One of the main focuses of the conference I went to was this new generation's fascination with social justice, world issues and even Jesus; coupled with their growing un-satisfaction with the church itself. Having grown up in the church myself I completely understand these views and agree with many of their points. There are so few true christians in this world who are following - to the best of their ability - the model Jesus' life and words gave us. Ghandi has been quoted as saying, "If it weren't for Christians, I'd be a Christian." In findings from a new book titled "UnChristian" authors discovered what it is that our generation feels about the Christian church. While I can't summarize them all here, some of the important findings are that they see the church as firstly homophobic and secondly judgmental. As a Christian I am not only ashamed of these perceptions but also very scared of what they mean for the future of the church. I think it is so important that we begin to stop living in the stereotypes our parents set up for us (on both the christian and non-Christian sides) and start really talking openly about faith, doubts and religion. I want to live my life in a place where I don't have to be ashamed and labeled because of my faith. I really feel this whole concept of "They like Jesus, but not the Church" has become a huge role in our society that we need to be talking about and looking into both as believers and non-believers. I know I don't have the answers but I would love to be in a place open to the discussion without judgement from either direction.
Friday, April 11, 2008
UnChristian
I spent the past week at a Church leadership conference in Chicago. I have grown up in the church (sometimes literally - I lived in one) my entire life. And while it haven't been a christian the whole time I have been for a majority of my life. However, I have always been one of the many christians who does not talk about their faith in public - especially academic - settings. It wasn't until this week at this conference that I really began to understand why that is. Part of my inability to talk about my faith comes from my own insecurities. No I have not read every portion of the Bible, much less understand it, but I am a christian. I have a fear that people will (and they have in the past) call me out of issues in my faith that I either don't understand or struggle with myself. I try not to talk about my faith because I don't want to be a christian who turns people away from the faith because of my own insecurities. I think the main reason however that I don't talk about my faith is because of the many stereotypes and boxes it immediately places me into; right-wing, homophobic, hypocritical, conservative, Bible thumping, judgmental etc. While I really truly believe that I am not any of these things I can't help but fear the facts that claiming my faith as a Christian places me in these categories.
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Thanks for sharing such a personal situation. I am always fascinated by people who have been attending church (of whatever sort) as part of their upbringing. I was raised in a home where church was just not part of our routine, and religion was really never discussed. I consider myself a christian though because I do believe in a higher power and think the word "faith" has helped me through some really tough times in my life. I have over the years tried to go to as many different types of churches as I can with my friends. I've been to Catholic, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Baptist, Lutheran, I have even attended a bris and a bar mitvah just to round things out! I really never thought about what you said about stereotyping people based on their stated religion. I think that everyone has a right to be what they want, believe what they want, worship how and where (or not at all). I agree that we need to be careful about living our lives based on our parents setting our biases/stereotypes. I am sorry that you feel it is so difficult to express your beliefs with others, but maybe it has something to do with the "separation of church and state" we grew up with. I always remember people saying "stay away from politics and religion" in regards to having conversations with others you didn't know extremely well. I suppose a lot of times it is hard to bring up religion because maybe people assume that you want to "convert" them to your religion or something. I hope that you don't get too disheartened with all of this - I think that faith and prayer should be thought of as ways to help heal some of the hardships in the world, in other words to bring people together rather than tear them apart.
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