CHRISTIANITY - A FAILING RELIGION

NOTE:  This was first posted back in January 2015.  At the time it didn't appear to get much traction, but in light of the recent Freedom of Religion issue I thought perhaps it's time to revisit it.  Nothing could better illustrated the differentiating paradigm that is evident in all religions, but particularly demonstrative in Christianity right at the present time. 

Monotheism, as a whole is the relative newbie on the religious block.  The two youngest siblings or by-products of this idea, Christianity and Islam currently hold the record for the number of people who claim to be either.  Christians have the lead for the moment with over two billion people claiming to be Christian.  Islam has about one and one-half billion followers.  From what I can tell neither are growing or garnering new followers.  

In the scope of things, it seems that these two bright religious stars have seen better days; that they are maxed out and dimming with a new category representing the dark hole they are leaving in their decline; namely, the unaffiliated , the third largest group of which currently has over one billion people who do not identify or want to identify with any religion, are either agnostic or atheist or hold their own personal beliefs.

I can certainly relate to the gravitational pull of being non-affiliated as you will see in this earlier post where I briefly explore why I feel Christianity is a failing, dimming star. 

* * * * * * * * * * 

As a "Christian," I have struggled with Christianity for some time. Like all religions, Christianity is complex, and like all other religions, Christianity is a human response to a sense of holiness or a sense of the divine.  God does not make religions. We do.  God does not need religion.  We do, and Christianity is one of many that has evolved from our on-going search for meaning and purpose.

For me, one of the outcomes of post 9/11 was a growing sense that Christianity was high-jacked, not by Islamic terrorists, but by Christian fundamentalists.  The rise of a Christian "right" that equates biblical literalism and the cross with patriotism and the US flag was leaving little room for me to breathe free air.  It seemed to me that fundamentalist Christians had a number of things in common with Muslim fundamentalist; no room for reason or independent thought, a sense that religious freedom, freedom to think independently and to verbalize those thoughts in the United States was being threatened.  In fact, it seems that any sort of fundamentalism, religious or otherwise, takes this tack to control the public square.

I realize not all Christians think this way, but it seems there is little pushback against the stifling rhetoric of those who insist that the Pledge of Allegiance must contain "under God" in it (although the original version did not) and that prayer and creationist versions of universe be instilled in public schools at the expense of maintaining a pluralistic society and understanding the importance of empirical research in science.  I wondered why this was.   Where were the moderate voices of religion, of Christianity?  There hangs in the air a sense of uncertainty amidst the certainty being expressed by fundamentalists of every brand.  It seems there are few willing to talk about uncertainty in an uncertain time, to engage in sincere conversations about it, to expose and allay the inherent fear masked by the certainty offered in concretized belief.

These events made me ponder the history of Christianity and its own tendency to go to war over diverse theological views. It brought to mind any number of religious persecutions generated by Christians on other Christians deemed unorthodox and on non-Christians from the suppression of unorthodox Christian groups in the Roman Empire after 381 CE to the Crusades, the Inquisition, the innumerable pogroms against Jews, the 30 Years War, the conversion tactics used by white missionaries on Native Americans in both North and South America, and to the conflict between Protestants and Roman Catholics in Northern Ireland and the ethnic cleansing in the Balkans in more recent times. 

It seems to me the common thread in all of these events involves political and economic dominance over others, fueled by religious fervor in order to garner support for such agendas by providing justification; as in,  ridding the world of evil and saving souls through the slaughter of others.  Muslim extremists are currently employing the same agenda against each other and the United States; for the same reasons of ridding and saving the world from the evil they see embodied in democracy and open cultures.

