Inconvenient Opinions

The title says Inconvenient Opinions. That leads us to ask, to whom are these ideas supposedly inconvenient? The ideas expressed in this book are not inconvenient to me. It costs me no psychic pain to find myself expressing opinions that are disagreed with by most people. I lose no position or honor by holding and expressing these opinions. I suffer no financial loss in holding these opinions--other than the relatively minor financial loss of paying to have Inconvenient Opinions put into print, which I would have done in any case, even if the book were Convenient Opinions. Inconvenient Opinions is not a book inconvenient to my family members, or to people at my church. Few of them will read even a portion of the book. If they do read a little bit or a lot, and don't like it, they won't have to make any response. The ideas expressed here won't cause any trouble in my family or church, no matter how wretched they think the ideas expressed. The book offers no practical inconvenience to anyone in my circle. Inconvenient Opinions will not prove to be inconvenient to the American Christian church as a whole or to conservatives. Again, few or none will read it, so that the book is extremely unlikely to rise to the dignity of attracting even the slightest disfavor, let alone cause inconvenience. Inconvenient Opinions will not prove inconvenient to anyone, Christian or non-Christian, in a position of authority. They will not even know that these opinions have been expressed. If by some quirk of fate they found out that such opinions had been expressed, they could easily ignore them. Is the book fraudulently titled? Should you ask for your money back, since there seems to be no one to whom these opinions are inconvenient? There is one class of people--and one class only, as far as I can see--to whom these ideas may prove inconvenient. That is, anyone who reads this book and finds himself beginning to suspect that many or even a few of the opinions expressed are true. This will prove to be inconvenient, first, because beginning to hold such ideas as are expressed in this book will cause such a person to begin to look at the world in a way different from the way people around him look at it, and thus may put such a person in the difficult position of having to disagree with others. Secondly, it will prove to be inconvenient to begin to agree with the opinions expressed in the book, because the opinions expressed herein have a tendency, I think, to call forth an active response from the believing reader. The believing reader will find himself impelled to act differently in the future, and this will complicate his life and make it more difficult. It may even cause financial expense (shudder). So the book is not fraudulently titled. The opinions expressed here are at least potentially inconvenient--to you. I admit I hope they are inconvenient to you. But I also hope that you will be glad--eventually, if not right away--that you encountered these ideas. Enjoy. Sort of.