It is interesting to see how differently Baptists can react to the growing religious and political pluralism in our midst. Some do so with such fear.

One example is an April 24 editorial titled “Dare to be the ‘bad guys’ of the future” by Gerald Harris of The Christian Index, newspaper of the Georgia Baptist Convention. Editor Harris paints a fearful picture of America — with public education, secular government and tolerant attitudes making life hard on good ol’ evangelical Christians.

“Be prepared to endure the slings and arrows of those who are tolerant of everything but manifestly intolerant of Bible-believing, Christ-loving, soul-winning Christians,” he warns.

Leaning on author and speaker Josh McDowell for support, Harris concludes that evangelical Christians are the “good guys” who are becoming “the bad guys in the United States.”

This victim mentality produces a clear “us vs. them” perspective that makes life an ongoing battle against all others who hold different worldviews from the most conservative evangelical or fundamentalist Christians.

If such evangelicals consider themselves to be “the good guys,” then what does that make my Jewish neighbor, my Roman Catholic coworker or my nonreligious in-law?

Is tolerance of others really worse than designating those who do not share one’s narrow faith commitments and corresponding political perspectives as “bad guys”?

Harris, like others who share this reaction to pluralism, gives the false notion that American evangelicals are powerless victims who get picked on by bullies — and could face even harsher resistance in the future.

With our constitutional guarantees of religious liberty and an increasingly conservative Supreme Court to interpret the Constitution, such irrational fears are an affront to those throughout the world who genuinely suffer for their faith convictions.

Though evangelical Christians dominate the airwaves and fill political positions nationwide from local school boards to the Oval Office, the fear of persecution does not wane.

Additionally, Harris warns that America “may be only one presidential election away” from having a leader who won’t call the nation to prayer during a national tragedy. Apparently, the president of our nation must be a spiritual leader for American evangelicals — fulfilling a pastoral as well as political role.

However, the biggest problem with a manufactured “us vs. them” (good guys vs. bad guys) perspective is that it creates only two options for how evangelical Christians can relate to those who are different: Either convert them —so they become like us — or conquer them so they won’t pick on us anymore.

Designating oneself and those just like oneself as “the good guys” — and marinating that arrogance in a fear of those who are different — can only lead to the devaluation of others. They can be seen only as either a target or a threat.

Such an attitude seems amazingly at odds with how Jesus related to the wide variety of people he encountered. He seemed more concerned with offering grace, mercy and healing than dividing people into two groups and handing out white and black hats.

My fear is that more good Christians will become so threatened by growing pluralism that they retreat into the bunker of fundamentalism where others are devalued, men rule and God is reduced to a manageable size.