Positive Negative
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Special to United Methodist Insight | Aug. 7, 2026
The federal government once employed a veterinarian as a food inspector. He inspected seventy-five thousand chickens a week at a local poultry company. One day he made an interesting comment to a friend. He said, “I never see a good chicken.” He went on to explain that through years of inspecting millions of chickens, it became necessary for him to train his eyes to see only the bad chickens, the ones that should be rejected.
Unfortunately, religious people can sometimes become like that chicken inspector. They focus only on the negatives. They are known for what they are against rather than what they are for.
They are against the LBGTQ community. They are against women ministers. They are against the teachings of science such as evolution or global warming. They are against Muslims. They are against immigrants. They are against “wokeness.” They are against elites. They are against intellectuals. They are against liberals. Eventually, their spirit of negativism erases joy, grace, and beauty in their life. Their religion becomes a religion of negativity.
I’m not saying religion should always be happy and easygoing. Sometimes a hard prophetic word needs to be made. Pain and suffering need to be acknowledged and responded to. There is a cross at the center of Christianity. Even Jesus wept.
But a constant critical spirit is not the spirit of healthy faith. At heart, faith is about love, hope, joy, peace, gratitude, compassion, service, empathy, wonder, and awe. Chronic negativism is an enemy to true faith.
I once heard a story about a little boy who ran into his house one afternoon in near hysteria. He announced to his mom that his pet turtle had rolled over and died. He was inconsolable.
When his father came home, he gathered up the tearful boy in his arms. As they sat in front of the dead turtle, the father suggested they could have a funeral for the turtle. Everyone could wear black, there would be a processional, and they could read from the Bible, just like a real funeral. Not only that, the father added, they could bury the turtle in the little tin box they kept the candy in.
At this point the boy stopped crying and listened intently. “Then,” chimed in the mother, “we can have a party afterwards. Wouldn’t that be nice?” The boy smiled.
Encouraged, the father went on, “Yes, and we’ll have your friends over for the funeral, and we can even have ice cream at the party after the funeral.” By now the boy was grinning from ear to ear. But then, suddenly, to the surprise of everyone, the turtle rolled back on his legs and began slowly moving away. The boy looked startled and then exclaimed, “Oh, Daddy, let’s kill it.”
Negative religion kills love, hope, joy, gratitude, wonder and grace. It turns people away from Christ and church. And it’s a tragically sad way to live. A chronic diet of negative religion results in toxic faith, and Christian believers need to resist it at all costs.
Martin Thielen
The Rev. Martin Thielen, a retired United Methodist minister, former megachurch pastor, and best-selling author, is the founder and author of Doubter’s Parish. This post is republished from his newsletter to readers.