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I subscribe to blog called "Good," but I didn't find anything good about the following post. It makes me sad to read that not only are people of my generation (I'm a Millennial, barely) less religious than ANY generation in history, but that the author of this post sees religious people in such black and white terms. It seems that she equates religiosity with bigotry -- the more religious you are, then the more bigoted you are. Her logic follows that if you are less religious, then you are less bigoted. But she leaves no room for a third way - the reality that you can be a religious person and not a jerk or a hypocrite or a bigot or any of the unpleasant labels that can be imagined. We must find ways to reveal this third way to a world that only sees in black and white. The practice of our faith results not in closed-mindedness or violence, but in peace and justice and love. What has gone so wrong that this isn't apparent, and what do we do about it?
For all the attention paid to religious zealots from America to the Middle East, there's another religious trend that should perk our ears up: More young people than ever don't identify with religion at all.
A major new Pew Research study, meant to track voting trends among generations, found that 26 percent of people ages 18-30 said they were unaffiliated with a religious tradition. That still leaves a lot of pious Millennials, but the percentage is the biggest number in history—and the biggest of any generation. An increasing number of young people are no longer banking on church to help our country through the recession, either. Forty-six percent of Millennials see religion as the "key to the nation's success," as opposed to 64 percent of Generation X, 69 percent of Boomers, and 78 percent of the Silent generation (ages 66-83).
This is a big deal, one that could fundamentally change who we elect and how we govern. There are periodic news stories about how many Americans think President Obama is a Muslim, and countless surveys about whether Mitt Romney's Mormon faith will get in the way of his chances to become president. But only about 40 percent of Americans can identify Romney's religion. Among the younger generation, the question may be whether we care about a candidate's faith at all.
I'm part of the 26 percent who isn't religious, and for me, how religious candidates are matters more than to what religion they subscribe. Do they use their faith to prop up bigoted views about gay marriage or reproductive rights? Will they use government funds to favor one religion over the other? The less religious they are, the more likely I am to vote for them. When the Christian right was squawking about Obama's less-than-showy commitment to Christianity, I was ticking it off as a plus, and I wasn't alone. As younger generations become progressively less devout, we may tilt back to a timeworn but often-ignored core American value: the separation between church and state.
The original headline was changed from "atheists" to "secularists" to include agnostics and people of faith who reject organized religion.
Photo via (cc) Flickr user Atheist Bus Canada
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One of my friends shared this on Facebook today. It's a video of a flock of starlings in Ireland on the River Shannon. Scientists don't know why the birds fly in this beautiful, complex dance. It looks ordered and spontaneous at the same time. I thought it was just an absolutely beautiful example of how nature can take our breath away!
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This morning I read the following article about what it means to occupy God's kingdom. I thought this was a provocative way to describe our calling as Christians. Here's a quote and an link to the full article:
No political protest or government policy or economic system can do what God’s mercy can do. God’s mercy is the only thing that can change the world because it converts us from self-reliant, self-centered people who clutch tightly to what is mine into brothers and sisters in Christ who share freely what belongs to God. We occupy the kingdom of God when we understand that the denarius coin God holds out for each of us is a gift rather than a reward, when we learn that having a job in God’s vineyard is itself a gift and the discipline and skills that we use in that job are also gifts that God gave us.Nothing that we use to earn anything was not given to us by God. We occupy the kingdom when we stop living in the world of earning rewards and start living in the world of sharing gifts.
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I'm a consumer. I definitely spend too much time buying clothes and shoes and books and fancy food from Central Market. I admit this. But I also see the problem with it, not only because of the fights it causes in my marriage ("But honey, it was on sale!"), but also because I see how being a consumer can consume me. I can get so wrapped up in looking for a bargain, in shopping for something to wear, that I become consumed with the task of consuming.
The preoccupation we have with consumption carries into areas of our life that have little to do with money. Here's an excerpt of a blog post I read about how our consumer mindset is translated into the church. It makes me squirm in my seat, because I find it true, but really uncomfortable and unfortunate. This is out of the book "Renovation of the Church" and I found the quote on the missional church network:
"I don’t know how to say this in a gentle way, but we should not assume that those people who are attracted to our church have been captivated by the message of Christ and his alternative vision of life. In truth, most North American Christians are not riding courageously on warrior steeds with swords waving wildly in the air, crying out, “Let’s change the world for Christ.” Rather, they come in the air-conditioned comfort of their SUV or minivan with their Visa card held high in the air, crying out, “Let’s go to the mall!”
We should be more truthful with each other here. They come because their high-school kid likes the youth program, or because their children don’t get bored, or because they like the music, or because the pastor preaches the Bible the way they believe it should be preached, or because they happened to be greeted by a smiling face one day, or because the worship leaders looks like Brad Pitt.
This is the hard, raw reality of life in the North American church. The people who come to our churches have been formed into spiritual consumers. This is who we are. It is our most instinctive response to life. And you can hardly blame us. Almost everything in our culture shapes us in this direction. But we must become deeply convinced that this is contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ, the one who invited us to deny ourselves and lose our lives in order to find them. If we do nothing to confront this in our churches, we are merely putting a religious veneer over consumerism and nothing is changed. We offer no real, viable, attractive, alternative way of living. And what is worse, our churches become part of the problem. By harnessing the power of consumerism to grow our churches, we are more firmly forming our people into consumers. Pastors end up being as helpful as bartenders at an Alcoholics Anonymous convention. We do not offer what people really need."
