On Liberalism and Heartbreak
Fundamentalist Christian denominations (those that usually see the Bible as the literal word of God, support creationism, see gay rights as an assault on a God given family structure) are on the rise, liberal Christian denominations (those that see the Bible as a human text, believe in modern science, and see social structures as historical and contingent creations) are losing members in droves. Want to know why? Click here to read Charlotte Allen's, Beliefnet's Catholicism editor, take on the sins of liberal Christianity.
Meanwhile, let me tell you true story. A long time ago in a frozen land known by the name Cambridge, Massachussetts, a young grad student tired of gazing at a cute girl from afar decided to throw caution to the wind and make a move. To his shock and surprise, the girl seemed pleased that he had struck up a conversation; that is, she actually talked back. Two weeks later, they were kind of dating.
Then one tragic Saturday the girl asked whether the boy would go to mass with her. Now the boy was no mass goer, and going to mass would also involve missing his weekly soccer game, so the boy was torn. Everything he held sacred told him that picking mass over soccer was wrong. "It would mean a lot to me," she said. So he chose mass.
Mass was, well, it was mass. Until at one point, she reached for his hand and he saw the congregation as a whole hold hands. In one voice, they sang:
Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
On leaving ceremony, boy commented that John Lennon's "Imagine" struck him as more of a campfire than mass song. Soon afterwards, he was cast alone into the Cambridge snow.
posted by elivo at 3:34 PM
3 Comments:
Ms. Allen's editorial is interesting, but it left a lot of things implied and few questions answered, at least for me. One question I asked after reading her rather gloating recitation of the dropping numbers in "liberal" churches was, isn't there something that should determine the direction of a church's interpretation of its doctrines BESIDES that direction's popularity among churchgoers? Obviously, relevance to a congregation has not always (perhaps rarely) been particularly important to the adminstrators of religious institutions, liberation theology being a prominent example of reaction to a faith unresponsive to the needs of its faithful. In a certain kind of populist way, then, her assertion that smaller congregations indicate the basic failure of progressive churches is appealing. However, I also wonder if that isn't a rather shallow way of looking at things, particularly when the order being challenged is one that promotes bigotry and narrow-mindedness. Maybe the popularity of churches that promote a status quo, marginalizing approach to women and a dehumanizing approach to gay people indicates not necessarily that those are the correct approaches for Christians, but that the majority of American Christians are in the mood to renew their self-righteousness and decline to make the challenges of themselves that progressiveness and openmindedness demand. At any rate, I thought her mood was self-indulgent, which really makes sense given the attitudes she endorsed. I would be interested to know your thoughts about whether the popularity of an interpretation is sufficient grounds for a church to subscribe to it even if there are foundational elements of Christian morality (e.g. love, I thought) that seem to contradict it.
On a side note, I surely hope you are familiar with thebricktestament.com.
I agree with loverboy, its weird to go to mass and listen to john lennon. maybe peace is a sort of religion, and we all know that at one point all religions meet. May be in ten years we would listen to Rodrigo`s Mano de Dios after communion.
Hi, Im from Melbourne Australia.
Allen sucks!
Please check out these references on Real God.
1. www.dabase.net/dht7.htm
2. www.dabase.net/divhscrt.htm
3. www.dabase.net/realgod.htm
4. www.dabase.net/dualsens.htm
5. www.realgod.org
6. www.dabase.net/christian.htm
7. www.dabase.net/rgcbpobk.htm
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