TruthBook Religious News Blog

Kurt Soller

...Newsweek proclaimed "The Decline and Fall of Christian America" on its cover. The Washington Post/Newsweek "On Faith" blog featured a post that belittled the significance of Jesus' death and resurrection. The Discovery Channel aired a documentary that painted Jesus as little more than an opportunistic politician who caught a bad break in a trial."

Whether valid or not, it's portrayals like these that have you readers -- especially Christians -- up in arms. The majority were using our forum to share their beliefs on where Christianity is headed. And as Christians, there were some great first-hand accounts of life in an increasingly "post-Christian" society. "As an Evangelical Christian from Africa, I should say this article was long overdue... I have always been bothered by Political Evangelical Christianity in America and the spreading of the same Political Christian dose in Sub Saharan Africa," wrote commenter Katm. "Any thinking and discerning evangelical Christian should take the critique in this article as a positive." Many agreed, echoing an overarching idea that Christianity in America has long been too political, and that this post-Christian America may be well-warranted. "Raised as I was, I am very familiar with the teaching of Christianity, and I am painfully aware of the holes my parents conservatism left in my education," echoed one reader."But, my favorite bible verse is the one about man being created in the image of God. Isn't that another way of saying that God and man are the same? To me it's just that simple."

With the numbers of believers down in this year's American Religious Identification Survey -- the inspiration for our cover -- I was surprised by the commenting Christians who were open about why the left organized religion. "People are not abandoning Christianity so much as abandoning organized religion," offered commenter xargaw. "Many of us have found a deeper faith in our own searching and in our communities outside of the church where irrelevant doctrine and hypocrisy are hard to ignore. There is often more of God at work in volunteerism in your town and being a true friend to someone in need than in the church building. Many are striving to live as Jesus directed rather than simply warming a pew once a week." But why forget organized Christianity? Others were quick to explain: "Most Americans still believe in God. But the last several decades the most visible voices of Christianity have been those who preach judgment, hatred, anger and violence."

Getting even more specific, there seemed to be an overwhelming amount of blame placed on the previous administration and the effect it had on politicizing religion. "I watched with dismay as the religious right hijacked the political process and decisions that were previously individual became part of a movement to impose a group's religious views on all of us," wrote Bookfan. "Abortion, intelligent design, stem cell research, and gay marriage became the property of voters' sectors--rather than a personal moral decision." Even Christians agreed, many of whom were unwilling to refute Meacham's assertion that we've entered a new era when discussing how the church interacts with the state: "Although I was raised in the US and in the Christian faith, I have come to see it primarily as something very ugly and divisive," wrote the reader 'Meditating.' "Instead of concentrating on loving one another, the Old Testament Christians (yes, it's an oxymoron) seem to have taken over the religious dialogue of my faith and turned it into a weapon intended to wound anyone who disagrees with them. What moral person would want to identify themselves with a faith like that? I don't and I am now one of those people who would not want to be identified as a Christian. It seems no one injures the name of Christ like the Christian have done."

That's certainly a harsh response, and it's worth pointing out that many Christians who read the piece were justifiably worried that Meacham and the magazine were dismissing Christianity. That's not the case; since the cover's publication, Meacham has published a follow-up -- asserting that faith, regardless of how it interacts with politics and American society, will never disappear. "The Newsweek of my childhood would have included historical data on church affiliation/attendance in America over the last two centuries," wrote Bobsf_94117. And others agreed that they wish our article had provided more context into how we've been approaching this post-Christian status." With that, came myriad arguments explaining what the Founding Fathers intended, as Christians or non-Christians, when they wrote The Constitution. But obviously, constitutional interpretation -- even as it interacts with religion -- is a different, and very huge, topic. Another time? On that note, I won't address the hundreds of comments that went back and forth arguing whether Hitler was a Christian. Not relevant...

Of all the thousands of comments though, the story about declining Christian identification focused squarely -- and nicely -- on one topic: the purpose of Christianity in society. I'm obviously not the right person to answer that, but I was intrigued by the hundreds of readers who wished religion away in sum, despite it's long history in American society. "This can only be good for the United States," argued one commenter. "We have lost our competitiveness in Science and the quality of our Education has been declining thanks in part to religious minded people who have been corrupting both Science and Education with nonsensical concepts such as Intelligent Design." In a less-specific away, hundreds agreed: "I am pleased!," wrote commenter Thevail. "How wonderful that humans have chosen once again to think for themselves, rather than depending on "the big book of answers." Religion is supposed to inspire us to be better people, make us aspire to higher goals, make us think before we act. But the truth is that if Christianity is wounded..it's a self-inflicted wound." Immediately, a committed Christian took it a step futher: "Another sensational title by Newsweek; however, as Christianity goes, so does America....maybe, that's why this country is going into the toilet."

