Religion Right and Religion Lite
If we are honest, we must admit that the blessed tension is not only counter-cultural to what is promoted, celebrated, and rewarded in 21st century American society, but also to the modus operandi of what frequently goes by the name of church or Christianity. In a time when so many are enamored with and swoon at the sight of a mega-church, I recall the words of German theologian Helmit Thielicke who was part of the Confessing Church opposing Hitler and Nazism. Thielicke warned, “Beware the packed church,” suspecting that the kerygmatic fare offered there was as spongy as a modern day Twinkie and about as substantive and nourishing.
A spirituality that holds the tension and understands it as blessed flies in the face of two religious extremes that mirror what is worst in contemporary culture and has been shamefully and sadly co-opted by the Church. In the culture-at-large we see it, on the one hand, in the cult of celebrity and the chase for the proverbial 15 minutes of fame, and on the other hand, in the rise of religio-political fundamentalism throughout the world. Within the church I call one manifestation of it, Religion-Lite, the other, Religion Right.
The first religious persuasion, embodied in its presiders and purveyors, is concerned about being hip, relevant, fashionable. It tends to be personality driven and faddish. It especially targets the young and unchurched. It’s worship services are geared toward “Seekers.” The preachers wear casual attire, whatever jeans are in style. The gathering spaces and ambience often feel more like high end coffee shops complete with piped in music and a plethora of power outlets for smartphone, tablet, or laptop computer. Consequently, it has less or little substance and appeal for those who are mature and have been tenderized by life, and who are desirous of plumbing the depths of the human journey.
The second religious persuasion, exemplified in its leaders, is concerned with having the right answers, considers itself omniscient, and sets clear boundaries that determine who is in and who is out. Most often the faith communities who represent this perspective hold a literal view of scripture– understanding it as inerrant and infallible. They also tend to be personality driven while being narrow, rigid, fear-based, and condemnatory in their approach. The ministers are almost always male, frequently authoritarian, and present themselves as experts, if not demigods (rather than companions on the sacred journey). This persuasion tends to target and often attracts those who are emotionally wounded, impressionable, intellectually immature, and uncomfortable with uncertainty and paradox. Consequently, it has little to offer those who are more interested in discovering the right questions than the right answers, in being guided and accompanied rather than told, and who clearly see both the messiness and mystery of life.
A theology that allows the proverbial pendulum to swing too far or for too long toward one of the two extremes (whether toward life with no dying or dying with no life) runs the risk of becoming either a hedonistic or a warm-fuzzy caricature of real living or a misguided self-flagellating mockery of real dying. Those who kneel before the crucifix need to be reminded that the corpus-less cross is a sign of resurrection and life. Those who gaze at the shiny gold corpus-less cross need to remember it was first a means of execution not a piece of jewelry to be worn to Friday night’s gala.
╬ Dan