Established versus Servant

 

The young United States struggled with an experiment. The first change (amendment) to the new Constitution forbade Congress to make laws “respecting an establishment of religion.” Some feared the nation would become godless. Almost every European nation (from which the country had its beginnings)  recognized one religion as the only valid one, some branch of the Christian faith. Other parts of the world also tended to respect one religious tradition above others, Hinduism or Islam or Confucianism or Shintoism.

To the surprise of many, Christians grew in number in the new nation and influenced its culture. Many thought of the country as”Christian,” almost as though the nation had produced an established religion, as in Europe. The Christian way became blurred, civil religion often equated with God’s spiritual kingdom.

Christians are called to be a prophetic voice. Sometimes people will listen, as in the early years in this country, and sometimes not. The Old Testament prophet Jonah fought God’s call to preach to Ninevah, his enemy. Amazingly, when Jonah finally carried out his calling and preached, the enemy listened and repented.

James, an early disciple of Jesus, also was called. Many listened to him, but he made enemies, too, and became the first Christian martyr. Interesting that James should be the first martyr. His mother had wanted her son to have a special place in Jesus’ kingdom, probably expecting it to be a political kingdom. Jesus pointed out to James and the other disciples how the Gentiles lord it over their subjects. His disciples, however, were to be different. They were to be servants.

Always, we are called to be a remnant voice, to value servanthood, not become entangled and ensnared by a quest after power “as the Gentiles do.”

Religion: As American as Apple Pie

 

The first religious controversies in the new United States erupted between the “established” churches and the more spontaneous religious persuasions: Methodists, Baptists, and others. If the colony or the state didn’t have an established church, many religious citizens supposed, a godless society would result.

Out of the controversy came the First Amendment to the Constitution which forbade Congress to  set up an established religion. Americans were free to choose, without coercion. No persuasion was to be favored by the government.

Amazingly, the citizens of this country with no government-sponsored church, knowing a hodgepodge of differing persuasions, became more religious than Europe with its established churches.

A few Jews were present in America from early days. The first synagogue was established in Rhode Island in 1763.  Discrimination existed against Jewish groups in certain times and places, but the country never suffered the pogroms and organized persecution of the Old World. More Jews fled to North America for freedom and safety and founded thriving communities.

Catholics began coming in large numbers in the nineteenth century, eventually becoming the largest individual religious denomination in the U.S. Irish Catholics, particularly, were discriminated against at first but soon became part of the mainstream, as evidenced by the election of John Kennedy as the first Catholic president in 1960.

Now Muslims and Buddhists and Hindus have come. Atheists, agnostics, and those with no religious persuasion grow in numbers also. (See previous blog, Religious Freedom: Going Deeper.)

If past history is any indication, competition sharpens religious conviction over the long haul. Though some drop away, others rediscover the core of their faith and with it, renewal.

The Downside of Literacy

 

Most Americans can read, can understand the written word. This ability is so commonplace that we forget how revolutionary it is. For most of humankind’s history, people knew only what they heard. Information was passed by word of mouth, was not easily verified, and was not retained in any permanent form. Most information was local.

The ability to share information by pieces of paper (and now electronically) meant that ideas could spread, could cross miles and even continents. Written words could be retained indefinitely and studied years later. Knowledge could be accumulated.

Along with such a blessing comes responsibility. We need wisdom as we read, watch TV, or study computer content. In our entertainment-driven society, the purpose of advertisements and political debates can appear as amusing pleasures, like a comedy sound bite or a  sitcom. The fact that much of our information now comes as a performance reinforces the idea of entertainment.

Geoffrey Crowther, writing in 1944 towards the end of World II, said: “The enormous development in the technique of propaganda and advertising, in the power to sway the minds of people in the mass, plays straight into the hands of the would-be dictator or any other manipulator who, for large ends or small, seeks to muddy the waters of democracy.” (Reprinted in Foreign Affairs, January/February 2012, page 38.)

The only defense against manipulation, whether for purposes of selling a product or selling a political candidate or selling an idea, is to read and listen responsibly, with reason overriding emotion.

Literacy without responsibility is dangerous.

 

Religion and Government

How much should religion and government interact? This issue plays out in the small North African country of Tunisia, a majority Islamic country where I lived from 1997 to 2000.

Tunisians began the “Arab spring” by ousting their secularist dictator little more than a year ago. In January they held their first fair election in years. A mildly Islamist party won the majority of the vote.