The preoccupation we have with consumption carries into areas of our life that have little to do with money. Here's an excerpt of a blog post I read about how our consumer mindset is translated into the church. It makes me squirm in my seat, because I find it true, but really uncomfortable and unfortunate. This is out of the book "Renovation of the Church" and I found the quote on the missional church network:
"I don’t know how to say this in a gentle way, but we should not assume that those people who are attracted to our church have been captivated by the message of Christ and his alternative vision of life. In truth, most North American Christians are not riding courageously on warrior steeds with swords waving wildly in the air, crying out, “Let’s change the world for Christ.” Rather, they come in the air-conditioned comfort of their SUV or minivan with their Visa card held high in the air, crying out, “Let’s go to the mall!”
We should be more truthful with each other here. They come because their high-school kid likes the youth program, or because their children don’t get bored, or because they like the music, or because the pastor preaches the Bible the way they believe it should be preached, or because they happened to be greeted by a smiling face one day, or because the worship leaders looks like Brad Pitt.
This is the hard, raw reality of life in the North American church. The people who come to our churches have been formed into spiritual consumers. This is who we are. It is our most instinctive response to life. And you can hardly blame us. Almost everything in our culture shapes us in this direction. But we must become deeply convinced that this is contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ, the one who invited us to deny ourselves and lose our lives in order to find them. If we do nothing to confront this in our churches, we are merely putting a religious veneer over consumerism and nothing is changed. We offer no real, viable, attractive, alternative way of living. And what is worse, our churches become part of the problem. By harnessing the power of consumerism to grow our churches, we are more firmly forming our people into consumers. Pastors end up being as helpful as bartenders at an Alcoholics Anonymous convention. We do not offer what people really need."
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On Saturday night, my son Jude told me he wanted to "play church." We are pros at playing school, but this was the first time he ever wanted to play church. I was elated - it was totally his idea and it meant that he had been to church enough to know how to play at it! Awesome.
What was not so awesome is what happened next. I intuited that by "playing church" Jude meant that he wanted to pretend to go to worship, so the first thing I asked was which of us was going to be the preacher. He pointed to me. So then I asked him "Jude, what are you going to do?" thinking that he would want to lead a song, or say a prayer or something. Instead, Jude said "I'm going to sit and watch." I was flabbergasted. You're going to just sit and watch? What do you mean? There are lots of things you can do! So I said to him "Jude, don't you want to be a part of it?" to which he innocently responded: "Why?"
This whole encounter made me very sad. My sweet three year old child, who is in worship every Sunday at multiple churches -- mine, Jason's or our parents' -- thinks that church is about sitting and listening. Being passive. Watching while someone else puts on a show. And he's a double preachers' kid! What do other kids think? How could it get any worse?
I decided that in our own family, I'm going to have to make this one right. It's going to be my job to teach Jude that church isn't about sitting and watching, but about participating. It's about us joining our voices with the voices of our brothers and sisters, and with the voice of God, so that together we can speak good news to the world. And a big part of this will happen in the worship that I lead, worship that engages everyone in a transformative experience of God's presence.
The "church play" that resulted on Saturday evening at our house was highly participatory. Together, Jude and I lit imaginary candles as acolytes. Jude led us in singing "Deep and Wide." Jason preached a three word sermon (God loves you). Jude helped me bless a communion meal of chocolate bunny crackers and orange juice. Together we proclaimed "The body of Christ, broken for you" as we snapped a chocolate cracker in half. Hopefully, this will be the start of a new way of understanding church for Jude, and for all of us.
What was not so awesome is what happened next. I intuited that by "playing church" Jude meant that he wanted to pretend to go to worship, so the first thing I asked was which of us was going to be the preacher. He pointed to me. So then I asked him "Jude, what are you going to do?" thinking that he would want to lead a song, or say a prayer or something. Instead, Jude said "I'm going to sit and watch." I was flabbergasted. You're going to just sit and watch? What do you mean? There are lots of things you can do! So I said to him "Jude, don't you want to be a part of it?" to which he innocently responded: "Why?"
This whole encounter made me very sad. My sweet three year old child, who is in worship every Sunday at multiple churches -- mine, Jason's or our parents' -- thinks that church is about sitting and listening. Being passive. Watching while someone else puts on a show. And he's a double preachers' kid! What do other kids think? How could it get any worse?
I decided that in our own family, I'm going to have to make this one right. It's going to be my job to teach Jude that church isn't about sitting and watching, but about participating. It's about us joining our voices with the voices of our brothers and sisters, and with the voice of God, so that together we can speak good news to the world. And a big part of this will happen in the worship that I lead, worship that engages everyone in a transformative experience of God's presence.
The "church play" that resulted on Saturday evening at our house was highly participatory. Together, Jude and I lit imaginary candles as acolytes. Jude led us in singing "Deep and Wide." Jason preached a three word sermon (God loves you). Jude helped me bless a communion meal of chocolate bunny crackers and orange juice. Together we proclaimed "The body of Christ, broken for you" as we snapped a chocolate cracker in half. Hopefully, this will be the start of a new way of understanding church for Jude, and for all of us.
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