We spent most of the week pointing out the attitudes of some Christian Fiction readers who are Christians. Judges and determiners of what Christian Fiction should be, contain, or do make themselves known in the public forum of booksellers who provide the opportunities to submit "reviews".
Also out there in that public forum are those readers who "mistakenly" manage to read Christian Fiction and then complain about being bushwhacked by those dang Christian authors who dare to include faith issues in their fiction. First of all how anyone can "mistake" a Christian novel for anything other than what it is I have yet to figure out. Back cover copy makes clear there are God things in the story. Now how those characters or plot points actually appear in the novel can be barely discernible or preachy or somewhere in between. Nevertheless, I've yet to see Christian Fiction "disguised" in the back cover copy. And furthermore, if a reader misses what a book is about, it's his fault. Not the author's. Not the publisher's. Whining about how a novel wasn't what the reader thought it was - or should have been - only makes the reader look foolish. Haughty. And mean-spirited. Not that they care. They seem to take pleasure in demeaning the novels, the authors, faith in God, and dispensing those one stars.
Believer or unbeliever, you're entitled to your opinion. That "entitlement" factor gives some readers the impetus to reveal who they are as people. Sometimes this is really not a good thing for them. Criticizing a novel can be done without making it a personal assault on the author. It's okay not to like a story or the characters, and it's expected that some will express their disappointments. This can and should be done tactfully if for no other reason than to give the unhappy reader's opinion credence.
Father, help us as believers to be fair, kind, respectful, and just. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.