everything must change
for anyone that’s talked to me for, like, five minutes, you probably know i’m slightly obsessed with brian mclaren. his books revolutionized the way i thought about faith and religion back when i was in college, and continue to do so. as one of the “spokespeople” for the emergent church and postmodern christianity, his books and ideas give me a renewed hope for change in our world and, yes, even within something so seemingly fatally flawed as religion. i often say that if my heart could write books, they’d write the books mclaren writes.
i’m currently reading “everything must change,” where he tackles issues of social activism. a big point of the book so far is a call to change what has so long been the focus of modern-day faith - saving people from hell - and put it onto something that’s more practical in the here-and-now - saving people from the heartbreaking circumstances they find themselves in in this world. because for so long so many churches, parishes and denominations have refused to do this in practical ways, people on all sides of this issue have become disillusioned with the ideas of faith, religion and christianity. mclaren writes:
eventually some leaders begin to realize that many young and alienated ex-churched people originally dropped out of their churches after attending college … and learning about the dark side of the christian religion’s track record: the crusades, witch burnings, colonialism, slavery, the holocaust, apartheid, environmental irresponsibility, mistreatment of women.
these young people started caring about these issues, but they didn’t find their fellow adherents to religion very concerned … and even when christians in recent decades concerned themselves with contemporary issues, they focused primarily on personal and sexual matters, simultaneously neglecting larger societal and systemic injustices that caused unimagined suffering.
and even in regard to their narrow range of “moral issues,” they were consistently effective in generating heat and conflict but consistently less effective in making a lasting, constructive difference.
mclaren has been criticized by fundamentalists for being a heretic, and i’ve been cautioned against his “fringe” teachings. but if the above statement isn’t absolutely true, and doesn’t completely hit the nail on the head, i don’t know what does. the book in its entirety deserves to be quoted - and i’m sure i’ll bring up more points i find particularly pertinent as i continue to read it - but this section in particular cuts to the quick of exactly my disillusionment with the church. i continue on as a part of it because i believe change IS possible, and i hope to help facilitate it. i continue on in spite of the fundamentalists and the sensationalists and those touting a “narrow range of moral issues.”
i continue on because i have big questions that require big answers and i believe, in my heart, that i’m a part of something big enough to accommodate these doubts and disillusionments and questions. and if i can come alongside and learn from someone like brian mclaren, so much the better. if i’m wrong, i guess the road to hell will be paved with his books … ;-)
March 17 2009 04:06 pm | catholicism and politics and religion and san francisco