The leader of the new government, Hamadi Jebali, spent years in prison for his opposition to the government of dictator Ben Ali, much of it in harsh solitary confinement. Now he’s the popularly elected head of the Tunisian government.

Tunisia has a large, educated middle class, many of whom have made plain that they do not want repressive religious laws. Jebali has indicated his understanding of their apprehension. His party has formed the current government with two secularist parties.

The results in Tunisia, in Egypt, in Libya, and other countries of North Africa and the Middle East follow the ouster of regimes which were secular but often brutal against their opponents. Now that more power is assumed by the people, how will democracy and religion play their roles?

Some American Christians desire more religion in their government. How will church and state in this country compare to mosque and state in Tunisia?

Thoughts On Themes As My Latest Book Is Published

The main protagonists in my stories suffer the death of loved ones, marriage breakups, career stress, romantic relationships, and challenges to childhood dreams. Deeper conflicts underlie these issues. Usually the characters are Americans of the Christian persuasion. But their conventional Christianity often is jarred by sojourns in countries influenced by other religions.

After the characters experience their faith as a minority religion, they can no longer accept it simply because it was a part of their upbringing. When they understand the unique message of Christianity, they return home stronger in this faith than when they left.

However, they remain, in a sense, in exile. Their conventional religion has become more subversive, standing in contrast to the materialism and self-centeredness they perceive “at  home.”

In both Singing in Babylon and Searching for Home, the protagonists live for a time in countries where another faith is predominant. In Quiet Deception, the background is the relentless change in the United States during the decades following World War II. This change is noted by one of the characters, a Vietnam veteran.

Distant Thunder, just released, happens in contemporary America, much of it in that iconic American experience of a journey west. But three of the characters have foreign experiences which contrast with those of the fourth, who’s never been out of the United States. One character recounts her experiences in the North African country of Algeria, once the domain of early church leaders like Augustine, but bereft of all but a few Christians today. “Nothing’s left but ruins,” another character agrees, referring to the ruins of ancient churches. Not persecution someone points out, “more like the Christian community just faded away.”

Perhaps by living “subversively,” not in violent subversion, but in the subversive life of love, they will be part of a renewal and prevent a similar fading away of their own faith communities.

Merely Chance Or A Work in Progress?

 

Does our universe operate on chance only? One sperm out of millions finds an egg. A tornado devastates one town and spares another a few miles away. Yet we have something called the laws of probability. We can’t predict certain things for an individual, but we can predict them for whole populations.

Some cancers, which a generation or so ago appeared to operate on blind chance, we now find are influenced by whether we smoke or by what we eat. The genes we inherit, presumably by “chance” exert influence, but we have some power to mitigate them. As we have more knowledge, we may push back “chance” even further. We may find that we have more responsibility than we supposed to make right choices.

Suppose a purposeful love is the reason we’re here? A love the Greeks called agape love, not confused with romantic love or friendship love or the attraction someone expresses when they say “I love chocolate.”

It’s a love that begins when we’re loved and thus able to respond with love to the one who values us, then we’re able to love others. We don’t love others better than ourselves; we love them as we love ourselves.

But we can’t begin it without being loved first. Something happens, something that begins with love. Our societies and our personal lives seem created to function through love. When we don’t have love, our societies and our individual lives crash.

Cultural Competition

Ethnic, political, and religious differences divide much of the world today, including the United States.  Global travel and instant communication force local lifestyles and centuries-old beliefs to compete with other lifestyles and beliefs.

Travelers before the modern era took months to travel from one area to another. Most people did not travel at all or know anyone except from their local villages and most could not read. When Americans began trekking across their continent, they traveled for weeks and sometimes months. First trains and then paved roads cut the time to days. Then planes shortened trips to hours.

Today, electronic communication means that Americans can instantly touch base with others all over the world. What happens in Mumbai, India, is available immediately on a computer or a cell phone in Chicago.

We are bombarded with other cultures and belief systems. Our own local group no longer shields us. The Iron Curtain, barricading the Soviet world from the West, fell with the advent of modern communication. Radio signals could penetrate it. Now the Internet, despite the efforts of some governments to block it, reaches savvy young people in most countries of the world.

American Christians no longer inhabit a culture influenced mostly by Christian beliefs. We share space with Hinduism, Islam, atheism, and a host of other world views. How do we react to this new world where we must again compete, as the early Christians did in the days of the Roman Empire?

How did those Christians operate? They traveled the Roman world from Arabia to the British Isles, but they did not force their views. They debated in the marketplaces, and they lived as examples that drew others to their faith.