In turn this has given rise to a Christian fundamentalist revival which is linked in the US to the far right's Tea Party's social conservatism and to the opposite reaction exhibited by the number of those identifying themselves as religiously non-affiliated, who see (with valid reason) religion as the problem.  It is ironic that extreme cultural conservatism (the non-fiscal variety) in the US holds similar views as those espoused by Islamic extremists with regard to the role and treatment of women, homosexuality, free speech, and the treatment of the outsider.   To fight such fires with such fires is to cause a conflagration, to embrace mutual defeat, and reduce all to ashes.

All religions contain stories that strain credibility which must be held as kin to fact, if not fact, by its followers; that if you don't believe in certain articles of faith you are not, for example, a Christian. You are in the "not saved" category.  I must note not all mainline Christian denominations take a hard line on these articles of faith as being necessary for salvation. Nevertheless, they have them on the books, as it were.  They still emphasize salvation as core to the Christian mission. 

So what are the common, core beliefs of Christianity necessary for salvation:

1.Jesus was sent into the world to die for the sins of the world in order to save it
   (Messiah).
2. Jesus is the only-begotten Son of God (Jesus is God).
3. Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary (Jesus is a sinless victim)
4. Jesus was crucified, died, buried, was resurrected from the dead, and ascended to heaven
    (Jesus is Victor over sin and death).
5. Jesus will come again, at the Last Judgment, to judge the world (who's in/who's out).
6. Those who believe in the above will be saved and resurrected from the dead like Jesus
    (heaven or new earth).
7. Those who don't won't (eternal damnation).

By no means is this an inclusive list of beliefs held by Christians.  There are many more depending on what denomination or brand of Christianity one belongs to.  My point in this post is not to take on each of these seven points, but rather to suggest that salvation theology is a flawed theology as identified in the seven core beliefs.  Having to believe in something that is incredible (unbelievable) and treating it as fact can lead to mental maladies and spiritual dysfunction on both a cultural and a personal scale.

There is, of course, a great deal of theology surrounding these articles. Points 5-7 have been toned down by a number of progressive churches, but, as I said earlier, they're still on the books and are being articulated in the Creeds in any number of liturgical Christian  services. Point 7, in some churches and for many Christians, is not held very tightly at all.  Many now believe that everyone will ultimately be saved, but I'm going to keep it here because it remains implicit, if not explicit to the notion of salvation and the urgent sense of the Christian mission. 

After two thousand years of doctrine and dogma surrounding these core beliefs it is impossible to change or rid ourselves of them without getting rid of Christianity.  It is possible, however, to re-vision them, to understand them differently, to be honest about them and embrace the mythic (spiritual) truths they contain rather than to insist on their being literal fact, to relinquish the necessity of maintaining a salvation theology that leads to a collective neurosis about what is right and wrong behavior (or to put it in monotheistic terms what is natural and unnatural behavior) and the frequent overt, destructive responses to such behavior or to the equally destructive nonchalant response to the actual evil displayed in the world in the form of bloodshed, war, exploitation of other humans and our natural resources.  To accomplish such a re-visioning, Christians need to consider the readily available redemptive or restorative theology that is present in the Hebrew Scriptures and in the teachings of Jesus. 

It is my opinion that salvation-based religions are prone to failure. Christianity is becoming increasingly meaningless in its mission on saving souls through "Preaching the Gospel" (code for the seven points mentioned above).   The notion of saving souls apart from redeeming/restoring the world we currently live in has always been untenable and has the potential in today's world of leading to mass destruction. I believe a number of Christians understand this, but this message gets lost to the world because of maintaining traditional theological and dogmatic baggage.

Those who say everything is in God's hands and all we need to do is just wait for the second coming [the Last Judgment] is to ignore reality, to stick one's head in the sand and court a self-fulfilling prophecy of nuclear proportions. It ignores the reason for and the reality of our existence which, from my perspective, is to be at this moment in time and in this place the image and face of God; to be responsible to and for each other and the world in which we live.


 Until next time, stay faithful.

