(Guest blogger: Paul Vander Klay. Paul is currently a pastor in Sacramento, California. Before that, he was a missionary in the Dominican Republic with Christian Reformed World Missions. He has his own blog LeadingChurch.com)
The Vancouver Sun recently published a piece lauding the therapeutic effects of religion in general. Studies that support this and media reports on this subject are regular and frequent.
In communities where a sort of Christian civil religion dominates and sees its main competition as secularism I suspect these pieces are generally well received. I think though that increasing religious pluralism might be changing this response. There are many who attach "coexist" bumper stickers to their cars and assert that religions are "all the same" and the world would be better if the major world religious could be stripped of their contradictory material in order to achieve a universal religious harmony. In such a context Christians may view reports such as these as threats, validation not of their own beliefs but instead of the position that generic religion is preferable to exclusive religion because it is both beneficial and less prone to religious conflict.
I think a Christian doesn't have to evacuate exclusive claims in order to affirm the benefits of more generic religion. If Christianity is the most true religion it doesn't mean that other religions don't also get some things right. It also stands to reason that if the creator God according to Christianity made us for himself, that the psychological, emotional and metaphysical wiring necessary for that relationship to take place would be beneficial generally for all, not just specifically for Christianity.
I was reflecting on the issue of control a couple of days ago in this light. We all know two contradictory things about people and control. On one hand we are fragile, temporary, vulnerable, dependent creatures circling a small planet in a very immense and dangerous universe so that we have very little control over not only our own self-preservation but also our wants and desires. We also know that a feeling of control both gives us a sense of safety and pleasure, and also a desire and grasping for control leads to much human suffering. We need to feel safe but the truth is that we are not and safety is ultimately not something within our capacity to perfectly secure. Even the relationship between safety and control is fraught with hazard.
Most religions seek to balance this equation. Religions, by connecting us to a being outside of our system seek to balance the equation. In simple terms: "we are weak, but he is strong". The therapeutic benefits of this are obvious. If we had to fully face our incredible vulnerability we may well be completely paralyzed from any productive activity OR prone to the kind of control seeking behaviors that ruin relationships and create conflicts human community. Religions help us live with definite uncertainty AND feel OK about it enough to live productively.
Here, however, we do see the value of religion in general, but we also might begin to understand the value of religious contradictory details that resist the "lowest common denominator" approach to religion. Religion achieves this therapeutic value with story. Just as we have mentally grown into our awareness of both vulnerability and security through our personal stories, so also meta-stories that religions tell offers this value for communities. Even though stories can have common themes, good stories are never generic. Stories have power in their specificity.
The reason "generic" religion has never simply conquered the religious marketplace (the idea has been around long enough to do so) is because generic religion is always too weak. It's story can grip tightly enough to actually accomplish what we see religions do in fact accomplish in general. Religion in general may be therapeutic, but generic religion will likely continue to under-perform.
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Comments (11)
i've realized that this sort generic religion has invaded christianity. we have the tendency to use the Bible, particularly the narratives as some sort of self-help manual to get us through the stress of daily living and thus enable us to live productively. but the essence of Jesus' message is that we need to be transformed through Him, so that the issue of control and safety is fully realized in Him alone. because He became frail like us, our frailty can be powerful in His glory. and this security can only be acquired by surrendering to Him and not striving to be productive on our own. i think we need to meditate and believe in the Gospel of Jesus more deeply so that christianity does not get lost in generic co-existence.
thanks for a great post.
However, something in what you say reminds me of C.S. Lewis's The Last Battle, which I suspect Hollywood will never have the stomach to make a movie out of. (It concludes the Narnia series). A prince of Calormene realizes at the end of time that Aslan was all he had thought to worship in his sincere devotion to the idol, Tash. Aslan replied, Tash is so evil, that anything good offered to Tash is really offered to me, and anything evil done in my name is really done for Tash.
i think you are right. it is a bit too much to expect hollywood to make the Last Battle. wonder though how the Voyage of the Dawn Treader will turn out.
have a blessed day!
We are called to be ambassadors from another kingdom, urging people to be reconciled to God. Generic religion, or treating all religions as equal, is more than deadly, it breeds eternal death. I can respect the Muslim, the Hindu. I can love that person, I can help them financially or materially but I will not pretend that their religion is valid–they need the savior. Imams and Hindu priests are purveyors of death. Elijah did not join in prayer or fellowship with the priests of Baal. In these new covenant times, we are not called to take direct action against false religions as Elijah or Moses did. The religion of Baal is just as false, just as harmful, just as deceptive as always it was, it’s just that we are not called to take action against it, but to save, if possible, the victims of its delusions and leave the judgement to God.
This in my experience is a fundamental distinction between Christianity and what I see in most other religions or might I even say paganism. My new age friends are always seeking for remedies, answers, solutions to what is plaguing them or their friends. They are kind, helpful, wonderful people but they imagine themselves to be masters of the universe in training with God as their assistant.
Christianity turns this whole thing on its head. God doesn't give us what we need to save ourselves, he saves us. That is why the gospel is good news not good advice.
We woo them to the clinic (compel them to come in as Jesus says), we explain the answer (Always be prepared to GIVE AN ANSWER to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.), we offer them the remedy (preach the gospel of salvation inviting men everywhere to repent and be baptized).
Of course we don't save ourselves and we don't save anyone else. All we can do is offer the cure. We don't effect the cure, Jesus does, but we are ambassadors reconciling people to God. We are sowers. We scatter seed.
"Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting. He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him."
“The Kingdom of God is like a farmer who scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, while he’s asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens."