are relevant and not publicly discussed enough.
So should a blogger intentionally try to be controversial, crude, provocative, nay-saying, and in-your-face just to get hits? It’s a bad tactic. Unless you have something of substance to say, you can’t build a significant long-term readership (unless you’re aspiring to be the next TMZ). Readership built around sensationalism and scandal is fleeting.
But not all controversy is substance-less.
Dissent often appears controversial. Going against the grain sometimes seems provocative. Honesty can be offensive. Heck, sometimes even the Truth can seem scandalous!
Especially if you’re in a bubble.
So is this post a further attempt to rock the boat? Hm. Maybe it depends on what boat you’re in…
I’ve told you this on twitter, but I love reading your blog because of the controversial topics you write about. Even if I don’t comment, I read all of them and they give me a lot to think about during the day. So keep on writing them! Plus there’s always the argument…it’s YOUR blog. You do what you want!
Discussion is a bridge for growth and we should never burn our bridges. Perhaps those that leave due to a topic just aren’t ready to cross the bridge yet. That doesn’t mean the seed for thought wasn’t planted. Keep at it, Mike.
Since there are people who would take exception if you stated the sky was blue, it would really be hard NOT to state something controversial at some point. In the blogs I’ve visited, including this one, I have not come across anyone who does it tactlessly or without careful thought.
I may not always agree, but I appreciate the careful consideration that goes in before a post goes up.
I appreciate this, Brenda. Thank you.
I hold controversial views, myself, having abandoned Christian fiction for years because of it’s mediocrity. I subscribed to your blog because you’re busy calling the Christian fiction world on that very thing. I may not agree with you on every point, but then, if everybody agrees with everybody, there’s no discussion and no iron sharpening iron.
Pop the bubble, Mike. It wasn’t doing anybody any favors, anyway.
Don’t have anything new to say having read the above responses.
What I will say is that one of the reasons I read your blog is you don’t write pablum for the masses. This is good imo.
I must admit, Mike, that I’m struggling with something along these lines. It seems that in many Christian writing circles, an ounce of truth from one’s heart equals controversy. If a Christian writer introduces a point of view outside the “sweet and innocent” then he/she is considered to be “edgy.” I don’t think it’s edgy (I don’t like the label edgy, by the way) to admit that Christians struggle with alcoholism, sexual sins, a past that might include molestation, but the minute you speak about such topics out loud, or *gasp* stick such subjects in your fiction, you’re no longer a “good” Christian writing about acceptable Christian subjects.
I put a twenty-one Christian missionary in a bikini in on of my novels, and every single critique partner told me that it would not be allowed in Christian publishing. That it wasn’t acceptable. Well, it may not be acceptable, but I traveled with some Christian missionaries in the same setting where this book is set, and guess what? Bikinis were acceptable.
Sorry, didn’t mean to rant. Bottom line is this: I like the truth you speak. Sometimes it stirs the pot, but if you’re cooking something really good, you’re supposed to stir often.
Thanks, Heather (and for the RT). I still remember the first time I had one of my characters utter the word “hell” and my then writing group said it would never fly. They offered lots of creative substitutes (“tarnation” anyone?), but it left me wondering what in the world Christian fiction had become.
Dude… “tarnation”
Seriously?
You certainly opened the can of worms on this one. I took one look at your post title and though, “Is this supposed to make a pun or is it just ironic?” I’ll go with ironic. 😉
Heather Sunseri said…
It seems that in many Christian writing circles, an ounce of truth from one’s heart equals controversy.
THIS. I was about to say the thing, but in a much more wordy fashion. Many time we will mistakingly equate showing love and kindness with non-controversy. My favorite blog for Christian fiction is Speculative Faith, and it is steeped in controversy. I don’t always agree with what they say, and that’s why I like it. Controversy makes me think. I need to think. 🙂
Kessie said…
I hold controversial views, myself.
Really, we all do. “To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing. -Elbert Hubbard” That’s another thing that irks me about the no-controversy view: it has to be fake. We WILL disagree. It is much better to disagree in a decent fashion than to pretend all is well.
In the end, I believe that almost anything, given the right circumstances, can be used both for good or evil. Controversy is no exception. A lot of it has to do with the “pot-stirrer’s” motive: do they want to spurn growth, or are they just trying to be noticed by having a big mouth?
From what I have read on your blog you keep a pretty healthy balance. Stirring the pot helps us to think outside of ourselves. It can cause us to change our views or it can cause us to go searching for the “why” of what we believe. I also agree with another commenter “this is your blog” write what you want!
