One Nation, Under Any God?
Posted on | January 13, 2010 | No Comments
(I wrote this post a few months ago, promptly forgot about it and never published it. As I struggled to figure out what to write this week, I decided to finally post it. I’m not sure it’s the best thing I’ve ever written, but I hope you’ll find it interesting nonetheless.)
A recent article in Newsweek magazine proposes that Americans are becoming more and more like Hindus. The article quotes the 2008 Pew Forum Survey which found that 65% of Americans believe that “many religions can lead to eternal life,” a belief that reflects the Hindu idea of there being many paths to God.
Furthermore, many more Americans have a sort of “pick and choose” attitude about religious and spiritual beliefs. Stephen Prothero (religion professor at BU and author of Religious Literacy) thinks this approach is
“very much in the spirit of Hinduism. You’re not picking and choosing from different religions, because they’re all the same. It isn’t about orthodoxy. It’s about whatever works. If going to yoga works, great—and if going to Catholic mass works, great. And if going to Catholic mass plus the yoga plus the Buddhist retreat works, that’s great, too.”
While my own beliefs mirror the “choose your own adventure” model of religion, I’m not comfortable with it. It seems to me to be a wayward way to approach religion and theology. If we’re picking and choosing what we like – and, just as importantly, discarding what we don’t like – aren’t we essentially hand-selecting a religion that indulges us and gives us what we want, instead of having a religion that challenges us?
I was raised, for the most part, Catholic, but I don’t consider myself Catholic any longer. Despite all the Sundays at mass, the First Communion, the Confirmation, the Catholic high school and college, I just couldn’t honestly stay with the faith of my childhood. I didn’t agree with basic Catholic tenets (like transubstantiation and Vatican teachings about birth control) and so, in my mind, I couldn’t stay Catholic.
Meanwhile, I have friends who still consider themselves Catholic even when they don’t recognize or follow certain church rules. They’re okay with accepting some but not all. As a person who never really liked absolutes, I guess it turns out I am an absolutist when it comes to religion. And I’m not sure I like that.
When we think in terms of absolutes, it’s hard to see the shades of gray in the world. While picking and choosing religious beliefs and practices does get away from the idea of religion itself, believing all or nothing leaves no room to explore the subtle nuances, the little things that can end up making a big difference.
I was bothered that the Newsweek article framed the survey statistics along the rigid lines of already established religions: Christians were becoming more Hindu-like. Instead of Christians embracing a Hindu idea, why not simply say Christians were becoming more open-minded and tolerant of other beliefs? And who’s to say that Hindus have the corner on the “multiple paths” belief?
If we really are evolving into a “pick and choose” kind of nation, then why bother with labels at all? If we’re gravitating away from religious absolutes and towards the “multiple paths” idea, then why do we frame the religion discussion around the boxes we check off on census forms instead of focusing on what really matters?
I don’t know who God is or what God wants. But I have this suspicion that s/he doesn’t care what box you check. And if God doesn’t care about labels, why should we?
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