Faith Without A Faith
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 7:59AM | by Otter THINKING ABOUT:
When I was growing up, the congregation we were part of was a member of The Presbyterian Church (USA). I remember that when I was a child two Presbyterian groups, one from the northern United States and one from the South, merged for the first time since The Civil War and formed the PC(USA).
The denomination has been in a struggle ever since, an agony over what "fidelity to scripture" means, which is a debate more intractable than the one over abortion.
You can name your own denominations that tear their own hearts out in order to keep their heads, I'm sure. My diary (if I kept one) would read like a litany of them.
Then too, the Christian denominations least vulnerable to such family quarrels (Catholicism, The Orthodox Church) place such stringent demands on one's individual faith that it's supposed to be against the rules for (for example) a Catholic to take Eucharist while holding reservations on the doctrine of Transubstantiation, or The Immaculate Conception.
REFLECTION:
Organized religion exhausts me. It reminds me of one of those romantic relationships we used to have in high school where you mainly talked about yourselves, laying out all the fears and thrills in terrifying detail, committing all sorts of excesses to keep from breaking up. You set rules. You have meetings. You talk endlessly.
More than that, it's damaging. People are hell, said Sartre in Huis Clos (here's my favorite review: "...opening Friday at First Presbyterian"); and I think more and more that organized religion is for extroverts who can survive that hell.
Religion serves its purposes. As an engine for community, an apparatus for doing good, it's pretty unmatched. When mom was in the hospital the first time, it was her Christian community that tucked up its skirts and brought us food and prayers and love for many weeks.
Then too faiths like Catholicism remember things, which is good sometimes and other times it's like a spouse that never forgets and keeps reminding you of things so you know how bad you are.
As a path to god, religion's got enormous drawbacks: "Here's the deity: prepare to be assimilated."
I've been thinking about this for awhile, but for now that's an opening half-baked but sincere thought.
Reader Comments (6)
Otter,
I found your blog a couple of weeks ago and have been following... I often want to comment but words fail me. I am a SLer, who was/is mostly a lurker. I've lurked a time or two at FCT as well. Anyway, I am getting a new perspective of you here on your blog and I like it. I find that I agree with you much of the time and yet I believe we still have some doctrinal differences - that is ok. I just wanted to say, "hi, I read your blog and you give me things to think about."
Heather
Thank you so much, Heather, for your kind comments: agreement isn't nearly so important as the conversation sometimes, maybe, so I'm honored that you read and even more that you responded.
How in the blazes do you reach inside my head (my heart?) and write what I am feeling but can't put into words?! The last time I was able to put my feelings into words it went something like "I'm currently ok with God, but I can't stand Christians." Other times God is the issue. [roll eyes, end navel-gazing]
Organized religion, the deeper I fell into it, was like porn: a really poor picture of a deeply intimate, personal relationship. Like porn, it's a huge industry, there's something for everybody,and folks get addicted. And like porn, it is really disgusting. There is a level of control over one's life one gives in order to be "pleasing to the Lord" that is often given to men instead of God, and conversely, the heirarchy of organized religion takes very seriously that whole bit about being Messengers from God, saving mere mortals from their sinful wretched selves.
Religion, like porn, does have it's uses. But organized religion as I have experienced it just hurts people who are looking to be loved.
Faith without a faith can be alive; it's faith without works that should really bother us.
Daisy.
This is sad and amazingly poignant.
Thank you.
Daisy, Incredible analogy! SS