Look at the way the Bible is written. God could have left us with 300 pages of do’s and don’t’s. Instead, He left us with writing that encourages, maybe even requires thought. He wants us to talk, discuss, debate. He wants us to work it out together. We’re made for that. Blessings on your blog!
Cathy, that’s the first “blog blessing” I’ve ever received. Thanks!
I only have a problem with controversy if it’s for controversy’s sake. Are we challenging with the intent to spur people to growth, or are we just talking like we’re better than everybody else because we have “non-conventional” thoughts?
That’s not neccessarily directed at you, Mike, that’s something I struggled with in my early twenties. I was all about naval-gazing and wanted to prove that I was somehow more intelligent than others because I thought about things they didn’t. I thought poking holes in their logic was a fun excercise in rising above “mediocrity”. It was like a badge of honor to see how much “radical” things I could say–usually in the middle of a church-y setting–just to prove “Hey! Look at me! I’m different [re:better/cooler/smarter] than you!” Ultimately I realized it was completely frivolous. It was ego-centric and it didn’t prove anything. It didn’t help anything or anyone. It was just idle chatter and endless debates for the sake of having debates.
I read your blogs and I agree with much of what you say. Sometimes I disagree. Sometimes I have to hold back my fingers from firing off round after round of counter-points. But I hold off, because I know it’s not going to go anywhere. I could spend days on here, going back and forth with you on things and I’d get all worked up and we’d have glorious fights…er, discussions…but I’ve got things I really need to be doing.
My only complaint is that *sometimes* the unspoken assumption is that those who AREN’T on here either A) agreeing with you or B) being a counter-point, are a part of some cloistered society of ear-pluggers too afraid of controversy. That’s pretty broad thinking and erroneous.
Provided you’re stirring up controversy for the right reasons (and I’m not suggesting you aren’t, just saying, you know) then I stand by your desire to march down Main Street banging your drum in a 3AM wake-up call, just so long as you–and your blog followers–don’t assume that because others aren’t, we don’t have opinions or we don’t want to think.
Great points, Greg. I prefer clarity to agreement, which is one reason I don’t mind disagreement. I can live with someone who disagrees with me. On the other hand, it drives me nuts when there’s a bunch of unspoken things that people end up tip-toeing around. I think this is the climate in many Christian circles. The person who avoids controversy can be just as wrong-headed as the person who seeks controversy for the sake of it.
All that said, I make no such assumption about those who disagree with me that they are “part of some cloistered society of ear-pluggers.” I definitely don’t make that assumption about you. And I totally understand not engaging every one of my issues. that would be tiresome, as I know I can be. Hey, I appreciate your readership, Greg, and think your contributions are really intelligent and insightful. Blessings!
I’m with those who say controversy for the sake of controversy is unproductive, unless you consider anger and stress productive.
Controversy for the sake of provoking thought isn’t a bad thing, but not everyone can handle engaging in it. I hold a lot of unpopular views myself. The trick is that you must choose your battles and carefully design them so you don’t turn it into nuclear warfare.
For example, this blog addresses 1 issue at a time. Today’s post could’ve gotten more thorough and addressed the detail that the people who are defensive about an issue are the ones who don’t have the information to back up their conclusions.
This careful structure of controversy is a lot of work—and kudos to you, Mike, for doing it—but that work’s needed to create an environment of constructive, thoughtful debate. The more side notes you add in, the more opportunities you give a reader to get stuck on a detail of what you said and miss the rest of it.
Someone who blogs controversial things just for the sake of being controversial only wants arguments, not discussion, which produces a completely different blog environment.
Good points. I don’t always write controversial posts (well in my opinion they are not), but sometimes I do and in the future I will try to follow your advice.
I published a “futuristic Christian novel” last August and have started a blog to answer the “inquisitors” who seem to have a very restricted notion of “faith” and the “Christian” message. I was advised to put this “advisory” on the website outlet for my novel: “This work deals with the theme of human sexuality as a work of God bestowed on creatures for the purpose of revealing divine truth. If you think this concept is offensive, please leave this page now.” Your blog has many insights regarding the expansion of theological speculation into the area of artistic expression. Kudos.
you have me interested in your book!
Seems to me that you have to confront the topics or else they overtake you. The people that left because you aren’t afraid to speak up on something were more wrong then you if you had not spoken out. Either your message was there to speak to someone who needed to hear it, or it was there to get those people to leave–perhaps to go somewhere else they were needed? Either way, your message served its purpose. Same thing with your blog posts.
I may not always agree with everything I read, but I’m not so frightened of my ability to defend why I believe what I believe that I would cry blasphemer to keep you from saying it. That is what I suspect the real problem could be.