 

Mayhem, Gore, and Torture

What does our current appetite for violence-laden entertainment do to our society? Well-adjusted individuals may leave the theater or put down the book and go on with their lives and enjoy their roles as spouse, friend, parent, employee, or whatever.

But what of those of us who are not well adjusted? What of children living in dysfunctional families? Teenagers facing a world of confusing values?  Veterans returning from serving in a war zone and struggling to deal with horrors they knew there? Civilians, such as the emergency rescuer I read about, who needed counseling after witnessing a terrible accident?

The atmosphere of the present day leads to a revisionist portrayal even of literature written in the past. Take Sherlock Holmes as an example. A presenter at a conference that I attended introduced us to Conan Doyle’s sleuth as the cerebral detective. Readers are enticed into the story world, the speaker suggested. Violence is seldom used. The pace is not hyperactive. Relationships draw us in.

I thought I would find these qualities in a current movie resurrecting the Sherlock Holmes story. The movie, however, portrayed Holmes as a ruffian upholder of justice. Violence, gore, and torture impregnated the plot, as well as adrenaline-laced chase scenes. (One wonders how our current appetite for such movies affects veterans with post traumatic stress disorder.) Though the relationship between Holmes and his sidekick, John Watson, was portrayed, it took back stage to the frenetic action scenes.

We do not, like the ancient Romans, stage gladiatorial contests where combatants face life or death situations to entertain the masses. Wonder where those reality TV shows are headed?

Literature’s Divorce Between Secular and Religious

 

Today’s literature tends to be divided, like much of our culture, between secular and religious. The two types usually are marketed to different audiences. Religious fiction may be Jewish or Buddhist or from another religion, of course, but the Christian market has grown remarkably over the past few decades.

In a desire to reach secular readers, writers for the Christian market now explore “crossover” fiction, fiction that may appeal to both audiences. Crossover novels often suggest Christian themes but lack overt references to Christian practices or mention them only in a general way.

As both a writer and a Christian, how much Christian flavor should I impart to my novels? The answer for me is that it’s not an issue. I simply write the story, present the characters as they come to me, and attempt an honest telling of the story.

The conflict in my stories, as in my novel Searching for Home, emerges as the characters work out their salvation in an America becoming less religious and a non-Western world becoming more religious. The stories place the characters in a global context. The characters see their lives as related to the larger world, often away from a domestic church-related venue.  They doubt, sometimes are cynical, and may discover less than full answers to their questions.

I am drawn to novels of authors like Marilynne Robinson, a Pulitzer Prize winner for her moving story about a Christian pastor. Though my writing in no way approaches her wonderful prose, authors such as Robinson give me hope that novels with Christian characters can join the secular literary world. My market, I believe, is the Christian aware of a level beyond strict domestic issues and perhaps a few seekers searching for hints of God beyond the secular.

Brush Your Teeth, Eat Your Vegetables, and Other Quaint Sayings

 

No cavities, Mom, I wanted to shout as I rose from the dentist chair after my six-month checkup. In raising me, my parents stressed the old admonitions: brush your teeth, eat your vegetables, look both ways before crossing the street, share with others, and so on. Only now do I realize how much I owe them for my current health and happiness.

I realized how fortunate I was when I read a New York Times article with the new statistic: More than half of babies born to women younger than thirty now are born to unmarried parents. In many cases, to two young people who don’t even plan to be married, at least to each other. Are these parents dedicated to raising their children as mine were, or are the children simply an afterthought? (See a previous blog, The Parent Divide.)

Some of the unmarried parents express disillusionment with their own parents’ marriages, but it appears marriage, perfect or not, gives a child advantages. The article states: “Researchers have consistently found that children born outside marriage face elevated risks of falling into poverty, failing in school or suffering emotional and behavioral problems.”

Children are a nation’s most precious resource. No country can succeed if it wastes the lives of its children.

 

Boxing Up Our Alleluias

Many in the Christian faith begin the observance of Lent this week. Lent commemorates the forty days leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion. Lent was not part of my childhood church tradition, so I’m still learning about it. This past Sunday, during the children’s time in the worship service, we “boxed up” our alleluias. In our church we will not sing any songs with that praise word in it until the glorious Easter morning.

I thought about the periods of “boxing up” that have occurred in the Christian faith from the time of the first Easter. The influence of Christians in the world has waxed and waned throughout the centuries, depending on how well those who called themselves by Christ’s name lived up to his teachings. At the present time, in the countries that made up the old Christendom, we are in a period of retreat. We have lost influence. Our alleluias are boxed up for a time.