ENCOUNTERING GOD

I doubt that anyone can know God; in the sense that we can know another person.  God is not a mere acquaintance, a friend, a relative, although God has been depicted as such.  I understand that, as human beings, we tend to anthropomorphize things we relate to.  I do it all the time, including when thinking about "God," but it seems to me that God becomes increasingly remote; "out there," the more one assigns anthropomorphic attributes as a description.  God is not at all remote.

While God is not the same as me or us, God is not separate from me or us.  The only word that comes close to describing the term God is the word holy; a word that connotes otherness, an otherness we can experience within ourselves.  In this sense, knowing God cannot be accomplished by looking for something apart from us, something other than what we are.  The quest to know God, to encounter God begins with the quest to know one's self.  I've titled this post "Encountering God" because I believe encountering that which is called God is not only possible, it's constant.

One morning while I was practicing mindfulness meditation my mind turned to Socrates and his dictum about knowing oneself and the importance of the examined life. As I observed this passing thought, it dawned on me later, that the examined life is a life lived mindfully.  Mindfulness, in the Socratic sense, implies the Self observing the self; watching our step(s) as it were.  Such mindfulness inevitably raises questions and offers insights that transcend "self" and lead to encounters with "Self.." Such pursuits, can lead to an encounter with what it means to be or "being" and its roots in "becoming-ness."  These terms represent the ever-fluid state of what I referred to in my last post as "Is-ness." [See GOD IS A VERB]

When religion separates "God" from the created (the evolved) and the on-going emergence of creation (evolution), we lose this important understanding of God.  We become disconnected from God and from each other.  God becomes a remote thing, "out there," inaccessible or accessible only through one's religious affiliation and that affiliation's controlled or controlling means of identifying the divine. I can readily lose the important perception of my fellow human containing the same "other within" that I feel; of being blind to face of God seen in the face of another human being.

Religion, used here, is understood to be the product of a collective human consensus on the holy, a response to it, and there are many such collective consensuses. In other words, religions are a creation of humankind, not God.  God, as the term is being used here, has no need of religion.  Religion reflects a collective need to respond to our sense of transcendence.

Contrary to the fear-generating theological dogmas of many religions, God is always accessible*.  God is in our every breath, in our every heartbeat.  God is not "out there."  God is "in here."  God is immanent.  Everything that exists is an expression and an emanation of God.  Everything that has breath is an incarnation of God. 

This is not said to imply that religion serves no purpose.  Religion is very purposeful and important. As humans, we cannot escape being religious. To ignore this fact is to court danger in the form of willful blindness.  We are, after all, homo religiosus." 

We are all, singularly and collectively, prone to ritualizing life in order to make it meaningful. Cultures and societies, considered to be non-religious and secular, all incorporate ritual in their social structure. A prime example of this is patriotism. Patriotism in any country is highly ritualized; utilizing symbols and public events to encourage it (flags, national "holidays," oaths, pledges, and memorials), all of which is rooted in the religious idea.

Institutional religions serve as the primary means for humanity's collective expression and understanding of life itself and the transcendent.  Institutionalized religions (for the most part and whether intending to or not) have historically attempted to fix "God" in place as a supreme other that's "out there."  Even if this was not a religion's intent, their leadership through the centuries have done little to discourage this fixed thinking among its adherents.

For many, institutionalized religion represents the locus for their encounter with God, but for an increasing number of people encountering God or the spiritual is a quest free of theological dogma and doctrinal bonds (at least for the moment), free of a defined locus.  For some the quest for such encounters is through self-examination and the discovery that in the examined life all dogmatic and theological notions of God are rendered inadequate; that the credibility of one's traditional/cultural beliefs is no longer sustainable as a means to encounter the ineffable.

Such individuals, and I include myself as one of them, find there is nothing left but the silence of one's own being; the pervasive silence of the cosmic state of becoming-ness that envelopes everything and everyone which is that silent but immense force gently flowing in, through, and around us,shaping us in our individual manifestations of Being, unique to us in this moment of life. Still, others within the framework of religion are capable of moving within their religion's dogmatic and doctrinal bindings to encounter God in the form of mysticism.  All such endeavors, I feel, can ultimately lead to an unbounded sense of awe and the holy or "the other within."