At the same time, taking this with your post of last week about not joining the secular blog may be a sign that you are not striving for controversy simply for the sake of controversy, rather you are speaking your mind because someone needs to be first to say it.
Keep it up.
I agree! We all have different backgrounds and serve various purposes within the body of Christ. What one person is comfortable with someone else may not. God may have been calling those people to other areas they are needed, or he may have been trying to speak to them and they were running. Either way, we all have to follow what God directs us to do, otherwise we are not being obedient. I know that I have offended a few of my friends who no longer follow my blog, while I could take offense I choose to stand by what I write. I write as God directs me to and if people leave that is between them and God. I am only following as God directs.
I think it’s good that you address issues others do not want to touch. God calls certain people, with certain personality types to push the status quo. People didn’t like John the Baptist either, he pushed their limits of comfort, he made them question their traditions.
The body of Christ can become stagnant if no one pushes the boundries. There are real issues out there that need addressed and someone has to have the courage to do it!
I know I have struggled in my own blog about offending people, but ultimately I must post what God leads.
I stated once in a post that if you (the reader) are offended perhaps that is God’s purpose, perhaps God is speaking to you!
This topic also reminds me of a Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman (yes I watch that show, laugh all you want) where the town was burning her books because they thought they were evil and would promote evil. She countered by going into the church service and said they forgot one book that had adultery, incest, murder and countless other scandals in it. The reverend quickly took the book but was surprised when it was the Bible!
The Bible covers topics that need to be addressed but for many they don’t like to hear it. I know many Christians who just want a feel good message on Sunday, they don’t want to hear fire and brimstone. Thankfully I go to a church that pushes our limits of comfort!
I say Good Job on pushing your readers to think beyond what they are comfortable!
Mike, you say you do this to bring traffic to your blog. Maybe you do. But there are lots of ways to bring traffic to blogs and this is what *you* chose. The reason is, it’s who you are. I don’t think you could do it any other way, and it is why it works–for you. You are simply being true to yourself, and that honesty is what brings people back here. Yes, the topics are interesting, but they would not be if you weren’t someone whose brain works that way.
I have seen writers try to make a go of having a “controversial” blog, and it’s fallen flat. Why? Because they’re not that way by nature. They *want* to be, because it gets attention. But they don’t have what it takes to pull it off, because by nature they are not *really* controversial people. (I wrote a blog post about that sort of thing a while back, but it got not one comment. I have wondered ever since about the significance of that.)
I don’t try to go the controversy route myself very often because I’m not the “debate” type. I know I’m not mainstream and I’m perfectly happy marching to my own drum over in the corner. Being “different” comes naturally to me, but being “controversial” does not. It comes naturally to you, though. Keep it up :).
Kat, I found your post fascinating, because I’m actually a “debate” type, very much, but I’ve learned to censor and temper myself. Once someone’s angry, I’m very good at (accidentally) fanning flames; I’m atrocious at trying to douse them.
That makes debates exhausting and difficult for me. They generally work best if I toss in my 2 cents and flee. 😀
After I learn more about how to diffuse tension, maybe I’ll let out my urge to debate, but I’m not sure. It’s difficult for me to restrain my tongue once I let loose, which might make it a form of temptation (—> undisciplined tongue) for me. 🙂
Well, Carradee, my issue is that I believe what I believe, and find too often others believe just as hard, so it’s like we’re both pushing on opposite sides of an immovable wall. I’d rather just admit there is a wall and either we can be friends or not, but I’m not going to argue–I mean debate :).
I am open-minded, though. The thing is, I want to explore issues on my own. I look at blog posts like what Mike puts up here as something that brings attention to an issue. Sometimes I put in my two cents, but sometimes not. Doesn’t mean I’m not thinking about the issues. I definitely think things need to be brought out in the light so people CAN debate them or at least ponder the various sides rather than sitting in a bubble.
Kat, I would reluctantly agree with you. By way of example, I am currently embroiled in “discussions” with the labor union I am represented by at my day job. I despise their politics and am seeking ways to keep my dues from being used for their political ends. I’ve been told to shut up and stop rocking the boat. Sigh. I wish I could.
Best wishes with your union, Mike. We wish that too. Or even that they’d stop phoning and trying to order us how to vote. Disgusting.
Yeah, that’s actually the only controversy I’m feelin’ with this post. 🙂 Have a good one…
This is the reason I’m not going to label my writing as “Christian fiction”. People will come in expecting certain things, and they won’t always find it. It’s not that I don’t have a standard of values, it’s just that writing honestly about topics that are important to me involves actually referring to them. Actually having messed up things happen in my stories, and finding out how the characters deal with them. I think that issues like sex, sexuality, violence, the corruption brought on by too much power, and morality in general are worth wrestling with, but wrestling honestly requires acknowledging the fact that we, in our imperfection, don’t have all the answers and that we don’t always fully understand what God has told us, or how his answers translate from words into living.
