Choosing no choice

I was reminded of a scene from the game Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords this weekend. It was a vision sequence in which the main Jedi character (controlled by the player) runs into the Jedi's mentor/master. But then the other characters, loyal followers of the Jedi, start hurling accusations that the mentor is sowing evil and discord. You have to make the choice: side with your master against your friends, or side with your friends against your master. Interestingly, the developers left the ability to make no choice, to just let your friends and your master fight it out while you sit by and watch.

When I was playing through the game, I was torn. There was attachment to all the characters in the game such that it just felt wrong to pick a side. I chose the "no choice" option. Each character, in turn, calmly said, "Apathy is death." And they all turned on me and attacked. So much for thinking gray.

This all came rushing back to mind as I was talking with a pastor friend yesterday. He was recounting some of his experiences at the Emergent Convention, particularly his frustration at the seeming inability to get any sort of straight answer from anybody there regarding their beliefs about topics like sin or salvation or the sovereignty of God. What could have been weighty and deep topics of conversation were instead brushed aside with dismissal or witty riposte or topic change. Why?

Is there a fear of giving offense? Of appearing too "modern" in our worldview? Of bowing to binary thinking? Or could it be little more than a fear of being wrong? My friend missed out on getting a better handle on understanding the emergent movement, while the folks he tried to talk with missed out on his spiritual maturity and theological insight. Everybody lost. Apathy was death.

With the game I could at least load up a save point and make a different choice, changing the eventual outcome of the game. But with life we don't have that luxury. If we deconstruct our faith into a big vast gray without building something superior, is it any better than if we just destroyed it outright? Is that what's happening to our beliefs?