For the most part, God emanates through our varied existences without our awareness.  Our very existences are manifestations of God's cosmic intrusion called life.  Our lives are God's life at this time, at this place, and in this particular shape and form.  God is alive through and in all creation, and all life and all creation has its being and is enlivened by the being or becomingness of God. 

From a religious perspective, all things can be attributed to God, yet nothing is an attribute of God. God IS, and yet, is not what we think.  The will of God is to be, but not all things that occur happens because of God's will. Cause and effect are different with God.  There exists a moral ambivalence where God is concerned. Good and evil events occur, and it is our subjective experience with them that places such values on them. As Christian and Hebrew scriptures point out, rain (God's goodness) falls on the just and unjust alike.  God is present in all occurrences, or, better said, all occurrences happen in God, but God does not act as the orchestrator of them but rather as the absorber of them to what ends, if any, we cannot fathom. 

Nevertheless, religions tend to portray God as an outside being, as some thing directly involved in human life; as directing the comedy and tragedy that is life on this planet. Religion tends to link God to us by theologically demonstrating that God is affected by the events of our lives in the sense that we are affected.  This is where things become complicated.

There is no small degree of comfort to the religious in believing that there is an other, out there, who understands what we're going through, but this sense of divine observation and "outside" interaction can easily become twisted into a memetic neurosis (ex. religious guilt) over how God perceives our activity. Does God approve or disapprove?  What is the result of such approval or disapproval?  How do we know? How should we respond?

Religious knowledge is largely intuited knowledge.  God, more often than not, becomes a projection of ourselves trying to get life right by eliminating what "we" collectively perceive as being wrong with ourselves and the world. This is often the point at which we dissociate with being linked to our fellow human beings, where we become an "us" and a "them." This is tricky turf and has become increasingly more tricky in recent times.  It would be far better for us to see all our lives as part of God's being and becoming-ness rather than to see God as an intermittent player in our lives who may or may not approve of who we (or they) are and what we (or they) are doing.

Most major religions have sacred texts that are considered inviolable; in that, they are considered God's words, divinely inspired writings, as opposed to being intuitively garnered writings or words (stories) about the relationship between God and humankind.  All of religious writings abound with mythic content designed to present truths. [Note: Myths, in my definition, are the oven-mitts by which we handle truth(s).] 

In some religions, these texts are not to be questioned by their adherents.  This is unfortunate, as it seems to me, the purpose of these texts, of myths, is to use them in the pursuit of truth, and, in order to effectively do so, they should naturally raise questions and debate about their meanings, if anything.  Any religion whose sacred texts are considered equivalent to empirical fact; considered inerrant, untouchable, and unquestionable is a religion ultimately doomed to failure.  God is not a fixed entity.  One cannot stuff God between leather bindings.

To encounter God (Being and Becoming-ness) is to sense God, to sense the other within. God can be felt, if not physically, then emotionally or spiritually.  In almost all religions the one human emotion or feeling associated with God is the feeling of being loved; of being spiritually embraced and deeply cared about and cared for. This is universal among the world's major religions. 

For those of a non-religious persuasion, this sense is encountered in the immense feeling of awe in what is and of finding a love of life on a personal scale for all things. With or without the notion of God, love is the sign of transcendence, of transcending one's self interests.  Love transcends the ego and is traceable in all sentient beings.  For many, God is synonymous with true love. God is love and true love, pure love, is the ultimate expression of God in life or LIFE. Amidst the chaos of the cosmos there exists cosmic order and it has a name, LOVE.