As I'm sure you realize, it's impossible to cull more than 4,000 thoughts on Christianity into a few concise paragraphs. But from all these viewpoints, we can glean a few things: Faith isn't headed away, but our country an impasse between what Christians want from their government, and how the rest of non-Christian America views Christianity. Whether you believe Christianity is impure, or that our Democracy itself is faulted, it's clear that both politics and religion are in a time of flux. When do you think it will settle? And how will both religion and democracy -- even in a post-Christian society -- intersect? Your comments below.

Please click on "external source" for a look at a collection of reader comments...

Labels: 2001 American Religious Identification Survey, believers, Christianity, faith, God, Kurt Soller, Newsweek magazine, organized religion, politics

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Monday, February 25, 2008

More folks eschew organized religion but not spirituality

Updated February 25. 2008
By Molly Rossiter

As chaplain at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, the Rev. Catherine Quehl-Engel lives in a veritable potpourri of faith.

She may find herself offering guidance to the college's Jewish student group one day, leading a Catholic discussion group the next and guiding Hindu students through their spiritual journeys the day after that.

Quehl-Engel, 40, an ordained Episcopal priest, also finds herself talking with students and community members about a self-proclaimed "spiritual but not religious" identity, a spirituality that does not include organized religion.

"For some people, organized religion just doesn't speak to them or work for them. They'd rather create their own thing," she said.

According to the 2001 American Religious Identification Survey, 14 percent of Americans say they don't follow organized religion, and a 2002 Gallup Poll showed that 33 percent of American adults claimed to be "spiritual but not religious." As affiliation with organized religion drops — the ARIS study found only 8 percent of Americans reported no religious affiliation in 1990 — the number of those who claim a spirituality without ties to church doctrine and politics seems to be increasing.

"Part of me thinks that this has been around a lot longer than we think," Quehl-Engel said. "There are people in all traditions who value critical thinking, or they want to ask the big questions, but they don't know if they're allowed to."

Michelle Stafford grew up in a house where her father's family instructed her on the doctrines of Catholicism and her mother's family followed an American Indian spiritual path. Having experienced both sides of the spiritual spectrum, she said she felt free to follow her spiritual needs without an organized group.

"It was easy for me to live that spiritual life; it's much freer, much more loving," said Stafford, 34, of Hiawatha, who works as a spiritual director at Serenity, 5250 Park Pl. NE in Cedar Rapids. "I feel better going to a park and meditating and listening to God that way than sitting in a church, hearing that I'm a sinner and I have to confess my sins in order to go to heaven." Spirituality, she said, does not mean that a person does not believe in God. It's likely the opposite, she said.

"Someone who is spiritual probably does believe in God very much," Stafford said. "They don't need to feel confined by a building to worship God. Spirituality is all-encompassing because it can involve religion but is much broader and open." For some, the words "religion" and "spirituality" are interchangeable. For others, however, they are two different ideas.

For many people, the decision to follow a spiritual path rather than one entrenched in organized religion comes after years of belonging to a variety of religious groups or organizations. Sam Angell, 20, remembers being afraid to tell his mother, an Episcopal priest, that he no longer wanted to attend church youth group. The family had transferred to several churches for his mother's career, "and after three churches, I just didn't want to go to youth group anymore." "I was getting sick of having to re-meet a whole new group of people, find a community at a new church," said Angell, a sophomore religion and history student at Cornell College.

Angell describes himself as spiritual but not religious. He believes in "something greater than myself, something greater than mankind," and uses his studies and readings to get a better grasp on what that might be.

"I look around and I don't believe there's just a random chance of everything being there," he said. "I definitely believe there's something out there, even if I can't define it right now." He grew up in the Episcopalian church, attended Sunday school weekly and went to church camp in high school, but as he got older, his questions became bigger, he said. He was no longer sure he subscribed to everything the church was teaching.

As a college student studying various religions, he said he's had an opportunity to learn more about different faiths and what they believe.

Quehl-Engel said "spiritual but not religious" people prefer to examine faith and theology as a whole, looking at all the various components.

"The religions provide road maps and a language and a story. ... There's so many of them, a lot of us don't want to limit ourselves to just one story line," she said.

Labels: 2001 American Religious Identification Survey, 2002 Gallup Poll, Catherine Quehl-Engel, Molly Rossiter, organized religion, religiosity, spirituality