For readers of this blog who thought perhaps with my last post, I had truly gone off the deep end into yet another tangent, tonight I will connect the dots…eventually. My writings of the past year have gone in many directions, but they are all an effort to follow the thread of inquiry begun with the idea of how people like me-who identify with the “creative class” described by Richard Florida in his books–find empowerment in our communities.
Part of the thread, offline, is my interest in finding a church that I can join in my community. I want to find a church I can be comfortable in both for myself, and for my young children because I feel that while I grew up Methodist and then stopped going to church, my children will not have the benefit of any religious foundation unless we make it a practice in our lives.
Since I’m not a member of any organized religion, I don’t have a default…and neither does my wife. One church we visited mentioned a book club on their website to discuss the book, The Heart of Christianity: Rediscovering a Life of Faith by Marcus Borg.
I picked up a copy of the book and found it to be something that almost immediately helped me to see religion in a different light. I can’t do justice to the book here, but basically Borg describes how a “new paradigm” is emerging within some Christian churches that helps provide a path back to faith and practice for many of us who have become “hung up” on the “belief” requirements of organized religion.
The “old paradigm”–which still works well for many people–emphasized religion based on beliefs, with a focus on the afterlife as the objective. If you believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God and died for our sins on the Cross, you will go to heaven. Now that is a simplistic formulation, but I don’t think many would argue that it’s the basic starting point in most Christian denominations.
For many people today, it doesn’t really work for them. First of all, I’m not worried about the afterlife. It’s not that I don’t care or that I reject the idea of heaven and hell and believe there is nothing but death for us, but I feel certain that whatever force brought us into this world with a capacity for self-awareness will take us on to something equal or better when our bodies expire. Secondly, I cannot accept any religion that imposes strict belief requirements. So what happens to all the Jews? What about all the peoples of the world who are not Christian or who came before Christ? Are they all just, pardon my French, F—ed?
Borg lays out a number of key themes, but perhaps the most enlightening is his dissection of the meanings of faith:
- Assensus – faith by belief. I am asked to believe as factually true, things I cannot prove.
- Fiducia – faith as trust. In order to swim, you must have faith you will float.
- Fidelitas – faith as loyalty and a commitment of the heart. The opposite of this faith is idolotry; represented today when we feel our priorities are wrong. We are happiest when we live in a manner that is true to not only ourselves but honors and respects all around us. It is easy to find examples of how lacking our society is in this faith today, but also to see a growing consciousness about issues like the environment that demonstrate many are looking for ways to act more faithfully.
- Visio – faith as a way of seeing the whole, of seeing “what is.” This kind of faith sees the world through a perspective of optimism and growth. It does not require us to be naive or ignore tragedy, but urges us to stop internalizing negativity and accept the possibility that just as “more” is, more is possible.
As an analytical person, I found I had the most problem with Assensus, but the other forms of faith are core to my existence. Borg’s book describes how these other meanings of faith–that are more matters of the heart, than the mind, are the true essence of Christianity.
Belief is still necessary, but actually, in many ways, it is not enough. The other meanings of faith point towards a way of living this life, not just making sure you get into heaven when you die. By the time I had finished the book, I could understand the truth of much of the religious language that previously “bothered me” due to my over-analysis and literalism. After all of that, you are back to a place where you realize that instead of writing lots of cumbersome language about collective consciousness and whatever, it is a lot simpler to simply acknowledge that people figured out a way to talk about this stuff thousands of years ago…so just do it and recognize the existence of God.
As to “Why be Christian?,” he has a chapter on that, and I don’t want to re-write the whole book here, so I’ll just say it’s not enough to rationalize and metaphorize everything…there is a necessary commitment that is more than just an intellectual argument.
Before I started writing this, I found a discussion on Richard Florida’s Creative Class blog about religion. Florida initiates the discussion, back in April 2007 with this observation:
It’s clear that creative types are moving away from organized religion to less hierarchical and more organic forms of spirituality and spiritual expression. And for reasons similar to other large-scale organizations, organized religions are having great trouble responding in a forward looking way.
A number of “Creative Christians” responded, illustrating how their faith fits with their creativity and in some cases echoing the kind of “belief issues” I had.
I suspect there are MANY people stuck in the same ideological trap. We are rich in faith, we just don’t know it. In a work context, we contribute to things like open source initiatives and create helpful resources for others because of our faith in the principal that if everyone did these kinds of things, we’d all be better off. We strive to be true to ourselves in everything we do, but, perhaps without a bit of Christian perspective neglect the idea that we need to be true to broader, collaborative principles as well. And to be motivated at all, we must have faith in a vision of how our living the whole of our lives contributes to a positive future of growth and fulfillment.
I think many us have no interest in “organized religion” because it seems like the antithesis to creativity and individuality, and we perceive the belief requirements and political positions of most churches to be irrational and offensive. I have to admit, when I see people writing in religious terms like the “Good News of God’s Kingdom” I’ve come to expect a bunch of stereotypical, fanatical rhetoric. But Borg’s book helped me realize:
- Personally, I am a Christian, not an atheist, not an agnostic, not a deist, pagan, naturist–whatever. Returning to a modernized Christian faith based on heartfelt faith rather than rational quibbling means I don’t have to just spin my own spiritual philosophy out of random thoughts.
- Religion has to be organized to be meaningful in a community. The point is not just to line up your own belief system so you can sleep at night, but to interact with others to reinforce their faith. When you understand faith as being not just believing a bunch of rules, but living and acting in accordance with principles of trust, fidelity, and an optimistic vision of the future, I think we can see a significant role for religion in creative, diverse communities.
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