Post-Christian?
If you subscribe to Newsweek, you’ll be greeted this holy week with a cover article entitled The End of Christian American.
As I am at present undergoing my own crisis of faith, it’s of some comfort to know that indeed, I am not alone. The percentage of self-identified Christians has fallen 10 points in the last two decades. 15% of Americans claim no religions affiliation at all. 76% of Americans identify themselves as Christian with the fastest growing group nestled in Hispanic Roman Catholics. Jewish people make up about 1.2% of the population. There are .06% worshiping Muslims in this country.
The number that resonated with me most perhaps is that 30% of Americans when polled suggest that they are “spiritual” and not “religious”. A quote from the article, “The post-Christian narrative is radically different; it offers spirituality, however defined, without binding authority, It is based on an understanding of history that presumes a less tolerant past and a more tolerant future, with the present as an important transitional step.”
“The present, in this sense, is less about the death of God and more about the birth of many gods. The rising numbers of religiously unaffiliated Americans are people more apt to call themselves “spiritual” rather than “religious.” (In the new NEWSWEEK Poll, 30 percent describe themselves this way, up from 24 percent in 2005.)”
Christianity demands faithfullness to the exclustion of logic. When we are expected to believe that bread and grape juice are the actual body and blood of Christ, my earthly brain can’t go there because I lack faith and as I might smugly say, I’m too smart for that.
The issue that this article seems to avoid is that most of us have a foot in both worlds, our self proclaimed “spirituality” a giant loop-hole for the hardships and sacrifice that Christianity demands, we nonetheless clamor for Cadbury eggs and exchange gifts at Christmas. We acknowledge God, “just in case” but don’t life a life outward that honors the sacrifice on the cross. Our sense of spirituality seems to come from serendiptous moments that we attribute to something otherworldly. A parking spot close to the building on a rainy day, that everything “happens for a reason” these are the earthly things to which we tether our faith.
Yet, in times where we are the most vulnerable who among us doesn’t reach for prayer? I prayed this week for the earthquake victims and survitors. To whom am I praying if not to God?
Many of us have taken an a-la carte view of religion, taking the pieces that we can stomach and discarding those that are for whatever reason unpalatable. My God isn’t the same God as your God. Because my God drinks coffee, doesn’t care that TS is moving in with me or that we’ve had unmarried sex somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 times in the last 30 days. In other words, my God doesn’t require as much from me.
I’m being facetious; pointing out that I’m not living a Christ-centered life. Yet, I gave up coffee for Lent- not even drinking it on Sundays… so what’s that about? Another example of picking and choosing from the Christian buffet.
Fundamentalist Churches like the one my Denver friend has been attending require enormous sacrifice of their members and offer seductive amenities to mask the sacrifice. I wonder if that is any more or less honest than my own faith crisis.
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