It’s one of the most memorable scenes from British television. Two SS “Death’s Head” soldiers on the retreat from the Red Army engage in a bit of philosophizing.

“Have you looked at our caps recently?” the more sensitive officer says to the other. “They’ve got skulls on them.”

And then comes the line: “Are we the baddies?”

At some point, Christians were viewed by many in the West as annoying, perhaps prudish, even self-righteous. Sometimes Christians set themselves as an example of holiness that the world could not or did not want to attain. To be called “holier than thou” was common.

But those days are long gone, says Stephen McAlpine, author of the new book Being the Bad Guys: How to Live for Jesus in a World That Says You Shouldn’t (The Good Book Company). Now we’re seen as the baddies.

McAlpine—pastor, blogger, and ex-journalist who lives in Perth, Australia—has written some of the most provocative and creative commentary on this cultural moment that I’ve seen. And that’s why I was eager to read this book and talk with him for Gospelbound.

If the world sees us as the “baddies,” do we embrace the stereotype because Jesus told us to expect tribulation in the world? Or do we push for better PR and change the narrative? McAlpine offers wisdom from the trenches of these contentious times.