'Real-life' conflict meets the internet: Steve Chalke

After my last post on Todd Bentley, it was suggested that I consider the controversy surrounding Steve Chalke. Chalke was a prominent Christian leader, founder of the missions organisation Oasis, and involved with UK Christian conferences such as Spring Harvest and Word Alive. However, in 2003 he published a book that sparked a huge reaction in the Christian world, both in real life and on the internet.

In the book, Chalke questioned the Christian doctrine of penal substitution - a core belief of many denominations of Christians, that revolves around the idea that Jesus Christ was the perfect sacrifice to take on the punishment for the sin of the world. As a result, Chalke was removed from his position of authority, heavily criticised by Christian organisations such as the Evangelical Alliance, and became the subject of much heated debate between Christians on weblogs and forums.

Interestingly, the Steve Chalke controversy was contrasted with the Todd Bentley controversy (of my last post) because of the much harsher, more malicious way it was discussed on the internet. Both situations invoked a lot conflict between Christians in reality, and were quickly and fiercely disputed on the internet. Yet the Steve Chalke issues were apparently met with much more ferocious debate. This difference could be related to which characters were attracted to the debate, or could have something to do with the time difference between them. The Todd Bentley controversy occurred approximately 4 years later, and it could be argued that Christians are starting to learn to be more restrained and civil in their disagreement on the internet. I find this hard to believe from the continuous stream of conflict between Christians still occurring on the internet, but it is possible that the Christian internet community as a whole could be making progress in this area.

I actually struggled to find many examples of these more heated debates surrounding Steve Chalke. Perhaps because this is older news, it is less prominent on the internet. Yet since old information on the internet tends to be neglected rather than removed – and is therefore still accessible via google – I wonder whether more than usual has been done to reduce the visible argument. It is quite possible that Christians involved in these debates, with the wisdom that comes with time, have decided to withdraw their comments (a phenomenon made possible by the internet), thus reducing the appearance of conflict. If this is the case, maybe with time the arguments on the internet related to Todd Bentley will begin to disappear, leaving a more peaceful impression of Christian disagreement.