I recently wrapped up some freelance web design work on the “Life is Zen, Inc.”:http://www.lifeiszen.com web site; Life is Zen, Inc. is a marketing agency that caters to Zen Buddhists. I confess to initially accepting the job because the money was attractive; a pretty sinful reason looking back on it. That said, I want to start thinking about how I, as a Christian, should handle those times when my profession creates a nexus with the secular world. I want to be prepared the next time a situation like this arises.
I reject outright the idea that Christian professionals should have no contact with the secular world; historical records show early Christian business owners in the thick of the secular cities of Asia Minor. Being in the extreme (and persecuted) minority, I doubted they could have made a living without catering to secular customers.
That route also denies any chance for exemplifying Christ to one’s customers, which I feel can be a powerful testimony to the Truth.
So if a line must be drawn, where should it go? I think purely secular enterprises are pretty innocuous. I would have no conundrum about working on a web site for a construction firm owned by a Muslim who serves a variety of customers. The line inches closer with businesses that cater to a specific religion; for example, a construction firm that courted Islamic businesses and specialized in building mosques. It gets closer still when the business could be tied to the evangelism of that religion, as in the case of Life is Zen, Inc., which could be hired to market and promote the religion by a Buddhist temple.
I think division of labor also plays into the question. Since I only create the design for a site, rather than the actual content, does that change where the line is? For example, how would Aquila and Priscilla (Acts 18) reacted to a request for tent if that tent were to be used as a meeting place for another religion? Their tent had nothing to do with what occurred inside the tent, yet (to coin a pop psychology term) they were “enablers”.
So far, I’m pretty comfortable with the following:
* Web sites for organization directly involved in the practice or evangelization of other religions are right out–for example, web sites for missionary organizations or religious meeting places.
* Web sites for organizations that do not cater to a specific religious demographic are OK.
It’s the areas in between that I’m trying to hash out.
Would I do Life is Zen, Inc.’s web site again if I’d already worked through this stuff? I don’t know, but I would have given it a lot more thought and prayer than I did. What are your thoughts? How do you, as a Christian, discern the points of connection your profession creates between you and other religions?
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