My grandfather possessed a large library of theological texts. Unable to accept all of Christian doctrine, he pondered their contents in an effort to address his doubts. Like Thomas Aquinas, he refused to relinquish the use of his reason. Like Thomas Jefferson, he did not believe in miracles.
After my grandfather's death, my grandmother gave the books to the Presbyterian Church to which we belonged. Some decades later, the church caught fire, and all my grandfather's books were destroyed.
The minister thanked God for sparing the sanctuary.
For me this narrative encapsulates a shift in American religious thinking. An unexpected and serious loss is viewed only as an act of divine mercy. This kind of illogic was wittily satirized by Mark Twain in his numerous writings on Christianity. In Letter VII of Letters from the Earth, Twain writes:
"It is most difficult to understand the disposition of the Bible God, it is such a confusion of contradictions; of watery instabilities and iron firmnesses; of goody-goody abstract morals made out of words, and concreted hell-born ones made out of acts; of fleeting kindnesses repented of in permanent malignities."
Contemporary Christians easily ignore such contradictions.
The loss of the church library in my anecdote is also suggestive. From St. Augustine to the medieval Scholastics to C.S. Lewis and Reinhold Niebuhr, Christianity is rich in interpretations and commentaries on the Bible. Among devout American Christians, who reads these thinkers now?
In the early days of this nation, Calvinism was the predominant form of Christianity. Its deity was remote, incomprehensible, and beyond human appeal. It would have been blasphemous to claim that you had any understanding of his intentions or acts.
Jonathan Edwards, perhaps the most famous American theologian and a man far more erudite than Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell, warned his congregation in frightening terms of their ongoing peril. In his most famous sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" (1741) Edwards invoked images of storms and floods, declaring:
"There are black clouds of God's wrath now hanging directly over your heads, full of the dreadful storm, and big with thunder; and were it not for the restraining hand of God, it would immediately burst forth upon you."
Last year, 2005, saw some horrific storms. First came the aftermath of the tsunami, with its astronomical loss of human life. Then we all watched the power of Katrina, with its ensuing destruction and suffering. Although there has been religious rhetoric aplenty, none of it has resembled the lamentations of Job or the excoriations of Edwards.
For Christianity has changed in America. The remote, inscrutable, and mysterious deity of the Puritans has become hands-on, accessible, transparent, and distinctly pro-American. The commentaries and interpretations of past centuries are read only in highbrow theological seminaries, which most prominent American preachers do not attend. Americans read best-sellers like The Purpose-Driven Life, which assures them that God takes a personal interest in the most trivial aspects of their lives, even choosing the color of their eyes and hair (while neglecting, apparently, birth defects).
I call this phenomenon "Pop Christianity." Like pop music and pop psychology, it is purged of complexities, nuance, and darkness. Pop Christianity looks relentlessly on the bright side of life. In its heaven, there are no clouds, only silver linings.
It turns a blind eye to suffering, like the mass death of the 34 people in St. Rita's Nursing Home in New Orleans--those elderly people who may well have cried out like Job, or like Christ himself, as the waters relentlessly rose around their wheel-chairs.
Like the United States, Pop Christianity claims to have a monopoly on morals and ethics. Those who do not share their beliefs are devoid of good qualities. This obliges them to ignore the misdeeds of their own flock. David Ludwig, the 18-year-old accused of killing his girlfriend's parents in the presence of their young children, was home-schooled in a Christian group. Kansas' s horrific BTK killer was active in his church.
Carol V. Hamilton has a Ph.D. in English from Berkeley and teaches at the University of Pittsburgh. She also writes for History News Network (hnn.us) and CommonDreams.org.
The following are excerpts from Chapter 11 The Revolution Has Begun...
from "KEEP HOPE ALIVE"
"What has happened to Christianity? I have been a student of the Bible my entire life. I am a committed Christian and open to anyone's opinion, but not to their own facts. The Bible has been used to justify slavery, segregation, to deny woman equality, and to promote war.
"A lot of evil happens when the Bible is misunderstood and misused. In the name of God, men have become murderers. We live in a world where people in power get to define those without power. The prophets spoke the word of God in concrete circumstances and throughout history.
"Hosea spoke of God as love. Amos understood that worship and justice go together. Micah confronted Israel with their behavior, and God again told the people what is required: 'Do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your Lord.'" -Bishop Spong @ TIKKUNS first conference for Spiritual Progressives July 2005
"We are people hungry to get on with the business we are about. American politics have already been transformed by religion and spirit, just not the one we believe and desire. We are a deeply divided nation, and the substance of what passes for religion looks like the stuff of politics. There is no such thing as the American religion, for we are a country of over seventy-five faith traditions.
"The proper role of religion is to link core values, to cooperate, to respect all people, to promote peace, justice, and compassion, and to protect the weak, poor, and the environment.
"Today, politics have become a form of religion. We need freedom for and from that kind of religion. Religion should command, inspire hope, and build bridges between other faiths and to those with no faith at all. We will be restless until we speak the truth to power.
"We will be restless until we comfort the afflicted and disturb the comfortable. We will be restless until we become a nation that cares for its entire people and lives with respect towards all others in the global village. May we all be restless, and then speak and act in peace and goodwill, in the spirit of cooperation." -Rev. Dr. Welton Gaddy, leader of the Interfaith Alliance Foundation and pastor at Northminster Baptist Church in L.A, @TIKKUNS first conference for Spiritual Progressives July 2005
"Forget original sin; remember original blessing. There are two Christianities in our midst. One worships a punitive father and seeks obedience at all costs. It is patriarchal, demonizes woman, the earth, science, gays, lesbians, and deep thought. It builds on fear and it supports empire-builders. Its theology includes a punitive father in the sky and teaches original sin.
