The future of Christianity in America
Will it move forward or backward?
Liberals today have many fears in the face of modern American Christianity. Some are very well founded. At a time when Christianity seems represented only by people such as Falwell, Robertson, Dobson and conservative Catholic Bishops, many Americans feel threatened that these voices of religious intolerance will ultimately break down the separation of church and state. The result could be a return to the kind of puritan fascism unseen in this land since the Salem witch trials.
The Republican Party has agressively pursued and actively helped shape the politics of the fundamentalist Christian movement for decades now. At the current time, these religious extremists claim to hold operative power in 44 of the 50 Republican State Committees. In State Legislatures all over America, Republicans are introducing and passing bills designed to eliminate separation of church and state, thus bypassing the judicial system and its mandate to interpret constitutional protections. Frightening indeed.
However, before non-Christians begin hiding in their basements in fear, worshipping by candlelight, I'd like to offer some reason to hope for the future of religious tolerance in America. The source of this hope? Young people. More and more young people today are confused by the messages they hear from so-called Christians. Most young people do not hate homosexuality or homosexuals for that matter, even if they don't approve of or agree with the lifestyle. They don't see a terrible conspiracy to destroy marriage or the family, they just see people asking for the right to have a relationship. When someone like Rev. Dobson steps forth and condemns a cartoon character, young people see it as the ridiculous joke it is and nothing more.
Thus, modern American Christianity is gradually losing any ability to communicate honestly with young people. Increasingly, young people list their political priorities as social justice, environmental protection and peace between nations. Ironically, all of these were once serious Christian priorities which now seem lost in a country where religion has been ever more politicized and seems to have become more about "what we are against" rather than "what we are for".
More good news stems from the recent trend of young people away from intolerant Christian institutions toward newer congregations which preach Christianity's hopeful message in a more pro-active and tolerant manner. By preaching the more optimistic message of Jesus' life and teachings, alternative Christian denominations have become very appealing to younger Americans who simply cannot relate to what they see in fundamentalism or the current Catholic church.
The United Church of Christ (UCC) began an advertising campaign last year, in preparation for their 50th anniversary in 2007, which plays exactly to their message of inclusive Christianity or as they call it "extravagant welcome". A recent television ad the UCC released hammers home not only their inclusive message but also what is so wrong with too much of modern Christianity.
Entitled "Bouncers" the ad depicts the entrance to a church surrounded with ropes, like a nightclub, while t-shirted "bouncers" decide who can and cannot enter. A caption which reads "Jesus didn't turn people away..neither do we" follows. The ad closes with a voice-over explaining that the UCC welcomes all people of all ages, colors, genders and sexual orientations by saying "whoever you are and wherever you are on life's journey, you are welcome". It is a powerful ad which can be viewed at www.ucc.org. Recently, the head of the church held a press conference while sitting across his desk from a stuffed doll of Spongbob Squarepants, ceremonially welcoming Spongebob to the church.
In today's Bergen Record newspaper, the second largest circulation daily in New Jersey, religion reporter John Chadwick reports on Liquid, a booming new congregation in Basking Ridge, NJ which targets young Christians and offers them a more positive, uplifting and introspective message and style of worship. The church relates to young people through music and a very different message from most of what's out there today in evangelical circles. In the article, pastor Tim Lucas comments, "In order to engender a sense of spiritual superiority....we pick an issue or a cause with which we have no personal experience." "That's one of the reasons why it's so easy for [straight] heterosexual church leaders to highlight the sexual brokeness of gay people". Lucas adds, "The divorce statistics show that we're not doing a good job on straight marriage, so why are we using all our resources to attack a lifestyle we know little about"? A very good question indeed. One which more self-proclaimed Christians should be asking themselves.
There is no question that there is still much intolerance to overcome in today's Christian circles. President Bush very successfully used the issue of a constitutional ammendment banning gay marriage to inspire statewide ballot initiatives and rally millions of Christians to his side. Worse yet, the Catholic church released a document titled, "A Voter Guide for Serious Catholics" which did nothing more than convey positions on only a few carefully selected political issues (abortion, gay marriage, euthanasia...) clearly to influence Catholics, who historically vote with Democrats due to social concerns, to vote Republican. Thus, the church itself says to Catholics, "ignore peace, brotherhood, social justice or our environment,which God created". In the end, Republicans claim that churchgoers decided Bush's victory, maybe so.
Ultimately, the great weakness in the Republican Political/Christian strategy lies in all those young people. The strategy relies heavily on prejudices, something most of the younger voters lack. Right-wing Christianity serves to twist the message of Jesus into something which, as Pastor Lucas observed, inspires feelings of spiritual superiority while galvanizing followers with something "evil" to be against. In this manner, it closely mirrors the method by which Islamic "Jihadists" twist the faith of Islam to engender hatred of outsiders. It is a seductive potion but it may eventually cave in on itself, just as we hope radical Islam will do.
In 2004, whatever their spiritual inclination, younger voters chose Kerry and Democrats by a sustantial margin. The theme of the UCC's campaign is "God is still speaking". Let us hope that they are right. Perhaps God is still speaking through the young people of America today. If so, it seems that God is saying that there is another way for Christians to honor the life and message of his only son, one which offers compassion and understanding rather than self-righteousness and damnation of others. Thy will be done.
Liberals today have many fears in the face of modern American Christianity. Some are very well founded. At a time when Christianity seems represented only by people such as Falwell, Robertson, Dobson and conservative Catholic Bishops, many Americans feel threatened that these voices of religious intolerance will ultimately break down the separation of church and state. The result could be a return to the kind of puritan fascism unseen in this land since the Salem witch trials.
