The Practicing Progressive

Issue 22
May 15, 2007

As you are no doubt aware, there have been several books recently published that have set as their foil no less an opponent than the Almighty. The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins and Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris both have hit the bestseller lists. The latest tome to generate considerable interest is Christopher Hitchens’ God Is Not Great. Those familiar with Mr. Hitchens, know that he is a gifted writer, a seasoned journalist, a diligent researcher and, curiously to some of us, an adamant support of President Bush’s war on Iraq. Although I haven’t read all of the preceding works, I am bold to suggest that these books, and several others recently released, tend to aim their arguments less at God and more at her representatives. Often these designated representatives are hardly indicative of religion as many of us understand it. Quoting Jerry Falwell (who died today) or Pat Robertson as spokespersons for Christianity is tantamount to employing Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as your average Muslim. And yet, these authors turn to those folk who represent the very fringes of religious movements, rehash their outlandish pronouncements and policies, then proceed to dismiss the 90+% of us who, unfortunately, share the same religious affiliation.

The failure of these books is not in their argumentation which is quite logical and reasoned…as far as it goes. What the authors fail to understand is the vast array of emotional, cultural, communal and psychological subtleties that shape our spirituality. It is terribly easy to build a ludicrous image of an anthropomorphic deity in order to successfully chop the straw-god down. It is far more difficult to dismiss those finely formed aspects of religious experience that guide the lives of millions.

In my own spiritual journey, I’ve found myself drawn closer and closer to religious community even as I move further and further away from believing in God. Such a paradox can really only be understood, I believe, by those involved in the life of the church. Witnessing the power of community to heal, comfort, inspire, forgive, work for peace and passionately advocate for justice is to realize that the sacred might be more readily found in the dynamics of human relationships than in belief in a superhuman being.

Certainly religions have been the cause of incalculable calamities…anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of history will acknowledge that sad fact. But it is also true that religions have been the source of untold blessings to the human community. Millions upon millions of our planet’s residents, past and present, have been fed, housed and helped in a myriad of ways that have enriched their lives and served as a foundation for developing peace and justice in the world. I suppose it makes it easy for the current crop of successful authors to write off these infinite acts of charity in light of the enormously dark acts religions have foisted upon us but such cavalier belittlement is intellectually dishonest and certainly shoddy scholarship.

The biggest challenge in my own ministry was countering a similar, if more personal, argument. Many, many times I would be confronted by folk who had experiences with religion that were anything but healthy…a bigoted Sunday School teacher, a hellfire and damnation preacher or an abusive “Christian” parent, to name but a few. Their view of religion was profoundly affected by such experience and understandably so. But it also offered an opportunity for a dialogue that might include the potential benefits of a healthy religious life. Taking my cue from some of my mentors, I would often say, “Tell me more about this God you don’t believe in because I probably don’t believe in him either.” The Progressive Christian movement is surely an outgrowth of pastoral conversations like these.