How long will it be until we can let our alleluias out of the box again?  That depends on how Christlike we choose to be in this present time.

 

Man: The Measure of ALL Things?

 

If man is the measure of all things, as the Greek philosopher Protagoras said, we may be measuring “things” by a very small measure, something like using a yardstick to measure the distance from Chicago to Moscow.

Take our brains. Neuroscientists study the activities of the brain and the nervous system. Studies have focused on the functioning of the parts of the brain, such as how they interact and specialize. Some studies have looked at the reactions of the human brain to other humans. These social activities appear to occur on another level, a more complex one. It includes the parts of the brain, but is more than the sum of the parts, this interaction between two humans.

We can prove that humans exist in the scientific sense, but God cannot be seen or studied the way a human brain can. So what of the claims of those of us who are Christian that we can interact with God? We might look at this idea as one that leads us to yet another level, beyond human interaction, one that faith opens to us.

Social interaction moves a person’s focus from self to another. Faith changes the perspective even further, from examining the inhabitants of a thin atmosphere on a small planet to—what? Perhaps to a spiritual level that cannot be quantified but can be experienced.

The Joys of How and Why

A washing machine cleans clothes by the actions of the soap, water, agitator, spin, and other mechanical features. (The how.) An engineer wishing to invent a better machine or a householder looking for a newer model may profitably study these features. The ultimate reason that the machine cleans clothes, however, is because someone wants clean clothes, loads dirty clothes and soap into the machine, and turns it on. (The why.)

A computer math course taught me that we can have other number systems than the one based on ten. Computer systems, at least when I was studying them, are based on the binary system, the on/off properties of two. You go on up to four, eight, sixteen, thirty-two, sixty-four, and so on. Presumably you can have a system based on threes or thirteens or three thousand and sevens, if you want to. In other words, the possibilities are endless.

A previous blog discussed systems that we, as yet, have no way to predict. The usual example given is the weather, which we still can’t accurately predict beyond two or three days.(In the Puget Sound region, even the prediction of a few hours can be in error.) The author theorized that these systems we can’t predict aren’t really chaotic, but we lack the knowledge to unlock them. And when we answer one question, we find a thousand more waiting.

The universe amazes us with its complexity. Humankind is equally marvelous. The study of both leaves us in awe and provides useful knowledge, but the ultimate why for these marvelous works is beyond science. That journey begins with faith that sends us in another direction.

The Rest of the Story

Critics of Christianity often criticize its followers for their failings: the Crusades, the Inquisition, the religious wars of the 1600’s and so on. What often is missed is the rest of the story, that is, what happens to the Christians when they fail so tragically to live the Christ way.

Before the spread of Islam, most Egyptians were Christians. Today, only about ten percent of the population call themselves Christians. Why did so many leave the Christian faith when Islam appeared? No doubt many reasons underlay the change. Some historians point to the Christian schisms that afflicted that part of the world before the Muslim conquest. Christianity lost its good name. The new religion may have struck many as more genuine than the old one.

The shoving aside of religion to the sidelines that began in the 1700’s was caused partly by the appalling religious conflicts of the century before. Pure reason seemed a better way, perhaps, than religious passion, than the killing and torturing of those who disagreed with you.

And for those of us today who call ourselves Christians? If we fail to live up to Christ’s teachings, should we expect any different judgement on us?

The Undisciplined Life

A fiery crash in which three young men were killed grieved our small community. Alcohol appeared to be a factor. A couple of years ago, an alcohol-related crash killed two other young people. In still another tragedy, a drunken driver took the life of a young mother of two children.

How can we curb our suicidal march toward the undisciplined life that allows immediate desire to overcome our God-given ability to reason? Even our politics seem driven by “unreasoning” hatred.

Our young people imitate their elders who over-eat, over-drink, over-shop, and over-entertain themselves without any thought given to deeper purposes. The consequences can suddenly horrify as in automobile fatalities caused by drunken driving. They may surface over longer periods, as in routine gluttony or a country’s slow decline following decades of self-gratification.

We need a purpose that encourages a longer view than a news sound byte or the next election or what we buy on Black Friday. What are our goals? With whom can we share our blessings? Our talents?

A generation or so ago, parents wanted their children to “amount to something.” Now we prefer them be “happy,” but isn’t happiness a byproduct rather than a goal?

On Looking Into Jane Austen’s World

I just finished reading Death Comes to Pemberly by P.D. James. It’s something of a sequel to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. The book’s protagonists are a long way from Adam Dalgliesh, the investigator in James’ detective series. Yet the characters still engage in brooding inner dialog, in this case about honor and family loyalty.