Emotion and intuition are vastly under appreciated. They are considered by some to be non-intellectual factors that can influence human behavior.  There is some reason for this.  Too often individuals will run with their emotions and intuitions, taking them at face value.  They fail to examine and discern their meanings.  Emotion and intuition have a connection with each other. Feeling and sensing before knowing is an important human function that, if used wisely, increases knowledge and understanding. A person's sense of "God" is largely felt or perceived on an emotional level which precedes reason. 

The God-concept, I believe, started as an intuition that provided an identity, a locus which eventually evolved into a universal source that gave meaning and purpose to life.  Whether as a concept, a fact, or a myth God exists.  One cannot deny something without first acknowledging it.  To say there is no God is to affirm, at the very least, the concept of God, and every concept encapsulates something true to the human experience. 

Encountering God is constant in our being, in our becomingness, and in our Is-ness.  Realizing this is a matter of becoming awake. Waking up is matter of leading an examined life; that is, the Self observing the self, of being mindful.

Until next time, stay faithful.

* The accessibility of "God" will be discussed in further posts.

GOD IS A VERB

[Note: For those reading my posts for the first time, my being a faithful agnostic is not about embracing agnosticism as a philosophical stance, but rather a pragmatic one, one rooted in the idea that the more I know, the more I know that I don't know, an understanding shared by many. 

My background is Christian and I am a member of a Christian denomination, but I make no claim of "knowing." My claim to agnosticism is a claim to free-thinking, of being a seeker not bound by Christian dogmatism and doctrines, but free to question and to think about Christianity and religion in general; to embrace the concept of being in a "Cloud of Unknowing". 

This post is about my views on the topic of God.  As a "Christian" I will reference the Holy Bible as a primary source for discussion.   Again, I don't claim to have original thoughts.  All thoughts are based on encounters with the thoughts of others]

 

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the dwelling place of the Most High, God is in the midst of her, she will not be moved.  Psalm 46: 4-5

 

We are born of and born upon a stream of conscious activity. No one can adequately speak of the ineffable; of that concept known as God.  Can we even assign a term to describe this paradoxical, phenomenal non-phenomenon, this immanent indwelling presence that is always with us and yet beyond us, our very selves and yet more than the sum of all that has been, is, or will be?  Does a three letter word do it justice?  Does it say too much? 

 

The best we can arrive at comprehending this incomprehensibility is to give it a name, God; itself a metaphor, a verbal symbol of what cannot be empirically demonstrated or adequately explained.  As a nominative term, "God" can be easily treated as a thing, an object, a person, or a god; something that can be manipulated by our will or by our appeasement, but the essence of God is not a thing, not a noun.

 

GOD IS A VERB.

 

God is being.  God is action. God is always active.  God is the I-am-that-I-am, or better yet, the I-will-be-what-I-will-be; the I-Is-ness, the enveloping paradox that is life itself; the life in which we find ourselves living. God is Love.  God is Light.  God is Life, or to make it more active God is En-loving. God is Enlightening.  God is Enlivening.

 

God is the very essence, the very core of all being-ness.  God is the encapsulating fabric of life itself.  As the apostle Paul said, paraphrasing Greek philosophers believed to be Epimenides and Aratus, "For in Him (God) we live and move and have our being." (Acts 17:28)  In this sense, we are all incarnations, manifestations, emanations of God. 

 

We are all born of God and are being born along by God.  This is our time to be, our here and now.  This is our time to be loved for who we are and to love others for who they are, our time to shine and to enlighten, This is our time to live and to enliven.  What happens after this moment in time we must commend to that endless stream of love, light, and life upon which we are born.

 

With the Psalmist, we can envision God as a stream, always flowing in and through and around all that is (the city of God).  The Is-ness of God is the part we share with God, the constant creative activity that is in a permanent state of being or becoming.  At the same time we need to understand the difference between Is-ness and impermanence. 

