Many people do not like Charles Murray (1943- ). On March 2, 2017 he was invited to speak at Middlebury College in Vermont. Hundreds of students showed up to protest his presence, chanting and shouting “Shut it down.” He had to move to a private room and livestream the lecture. After the lecture and an interview, he and the professor who interviewed him were attacked as they tried to leave that building. In the physical confrontation that followed, the professor suffered a concussion. That is not the only time that has happened when Murray has tried to give a speech. As I pointed out, many people do not like Charles Murray.
Charles Murray is a graduate of Harvard University and MIT. He is a social scientist, researcher, and a New York Times best-selling author. He has worked at some of the most prestigious intellectual think tanks in America. His views are conservative, and a large percentage of Americans would agree with him on many things. But even those who like much of what he says, do not like everything. However, Charles Murray doesn’t care who likes what. His goal is not to pander to one side of the political spectrum or the other. He has chosen to tackle some controversial issues, and his goal is to do the research, follow the evidence, and come to some conclusions that he hopes will be helpful in the forming of public policy. Unlike many today, Murray has the courage to let the evidence lead to truth, even if it is an unpopular truth. That doesn’t mean he is always right, but he is a serious, capable researcher who welcomes debate. I have read some of his work, and usually find his conclusions convincing. I have also read some of the challenges to his books, and I do think they sometimes have a point. I am not an expert on the issues he writes about, but what he says does invite a debate that is worth having. His credentials certainly qualify him for a place at the table.
Sad to say, there are far too many college students today who seem to have the attitude that our cherished freedom of speech in America applies only to those who agree with them. Charles Murray’s views are not in line with theirs, so they believe they have the right to shout him down and drive him out. When I was in college, I was taught some pretty weird stuff. But I was also told to buckle up and pay attention; I was in college, and college is all about the free exchange of ideas, academic freedom, respectful debate and discussion, and may the best position win in the end. Let the people hear and decide. Who changed the rules?
I like Charles Murray, even though I don’t like everything he says. I like it when someone can go where the evidence leads, and not simply follow the half of the crowd he wants to please.
What happens when this man, who above all, values research, evidence, and truth, encounters Jesus? Jesus was not important to Charles Murray for most of his life. Now he “takes religion seriously.” What happened?
Charles Murray was raised in a Presbyterian family in Iowa. He then went to Harvard college, and there entered a world where no one he knew had any kind of religious faith (at least not anything that was shared or acknowledged by anyone). He quickly abandoned any religious faith he had. Murray then went to MIT, spent some time with the Peace Corps, and then began his work as a researcher, journalist, and author. In all that time, no one in his circle of friends or co-workers had any kind of religious faith. It was just not on the radar for any of them. Murray was never a strident atheist. He was a ‘happy agnostic,’ as he referred to himself. He did not know if there was a god or not, and he was happy to leave it at that for decades.
Then, Murray was confronted with Christianity. First of all, it was by something his wife Catherine said. It was his second marriage, and their first child was born when Murray was in his fifties. Neither Charles or Catherine were Christians at the time, and according to their world-view, child-bearing and care was simply a matter of biology, instinct, continuation of the species, survival of the fittest, and all that. One day Catherine said, “Charles, I love this baby more than nature requires.” She sensed there was something more to us than atoms and molecules and biological procreation; something deeper. She began going to church, and found that something deeper there.
After Catherine became a Christian and began to grow in her faith, Charles, ever the researcher, decided he needed to look into it. About that same time, a friend gave him a book to read. Pete Wehner, fellow journalist, author, and speechwriter for three presidents, gave Charles the classic book Mere Christianity, by C. S. Lewis. Charles read it and was intrigued by the powerful logical arguments. He decided to finally ‘take religion seriously’ and learn the truth.
Murray went to work to examine the evidence. That is what he has always done. Over the next two decades, he investigated religion from every angle: science and the origins of the universe, psychology and the study of human consciousness, morality, other world religions, and history (among other things). His solid research skills and the evidence he found led him to believe in Jesus Christ as the incarnate Son of God, Savior of the world. He wrote a book about his open-minded and honest search; his gradual movement from being a “happy agonistic” to a Christian believer. His book Taking Religious Seriously (2025) tells the story of his journey to faith.
Murray says his conversion was a matter of changing his mind because of the evidence and empirical reasoning. Murray believes he still has a long way to go toward a ‘full experience of faith’ (as we all do). For now, he calls himself a “wannabe” Christian.
I would say he is a Christian. The evidence has most certainly led Charles Murray to believe that the New Testament is an accurate historical account, and that Jesus did indeed rise from the dead; and Romans 10:9 says, “ If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
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I Corinthians 4:1-5 — This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore, judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.
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Lord, if you have to break me to remake me, let Your will be done.
–Marian Wright Edelman (1939- )
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