"The other Christianity recognizes the original blessing that all beings derive from. We recognize awe, not sin, not guilt, as the starting point of true religion. We recognize a divinity who is source of all things and is as much mother as father, as much female as male. We honor creation and diversity. When God created everything, He pronounced it all good. We are here to make love to life.
"Yes, we are here to make love to life. Delight in creation and take your dreams into our politics and institutions. We live in the midst of a suicidal economy, motivated by love of money. We have reached a dead end. What we need to turn it around are hearts in love with life. How do we do it?
"We first must move from domination to partnership, and we begin by educating our young in awe and wonder, not how to take tests. Awe leads to reverence, which leads to gratitude, which will reinvent our species. This is the task of our generation: to regain awe. The three Rs need to be balanced by the ten Cs: contemplation, creativity, chaos, compassion, courage, critical consciousness, community, celebration, ceremony, and character.
"In community, people remain united, despite everything that divides them. In capitalist society, people are isolated, separated, despite everything that should hold them together. We are in the midst of an epic struggle between community and capitalistic society. We need a new narrative. It is the economy of materialism; it is the virus of affluenza that has weakened family life." -ex Roman now Episcopal Priest, Father Matthew Fox @ TIKKUNS first conference for Spiritual Progressives July 2005
He is the author of "A New Reformation" www.WisdomUniversity.org
by
Eileen Fleming (154 articles, 55 quicklinks, 268 diaries, 588 comments)
on Tuesday, October 17, 2006 at 9:41:52 AM
Do Americans think about Christians in the middle east, Africa and Asia? Not really. Look what is happening to the oldest of Christian faiths in the middle east. A great many American "christians" are cheering for our troops to kill the "insurgents" of an illegal war. Chaldeans, Phoenicians, Coptics and others are being killed or chased out of the areas they have lived in for almost two millennium. Clueless about history, American "christians" are lockstep fully behind slaughtering the Lebanese and Palestinians.
Review the history of American "christianity" and it is easy to see that most are splinter groups created in the northeastern part of this country that have no theological knowledge and have fabricated most of their own rules, on top of the KJV, a version that has more rewrites than words from the earliest documents available ("Misquoting Jesus" by Bart Ehrman is a good start). The BBC found that American has more "christians" as a percentage of the population but have a shallow understanding of their faith and was aghast at seeing the cults that call themselves "christians" in the Fundamentalist and End of Times Evangelical realm.
American "christians" practice everything that Jesus was against such as usury, ignoring the poor, elderly (ever visit an old people's home?), and sick (out of sight, out of mind for many illnesses). Where is the empathy for others that are supposed to be our brothers and sisters (who is your neighbor)? Why build monuments to wealth in the creation of mega-church buildings and media empires of which politics are preached as much as dogma? Just what is the real "god" of American "christians". There are some that work for peace, justices, the poor, sick and helpless. Unfortunately it is all too rare.
I've been to facilities and institutions of the elderly, mentally ill and homeless and I rarely see visitors. I'm not a christian any longer since being sick myself. The only love and compassion I received was from people outside of the faith. Regurgitating dogma is not faith and does not contain any form of empathy. Those people that use dogma are just continually beating a dead horse. Faith without works (of natural empathy and compassion) is dead.
by
Jim Reinhart (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 60 comments)
on Tuesday, October 17, 2006 at 2:42:18 PM
Hats off to everything you just said. How many of these Christians could tell you that Jesus began his ministry by throwing the moneychangers out of the temple. Now they're back and they take all credit cards.
by
Terry Ballard (8 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 13 comments)
on Tuesday, October 17, 2006 at 3:32:51 PM
I have only known one real christian in my life. He was killed in a fire in our apartment. He gave to others freely, and even sometimes at his own peril. He offered everything he had to anyone in need. Our Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations were always well attended, and it was a surety that there would be people there who truly had no other place to be. He loved and cared for all people, and prayed for them on a daily basis. Oh yes, for those who wonder, I was often on the receiving end of his prayers.
Most of those who claim christianty today have no basis in fact for their claim. A quick look at New Orleans should be more than enough proof that there is no such thing as christianity in America.
Oh sure, when there are abortion clinics to protest, gay marriage prevention laws to put on the ballot, or money to be sucked up in service of "god", we hear the word christian dropped like celebrity names on Entertainment Tonight. However, when it comes to real Christ-like activities such as feeding the poor, healing the sick, caring for the old and infirm, loving our neighbor as ourself, all of a sudden, the voices begin to wane.
It is the pop christians whose blind ignorance placed DUBYA back in power (as well as some crooked Diebold machines). It is the pop christians who keep turning blind eyes to the suffering of Americans. It is the pop christians who refuse to acknowledge the truth of Foleygate (child abuse and its subsequent cover-up), and instead blame it on gays.
On the good side, it is those selfsame pop christians who have just all finally heard the news that the Republicans were only using them for their votes. I find this to be so refreshing. I can't help but feel incredibly happy that they have finally been shown as the fools they are. I hope their crow tastes good. Goddess knows, they sure have a heaping helping of it headed their ways.
Blessed be!
Pappy
by
Pappy (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 860 comments)
on Wednesday, October 18, 2006 at 5:00:33 PM
4 comments
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