Wednesday Wonder
In last week’s column I shared how I recently attended a conference in which both Phyllis Tickle and Diana Butler Bass were presenters. You may remember Tickle’s words that about every 500 years or so the church has a huge rummage sale and everything is up for grabs. Well, we are in one of those sales right now and the end is not in sight.
Today I want to think about the words of Bass, words that are not that dissimilar to those of Tickle.
The point at which Diana Butler Bass is distinctive is in her use of a broad spectrum of polls that take the pulse of the society, especially in a religious sense. And she does that extensively. What I found telling was the description of the change in importance granted to religion in the United States over the past fifty years or so. This is not something unknown to us, but seeing it quantified in black and white names it.
In almost every category the fifty-year trajectory is downward: Belief in God, worship attendance, or affiliation with a religious body. This is reflected in overall diminishing of church membership, baptisms, attendance and giving. This has affected Roman Catholics and a wide array of Protestants and now is catching the Southern Baptists, Missouri Synod Lutherans and other Evangelicals by surprise. Other research is showing the mega churches are not reaching those who are not Christian as they thought they were; from recent exit polls only 1% or so are new Christians. The rest are minnows who have been dipped out of somebody else’s church pond. So there has not been overall growth so much as a great reshuffling. And those mega churches have revolving back doors where people exit at a dramatic rate, often re-affiliating with neighborhood congregations as they do.
But here is the thing: Just because there is a shift away from formal religious affiliation and practice, it does not mean that people are not spiritually hungry or engaged in spiritual pursuits, they are. Some polls say that even though a diminishing 50% or so say they are religious (a generous statistic for Sunday morning worship attendance in the United States is 18%), a growing 25% say they are “spiritual” without being religious. That is a very telling factor, this distinction between “religious” and “spiritual.”
Though the polls found that one can clearly be both – pursue an inward spiritual connection with God within an organized religious community – there is a rising tide of those who are deciding to pass on the religion side of the aisle. Why?
In this cultural moment we are in a thorough-going process of secularization and there exists a very, very negative view of the church. Some of it is well-earned, of course. But much is lumped in with other similarly negative views of other institutions and social organizations. Mistrust is the order of the day.
This is leading, for many, to an erosion of conventional religious institutions and the simultaneous birthing of something else, new and generative. Though not a new phenomenon in the history of Christianity, this kind of shift always represents a raw new day for those passing through it. A transition like this spells loss and grief for many.
The distinction between “religion” on the one hand and “spiritual” on the other hand seems to boil down to skepticism about traditional forms, authority, social hierarchy, institutions and static belief structures. And people are finding ways to God outside of these conventional pathways. For instance, it is interesting to note that around 70 million Americans have had some experience with spiritual pursuit online, in cyberspace. There they find current spiritual insight, ancient wisdom and even virtual communities. We all might assess the viability of this kind of experience differently, but to deny that it exists is impossible.
Then what of us, the congregation, and the larger church of which we are a part?
One of the obvious conclusions is that the religious expressions that are most tradition-bound, inflexible and institutionalized will be the most vulnerable. Congregations that confuse traditionalism with faithfulness will experience a short shelf life. It is not a good time to be a rigid, tradition-bound church and the ones that are will lose vast energy that is misdirected toward the wrong preoccupations. In the main, people have neither the inclination nor patience to invest themselves in these institutionally bound communities. They will survive a while, these churches will, but not too long a while, and unless they reinvent themselves with a different spirit-laden, generously open, mission-driven ethos the exodus will continue unabated.
People are still seeking spiritual communities, nevertheless. And it’s not the case that tradition has no place. In fact, the communities that paradoxically combine ancient wisdom with an engaged relevancy are becoming very attractive. This does not mean, however, that they retrieve these traditions uncritically, without serious critique. Rather, they strive to capture the essence of the tradition or practice and then translate it for a 21st century individual and community. Some call this project “re-traditioning.”
I think we should expect more and expanding diversity in religious thought and practice, often mixed together in one community. People will bring a multiplicity of mystical, spiritual experiences to the table. We will continue to redefine what we believe and how, the nature of the human being, the practices that lead to a full spiritual life, what constitutes a dynamic mission, and what makes our particular religious village relevant to the people of our time.
People are still longing for spiritual truth, foundations, guidance and purpose, but what form will all this take? Even though the story is incomplete I do think we can anticipate a few things: As in times past, important continuities will come forward even as new transformations take place. In the same way that we’re not driving Model Ts anymore so the church will assume different forms. But there is a base line of which I am an absolutely convinced and that is that the kingdom and realm of God Jesus proclaimed, of which he was a sign in the flesh, is here among us, coming and transforming the whole world every day. Let us watch and wait to see how we shall faithfully be a part of this new creation. And the next time someone says to you that they are “spiritual” and not “religious” ask them what they mean. They might hold a clue to the next great spiritual awakening of our times.