 

The physical life we are experiencing on Earth right now is not permanent.  Is-ness is not to be confused with immortality.  Immortality is rooted in the concept of time.  Is-ness is not about time.  Is-ness has no past, present, or future. Is-ness is.  Is-ness is the ongoing stream of being that we are part of, from which we emerged.  In this phase of being we will experience death.  Death is a natural part of physical life.  According to the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews, "It is appointed that all humans die once."  Heb. 9:27. 

 

Being in a physical state we will wear out as all things physical do.  We will die and the here-and-now present will end for us; the point at which physicality ends. The elements of which we are made of, the star dust that comprises our chemical and atomic make up will return to their separate states.  The Is-ness of which we are part of remains and we will be born away; absorbed by the very stream from which we emerged. 

 

Will we re-emerge?  Is there more?  Perhaps. Hypothetically speaking, nothing is lost in the Is-ness of God, the city of God.  Look into the vastness of the night sky and ponder the light we see in the distant galaxies billions of year after their physical source ended. 

 

We are in the City of God, the all-that-is.  The entire cosmos is that city. We are the dwelling places of the "Most High."  The flowing river whose streams are the very Is-ness of God that gladdens the heart of creation, of all that is.  God is at the very center of all that is; the core of being.  The Is-ness of God is immovable since God is always on the move.

 

Until next time, stay faithful.

 

 

 

 



 



 

HAPPY EPIPHANY!

At our home we keep the Christmas tree up and the outside Christmas lights on until January 7th, the day after Epiphany.  Christmas is such a short season and it seems most people are ready to pack it up a day or two after Christmas Day.  Epiphany gives us a chance to extend it. If it were up to me I'd keep the lights outside on throughout the season, but...

Here's a poem a I wrote for the occasion:

 

Epiphany

 

                                      You are mine,

                                               My beloved, my pleasure,

                                                          My faith in you is boundless.

                                                                     Remember this as you enter the wilderness.

 

                                        There temptation will teach you.

                                                 There you will be discovered.

                                                            There you will find me.

                                                                       There, in the stillness, I await.

 

                                        In your face is mine.

                                                  My light shines in your presence.

                                                             Brightness is in the sound of your voice,

                                                                       Illuminating a path for all to see.

 

                                          Great things you will do.

                                                     Others will follow you.

                                                               My faith in you is boundless,

                                                                        And it pleases me that you are mine.

 

Norm Wright                                                                                                                January 6, 2015

 

 

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 I'll get back to some serious stuff shortly.

Until then, stay faithful

 

 

 

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!

 

The holiday break is over and my wife and I are safely back home as is our eldest daughter after spending Christmas in NYC with our youngest daughter who lives there.  NYC is a wonderful place to be during Christmas.  The city is alive, as always, but especially so at this time of year.

 

 

It is our family tradition when in NYC to visit one of the landmark churches during Christmas and this year we went to the Choral Christmas Eve Mass at Trinity Wall Street - always a wonderful and worshipful experience. 

 

 

The following Sunday we went to a more "local" church near our hotel. Christ and St. Stephen Church.  A small church located on 69th Street.

 

 

 

 

Episcopal churches are almost like Starbucks in NYC, practically one around every corner.  What attracted us to this particular church was its size and the fact that it has the only Schoenstein  Pipe Organ in NYC. The church also has a professional eight voice choir.  Nigel Potts is the Organist and Choirmaster at Christ and St. Stephen's church and was on board the Sunday we were there along with half of the choir who were simply amazing. 

 

After the service, I was able to visit with Nigel who graciously gave me a tour of organ console and even more graciously allowed me to play the organ. Nigel is a professional recitalist having played at such noted venues as St. Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey in London.

 

Nigel explaining the organ's unique features and tonal colors.

 

Me having a great time playing it.

 

The week in NYC went fast.  The weather there almost balmy for this time of year.  Now we're back in the northern plains with a real temp of 6 degrees and a wind chill of about -25 degrees and dropping.  Nevertheless, it's good to be home.

 

Until next time, stay faithful.