“I do not covet what they covet.” Roland Fryer’s words have stuck in my mind for months. Fryer, an African American, was a celebrated economist and professor at Harvard when his research into racial bias in fatal police shootings showed there was no bias—a conclusion that went against his own biases and the accepted narrative.
Colleagues warned him not to publish the results—that it would ruin his career—but he did it anyway. Afterward, he had to live with police protection for a time, colleagues turned on him, his research methods were criticized, and he became a target for what appeared to be a retaliatory university investigation that led to a suspension without pay.
Most people would look to preserve career, status, prestige, popularity, reputation. When asked what pushed him to make the opposite choice—a choice that would lead to all the consequences he suffered—Fryer answered simply: “I do not covet what they covet.”
People are driven by what they hunger after. And once they have it, they are driven by fear of losing it. This is one reason why individuals compromise and conform—they realize how much there is to lose, and they don’t want to risk it. All the normal incentives push us to conform.
What do you “covet”? What are you afraid to lose? I ask because the answer reveals something about how vulnerable we may be to pressures that I believe faithful followers of Jesus are going to face in the near future.
My wife, Norine, and I recently prayed at Metekhi Bridge in Tbilisi, the capital of the Republic of Georgia, where thousands were martyred in 1226. A Muslim sultan captured the city and placed an image of Christ on the bridge. Those who refused to revile Christ by stepping on the image and turning to Islam were beheaded. I felt so proud and grateful for those believers who stood strong. I often hear that we need to be willing to die for Christ, and yes, we should be. But this is probably not the kind of pressure most of us will face.
Norine and I lived in Turkey and have been involved in the Middle East for many years. These areas used to be majority-Christian, until Islam engulfed them. Now there are few Christians left. Many converted to avoid the sword during the initial Islamic conquest, but what led to the mass turning from Christianity was more the sustained social and financial pressure. Christians were vulnerable because they had limited legal rights and could not testify against a Muslim. The majority society treated Christians as second-class citizens, discriminated against them and devised ways to humiliate them, like forbidding the riding of horses (Christians could only ride donkeys), or requiring them to wear specific kinds of clothing that marked them and displayed their inferior status.
These are relatively minor things, especially in comparison to the sword, but it is grating to live as a despised minority. In addition, non-Muslims were required to pay a special tax, jizya, which made their lives much more difficult. One could avoid all of this simply by conforming to the majority, and in time, most did. They slipped away from their Christian identity.
I think social and financial persecution is coming to our country, and it will be enough to cause an exodus from the church in this generation, just as it did in the Middle East in past centuries. This may seem unduly alarmist, especially when many evangelicals are euphoric about the political change in the last election that is rolling back some of the excesses of the last few years and so far has been supportive of religious freedom.
But I think this is a temporary delay. Most of the institutions in our country are led by progressives who are increasingly, aggressively anti-Christian. The rise of a new political right may encourage some, but this is not leading to a significant increase in church attendance or conversions—in fact, we are still losing numbers—and significant numbers on the right mirror the progressive left in having no Judeo-Christian moral foundation and being driven by raw will to power. Our broader culture is post-Christian, and this has not changed. Faithful followers of Jesus are in the minority, and I think will remain a minority—an increasingly despised minority. We have a delay now, and then pressure will increase. The question is, will we use the delay well?
I keep coming back to Roland Fryer’s words. He did not compromise, because there were other incentives he valued more: “Every day,” he said, “I had to look at myself in the mirror and say, ‘What are you here for?’ … I was after truth.” He refused to conform because he was in the pursuit of truth, no matter the consequences. He did not value what his colleagues valued, so he did not fear to lose what they feared to lose.
It is normal to want to be respected, liked and popular. It is normal to want financial stability and security. This is why the drive for such things, and the fear of losing them, is such a powerful motivator. This is what makes social and financial pressure so dangerous. And it is why Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21).
How to change what drives me? I need to retrain my heart to most value what most matters—loving God—so that I can say with confidence: I do not covet what they covet. I do not love what they love. I do not fear what they fear.
