Yesterday, Rachelle Gardner wrote a blog post titled Should We Label Christian Fiction? in which she addresses a growing controversy over free e-book downloads by readers who aren’t aware that the books they are downloading are “Christian” in nature and are offended by the evangelical tone of the stories. Some readers felt they were being mislead because the books were not labeled as “Christian” and insisted that the books should be clearly labeled as such.

From Rachelle’s response, I don’t think she is advocating that Christian novels should be required to be labeled as “Christian,” though she does not address the subject specifically. She does, however, point out that she is not surprised by readers’ reactions and turns the table suggesting a Muslim novel falling unsuspecting into the hands of a Christian would be equally upsetting.

I will be specific and say that the idea of requiring a label is absurd. If such a requirement is made, we would need to serve equal time labeling all the books that Christians find offensive. I can’t count how many times I’ve delved into a novel only to find that the author is blatantly anti-Christ. I had no warning that a view that was so offensive to me was present in these books. But the truth is, I’m not going to like every book I read. If I don’t like a book I’ve purchased, I’ve learned something about the author and probably won’t read them again without a better understanding of the stories they are writing.

I suppose we could impose some kind of rating system, much like the one that is applied to movies and TV shows.

How do these sound:

Rated C for Christian: Contains explicit theology and dogmatic rhetoric.

Rated AC for anti-Christian: Contains deliberate badgering of evangelical and fundamentalist Christians

Again, absurd.

But while I believe that labeling should not be a requirement, I agree with Rachelle that it is no surprise that the books are getting bad reviews. I don’t think that’s necessarily fair, but when has life ever been fair. I think it’s a simple act of vengeance—the reader attempting to hurt the author in some way. They can’t get their money back (or the time they spent reading if the book was free) and so they take it out in the review. Such is life.

If an author deliberately hides the evangelical nature of their book, they should expect to be viewed as deceptive and dishonest. It makes me sad when Christians resort to trickery to lure unsuspecting people into a discussion or debate. That’s not the example Jesus offered us. He was straightforward with his message.

Rachelle closes with this advice to Christian authors, I would recommend that anyone with a hidden agenda take heed as well:

“I’d go so far as to recommend that if you write Christian fiction and your publisher is about to do an Amazon “free” promotion, you make sure somebody contacts Amazon to edit the book description so that it makes clear it’s Christian. If you do this, you can probably avoid most of those angry 1-star reviews.”

Oh, in case you’re wondering, yes, I’m a Christian. Is my novel, How Deep Lies the Shadow, a “Christian” book? That’s hard to answer. I put a lot of myself into my writing, so in that sense it’s “Christian.” However, I don’t use the novel as a platform to evangelize. There are Christian characters (primarily supporting characters), but the main characters don’t go through a religious experience and become Christians in the end (spoiler?). I also have atheists, cultists, and agnostics throughout the story, and hopefully, I’ve been true in representing their world views. If you look beyond the supernatural element, HDLTS is carried by the authentic relationships between the characters. There’s plenty of personal conflict and messages of forgiveness and redemption within those relationships.

I’ve heard of good church-going people putting the book down after 80 pages. I’ve heard positive reviews from people I know to be atheists. So, I think it would be a mistake to label my novel as “Christian.” I’m sure there would be many ultra conservative Christians who would cry foul and proceed to drop 1-star ratings on my book.

But then there’s always the controversy angle. I suppose if I got enough people to denounce my book as “anti-Christian” those who are anti-Christian would rush out and buy a copy. But there’s that element of deception again. I want my novel to stand on its own merits. It’s a good story worth reading.

Kudos to Rachelle for tackling what can be a sensitive issue. Religion can polarize an audience, but it doesn’t have to shut communication down completely.

Read Rachelle’s post: Should We Label Christian Fiction?