On the flip side, I also understand the desire to strengthen each other’s faith and to have a way of knowing which books are appropriate for kids and self. I just don’t think that we should hide in our safety bubble, cringing away from anything we don’t fully understand (not this is what everyone who disagrees with me does, just that I don’t want to end up that way).
I guess what I’m trying to say is that I appreciate the honesty of this blog, of your willingness to tackle things that are difficult, and your awareness of the importance of thinking outside the box. Kudos on all fronts.
But I don’t think it’s fair to assume that all writers who DO label their stuff as “Christian Fiction” is “hiding in a safety bubble, cringing away from anything we don’t fully understand”.
There ARE people within the Christian Fiction “genre”–even in the dreaded CBA-monster–that *are* writing about tough subjects honestly and openly.
Mike, himself, is one of them.
Not to say you *should* label yourself as Christian Fiction. By all means, don’t if you don’t feel that’s your direction, but there’s rampant assumption among those who have sworn off of self-described Christian Ficiton that those who *do* label their stuff as such are somehow not honest or brave or intelligent or whatever.
And, Thea, I just wanted to clarify that I’m not accusing YOU of saying those writers aren’t “honest, brave, intelligent, whatever”. Reading back over that, it sounds like I’m attacking you, and I wasn’t trying to 🙁
I’ve just been bombarded by this over the last few days all over the place, and I unfortunately chose your post as my launch pad for a tirade. My apologies.
No worries. 🙂 And I get what you’re saying. It’s totally true that everyone, on each side of the fence, can hold stereotypes about the other side. Actually, we all hold stereotypes. It’s what we do with them that matters.
It’s true that there are people who write honestly within the Christian fiction genre. What I was trying to say (and may not have been clear enough, sorry about that) is that, if *I* want to write honestly, then most of what I write isn’t going to fit within Christian fiction as it’s currently defined.
When you have religious Christianity that’s got overtly narrow views on how anything should be and that have unwittingly accepted the status quo, expect fierce competition. I do all the time in the spiritual atmosphere of the little community I’m in due to the corruption in the police force and how they’re afraid of a good chunk of the population (convicted sex offenders) being regulars at a popular coffee shop (where they’re accepted as normal human beings, not scum) which is along a street that has 4 strip clubs (like I said, *corruption*). A forgotten sign that you’re on good terms is when evil tries to interrupt you on your Walk and you don’t give up.
I say keep on rocking the boat! Hiding issues under a facade of perfection is cowardly and no solution at all. There are many of us out there who crave the kind of discussion your blog generates. THANK YOU for being ‘that’ guy.
Anything that matters is potentially controversial. Politics, religion, Twilight bashing, etc. Even when I disagree with you (which isn’t too often) I’m never outright offended. Certainly not to the extent that I’d stop reading. . .
“One of my first salvos (Jan. ’06) was to simply question why Christian reviewers don’t give out more critical reviews.”
If I read more Christian fiction, I’d probably write some pretty harsh reviews. Even more so than they needed to be, just to make up for all the bullcrap praise so many CBA novels receive. . .and don’t get me started on the self-published ones with terrible covers and poorly written sample chapters that have nothing but 5-star reviews! Ugh. . .
But now I’m getting off topic.
I say, controversial or not, write about what matters and trash the rest.
I don’t mind edgy, but detailed sex doesn’t belong in a novel. However, if you alluded to it because it does happen in the real world, I have no problem with that. I think we need to be careful what we consider edgy because I believe it is a fine line to walk between portraying the real world and jumping into the mud with them.
I like your blog, Mike. I think you do a great job.
Nikole, isn’t it necessary to jump into the mud sometimes? Isn’t getting dirty necessary?
Literature is away of seeing reality (Saul Bellow paraphrased). Edgy if it reflects reality is truthful and honest with itself. If we portray the mud and grime of reality we speak more truth than that which does not. Is it necessary to dwell on the mud? No. But it is necessary to jump in. If this makes sense….
As for controversy: it is necessary since it builds understanding and charcter. Without it we stay in our little box and only think along with what we like.
Mike, from what I’ve seen on your blog, I think if you are rocking a boat somehow, then it’s definitely a boat that needs to be rocked. I haven’t once thought that you were pushing lines just for the sake of doing it or to get a rise out of someone. Your posts are thoughtful and in my opinion, needed. I do see that sometimes the Christian writing/fiction world appears to be a bit of a bubble. And IMHO, it’s a bubble that needs to be popped.