One of my favorite conservative media blogs
recently criticized a liberal media blog that asked “Could we please just get
God out of religion?” http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tim-graham/2015/05/24/daily-beast-asks-can-we-please-get-god-out-religion.
In My opinion, both Tim Graham, writing for the conservatives
and Barrett Homes Pitner, writing for the liberals, missed the point.
I wonder “Could we please get politics out of religion,
put God back into the church and stop idolizing overly emotional, unrealistic,
sentimental ideas about who Christ was and what he did?”
Liberal agendas of political correctness,
multi-cultural inclusiveness, gay rights, climate change and environmentalism
dominate Twenty first century church discussions. Pope Francis, who purports to be the leader
and spokesman for 1.2 billion Catholics across the globe, regularly opines on
popular western topics and has recently jumped onto the anti-capitalist,
environmentalist and gay rights bandwagons.
He stops short of endorsing gay marriage while he maintains the traditional
Catholic stance against ordination of women and marriage of priests.
Why are liberals attacking religion when
churches are promoting the gospel of liberalism?
It seems to me that liberals and
contemporary Christians want the same things.
They expect God, the church and the government to be gushing nannies that
will grant all wishes, accommodate everybody’s whims, guarantee a comfortable carefree
life and release us all from responsibility or consequences for anything.
A local theatre production of “The
Christians” by Lucas Hnath sparked my zeal for this topic and stirred me to
write this blog.
The play focuses on worship at a successful
contemporary mega-church. The senior
pastor preaches about a revelation he has that hell may not be a literal place
and folks living an otherwise moral existence may not be condemned to eternal
damnation just because they haven’t been baptized or publicly proclaimed their
belief in Christ. This disclosure upsets
the associate pastor who begins reading and quoting every scripture passage he
can find that talks about hell. Members
of the congregation are asked to choose sides.
A schism ensues and this huge mega-church fades to ruin. The end! And the end of the church-- at least that’s
what liberals and atheists hope for.
In my conservative, -- perhaps naïve – opinion,
I see this as an opportunity for true thinking and discernment.
What do we
believe?
Why do we
believe what we believe? Where did these ideas come from?
How do our
beliefs inform and affect our everyday lives?
Are
we willing and able to seek common ground where we can all live, work, and
worship together though we may disagree on some of the finer points of
scripture, politics and social preferences?
Note the wording “seek common ground” not
“compromise?” There’s a huge
difference.
Compromise means lowering standards,
giving up and giving in. “Seeking common
ground,” means lifting awareness to a higher perspective and objectively examining
all sides of the issues. It requires thinking.
I don’t mean intellectual acumen. Most pastors are intellectually, astute, unless
they received their clerical certification from one of those internet sites
where the only credentialing requirement is completion of the forms and paying
the fees.
I am referring to being able to go beyond
the intellect, to raise awareness to a higher level where inspiration resides, to
be able to use that inspiration or “spirit” for pure understanding and then to discipline
and integrate intellect, emotions and physical activity to achieve the ideas
and goals generated from that kind of understanding. That’s what the real Christ taught and
exemplified.
The
only intelligent way to understand The Christ and the scriptures about his life
and teaching is to reflect on the historical context and symbolic meanings as
well as the words of scriptural text. This
kind of approach requires thinking – using the mind instead of the
emotions.
But just as some folks mindlessly believe
everything that comes from favorite politicians and media gurus, many contemporary
Christians fall into lockstep with their churches’ preaching and teaching. No thinking is required or desired. Salvation comes from “accepting Christ into
one’s heart,” being baptized, publicly proclaiming devotion to Jesus and
memorizing salient scripture passages to be recited on demand while trusting what
the church and the clergy say without question. Bonus grace is awarded for throwing in “Jesus Loves You”, “God Bless” and “I’ll pray
for you” as car bumper stickers and punctuation for all communications, much
as mindless sports fans punctuate their communications with the aphorisms of
their favorite teams. After all, sports
fanaticism truly is a sacred religion throughout the world. Total combined
weekly worship attendance at a thousand of the most popular churches doesn’t
come close to the number of folks congregating in sports stadiums and around
television screens to scream, jump up and down and let their emotions rage while
watching favorite athletic contests.
“Can I get an Amen? …. Praise God!.... Go Team!... Alleluia!....
Thank Ya Jeeesusss!”
The truth is that if the real Jesus
returned to earth today and started living, working, preaching and teaching in
the same way he did over 2,000 years ago, he would again be maligned by the
liberal left that felt threatened by the kind of real power, love and
understanding that Jesus commanded.
Jesus’ message and example would again be misunderstood and disregarded
by the weak-willed who felt an emotional attachment to Jesus and meant to
follow him but could not get past their fears, doubts, superstitions, worries
and wanting things to be easy. Jesus
would again be handed over for execution by some right-winged radical who was
dissatisfied that Jesus didn’t use his power to do away with all the liberals. And the mindless mobs would deny Jesus and
cheer for his execution again rather than risk the wrath of all the activists,
union leaders and chief government officials.
It saddens
me to be so cynical about religion. I have many fond memories of attending
worship and being part of church communities. Church
was an oasis for me in grim confused moments of childhood. Fellowship with church folks formed the core
of my social life for over 50 years, including my three years on active duty
with the army. Church sustained me in
times of loneliness, loss and fear. I sang in church choirs for most of my
adult life. I have experienced many powerful, rich, spirit-filled religious
rituals and ceremonies.
But people
wanting to hold hands during The Lord’s prayer or shouting Alleluia and Amen in the
midst of worship, embarrasses me. I prefer adherence to the scripture passage
that says, “When you
pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen.
Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. (Matthew 6:6).
Too many church people seek personal
prestige and support for a political church instead of making sincere attempts
to build up humankind for God’s kingdom. It’s what some people have come to label “churchianity”.
I am tired of hearing clergy preach and
teach didactic liberal dogma. I am
annoyed by attempts of petty politicians to dominate church activities and
exercise their personal egos by spreading gossip and disrupting congregational
meetings with their negativity and their desires to control others.
On
Christmas Eve in 2011 our pastor used his sermon to draw analogies between
Jesus’ birth in a manger and the “Occupy Wall Street” movement that was
trending at the time.
My regular worship attendance waned after
that. Church friendships have faded.
Though
I have stopped going to church, I still consider myself a Christian. I believe in the things that Jesus taught and
the example he gave.
I have lost faith
in organized religion. It has ceased to
support and nurture my conservative principles, values and ideas.
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