The Republican Party has agressively pursued and actively helped shape the politics of the fundamentalist Christian movement for decades now. At the current time, these religious extremists claim to hold operative power in 44 of the 50 Republican State Committees. In State Legislatures all over America, Republicans are introducing and passing bills designed to eliminate separation of church and state, thus bypassing the judicial system and its mandate to interpret constitutional protections. Frightening indeed.
However, before non-Christians begin hiding in their basements in fear, worshipping by candlelight, I'd like to offer some reason to hope for the future of religious tolerance in America. The source of this hope? Young people. More and more young people today are confused by the messages they hear from so-called Christians. Most young people do not hate homosexuality or homosexuals for that matter, even if they don't approve of or agree with the lifestyle. They don't see a terrible conspiracy to destroy marriage or the family, they just see people asking for the right to have a relationship. When someone like Rev. Dobson steps forth and condemns a cartoon character, young people see it as the ridiculous joke it is and nothing more.
Thus, modern American Christianity is gradually losing any ability to communicate honestly with young people. Increasingly, young people list their political priorities as social justice, environmental protection and peace between nations. Ironically, all of these were once serious Christian priorities which now seem lost in a country where religion has been ever more politicized and seems to have become more about "what we are against" rather than "what we are for".
More good news stems from the recent trend of young people away from intolerant Christian institutions toward newer congregations which preach Christianity's hopeful message in a more pro-active and tolerant manner. By preaching the more optimistic message of Jesus' life and teachings, alternative Christian denominations have become very appealing to younger Americans who simply cannot relate to what they see in fundamentalism or the current Catholic church.
The United Church of Christ (UCC) began an advertising campaign last year, in preparation for their 50th anniversary in 2007, which plays exactly to their message of inclusive Christianity or as they call it "extravagant welcome". A recent television ad the UCC released hammers home not only their inclusive message but also what is so wrong with too much of modern Christianity.
Entitled "Bouncers" the ad depicts the entrance to a church surrounded with ropes, like a nightclub, while t-shirted "bouncers" decide who can and cannot enter. A caption which reads "Jesus didn't turn people away..neither do we" follows. The ad closes with a voice-over explaining that the UCC welcomes all people of all ages, colors, genders and sexual orientations by saying "whoever you are and wherever you are on life's journey, you are welcome". It is a powerful ad which can be viewed at www.ucc.org. Recently, the head of the church held a press conference while sitting across his desk from a stuffed doll of Spongbob Squarepants, ceremonially welcoming Spongebob to the church.
In today's Bergen Record newspaper, the second largest circulation daily in New Jersey, religion reporter John Chadwick reports on Liquid, a booming new congregation in Basking Ridge, NJ which targets young Christians and offers them a more positive, uplifting and introspective message and style of worship. The church relates to young people through music and a very different message from most of what's out there today in evangelical circles. In the article, pastor Tim Lucas comments, "In order to engender a sense of spiritual superiority....we pick an issue or a cause with which we have no personal experience." "That's one of the reasons why it's so easy for [straight] heterosexual church leaders to highlight the sexual brokeness of gay people". Lucas adds, "The divorce statistics show that we're not doing a good job on straight marriage, so why are we using all our resources to attack a lifestyle we know little about"? A very good question indeed. One which more self-proclaimed Christians should be asking themselves.
There is no question that there is still much intolerance to overcome in today's Christian circles. President Bush very successfully used the issue of a constitutional ammendment banning gay marriage to inspire statewide ballot initiatives and rally millions of Christians to his side. Worse yet, the Catholic church released a document titled, "A Voter Guide for Serious Catholics" which did nothing more than convey positions on only a few carefully selected political issues (abortion, gay marriage, euthanasia...) clearly to influence Catholics, who historically vote with Democrats due to social concerns, to vote Republican. Thus, the church itself says to Catholics, "ignore peace, brotherhood, social justice or our environment,which God created". In the end, Republicans claim that churchgoers decided Bush's victory, maybe so.
Ultimately, the great weakness in the Republican Political/Christian strategy lies in all those young people. The strategy relies heavily on prejudices, something most of the younger voters lack. Right-wing Christianity serves to twist the message of Jesus into something which, as Pastor Lucas observed, inspires feelings of spiritual superiority while galvanizing followers with something "evil" to be against. In this manner, it closely mirrors the method by which Islamic "Jihadists" twist the faith of Islam to engender hatred of outsiders. It is a seductive potion but it may eventually cave in on itself, just as we hope radical Islam will do.
In 2004, whatever their spiritual inclination, younger voters chose Kerry and Democrats by a sustantial margin. The theme of the UCC's campaign is "God is still speaking". Let us hope that they are right. Perhaps God is still speaking through the young people of America today. If so, it seems that God is saying that there is another way for Christians to honor the life and message of his only son, one which offers compassion and understanding rather than self-righteousness and damnation of others. Thy will be done.
posted by Paul_NJ | 1:49 PM
2 Comments:
Thanks for your article. Most churches these days are so removed from Christ's original intent and message that it is sickening and disheartening. Were Christ alive today, he would once again be throwing the money changers out of the temple.
From the Book of Mathew
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. [26] Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean."
I honestly believe it will move backwards as more and more churches distort God's words to their benefit. They moved so far from the original message, as Paradigm Shifter said. We thoroughly discussed this during our ministry meetings with Brandy Shiloh and we really hope we'll see more good in today's churches.
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