Who Can You Trust?

There was a report in The Times last week about what occupations people trust the most, surprisingly hairdressers came out on top as the most trusted occupation, perhaps less surprisingly estate agents and lawyers faired less well in the poll.

However the interesting thing for me was that for the first time ever scientists were more trusted than members of the clergy. So what you may think but actually it is a pretty big deal weather we realise it or not.

Firstly it seems staggering to me that the clergy have gotten a reputation as people who dont tell the truth, as people who can't be trusted. There are a lot of things feeding into this I suspect, growing secularism means that the clergy no longer have the place they once had and things like the child sexual abuse scandal have understandably eroded people's trust in the clergy.

However what impact does this have when we stand up to preach? If people in the pew are wondering if this man is trustworthy then how will our message be received? At best it will be received as well that was nice but can you trust it? At worst....it will be received as a lie. If thats what the people in the pew who know us think imagine what the outsider will think of us.

Secondly and more worryingly for me is the impact this has when people like Richard Dawkins speak on issues of religion and morality in the media. We may not care to accept it but yet more people trust scientists than trust ministers, so if Dawkins or Brian Cox comes out and says something more people are ready to believe it than not. This then feeds into the idea that science is the only infallible discipline in the universe, only when science has explained something do we fully understand it.

So what are we going to do? Well primarily ministers have to become known again as people who can be relied upon to tell the truth, people who can be trusted. Only when we have regained the public trust can we start to fight the war. Until that point the perception will be that you can't trust ministers and what they say. Let us as Christians learn to live increasingly sanctified God glorifying lives.