Like many, I find enjoyment in Jane Austen’s novels, as well in the movies and Masterpiece Theater remakes. What is it about life portrayed in the Austen stories that accounts for the revival of interest in her work? Few of us would want to live in those days of rigid social systems, poor sanitation and medical practices, and lack of modern conveniences. Why, then, the appeal?

Perhaps we yearn for the order and civility that we lack in our lives today. Even more, the sense of family and of family loyalty, of honor and common values, appeals to us, I think.

Those times were brutal to the poor and vulnerable and stifling to others, such as women forced into limited roles. We have greater equality today and more enlightened views about women and class. We enjoy freedom of religion and are not forced by community expectations to sit through boring sermons in established churches, already calcifying even in those days.

Yet we have lost something, too, a sense of community and of belonging. We have lost standards of decency and behavior. Those in Austen’s day frequently fell from the standards they professed, but at least they had standards.

 

Taking Atheists Seriously

 

When what we cherish is threatened, we often react with anger and hatred. Yet God commands us to love even our enemies. Surely, then, our love extends to those atheists who have caught the recent attention of established Christianity.

After the death of Christopher Hitchens, a well-known atheist, some Christians celebrated his passing like others did the death of Osama bin Laden. Such an attitude not only is counter to the teachings of Jesus but appears to spring from insecurity in their own beliefs.

Some unbelievers profess honest difficulty with Christian claims. Do we want them to pretend to believe what they cannot? Perhaps God is less troubled by an honest nonbeliever than by one who claims he is a believer and denies Christ by his actions. In fact, one reason for unbelief is the hatred expressed by some who call themselves Christians.

Jesus welcomed the questioning Nicodemus to his lodging for a discussion. Jesus answered his questions frankly, but he did not belittle Nicodemus or his questions.

Those Christians among us must realize that religious wars, intolerance, and vituperative comments serve to distance unbelievers from any true understanding of Jesus. Do our attitudes spring from a fear that we will be led down that dark alley of unbelief? Perhaps we should admit our fears to God and trust him for enlightenment and help in the resolution of our insecurity, rather than react in hateful attacks on unbelievers.

A thoughtful column ponders Hitchens from a more Christian perspective.

Here’s another, written by Peter Hitchens, Christopher’s brother, a Christian.

 

The Wired World: Pressure Versus Promise

In the not so distant past, when a writer finished a book, fiction or nonfiction, and it was accepted for publication, the process was simple. The author might make bookstore appearances for signing copies of her book and perform a few other tasks to promote the book, but basically, she spent working hours or spare time in writing.

Today an author is encouraged to create a web site, post regular blogs, maintain a presence on Facebook and perhaps on one or two other sites, prepare book trailers, tweet, and join in discussions with online groups. Also, of course, he should keep up with additional sites, like Goodreads and others that deal with his writing interests.

The wired world offers myriad opportunities never before available to anyone with an Internet connection, not just writers. The problem is that we can never take advantage of all these opportunities. We can never upload all the books to our Kindle or Nook that we want/need to read, skim all the online magazines, keep up with the news downloaded to our iPad, create meaningful comments on all the relevant blogs, or appear regularly on Facebook and other social media.

When do we have time to work? Or ponder? Or worship? Or read. Or enjoy time with family and friends? Or chill out? We miss one day of checking our email, and the next day we stagger in our attempt to catch up.

I’ve found out the hard way that I must accept boundaries and make choices. I must limit my wired time, delete immediately much that appears in my inbox, and concentrate each day on only a few tasks. What doesn’t get done, I will have to leave to God. Else life becomes a frantic guilt trip.

Come to think of it, I guess our lives have always been about exercising faith by choosing certain paths.

Dorothy Sayers And The Themes Of My Novels

 

Dorothy Sayers subtitled her book, The Mind of the Maker, as “An examination of God the creator reflected in the artistic imagination.” (Reviewed in From My Bookshelf on this site.) In this book, she dissects her own novel, Gaudy Night, a detective novel, into three parts: 1) A puzzle to be solved (the crime); 2) A human perplexity dealing with the relationships of the protagonists; 3) A conflict of values.

At novel’s end, the first, the puzzle is solved. In the second, the protagonists develop a new relationship, with possibilities for good or evil. Finally, the collision of values, is not “solvable” but the conflicting values, from their tension, may create a new, stronger value.

I applied Sayers’ ideas to my own novels. The romance, mystery, or other plot finds resolution. New relationships (both between the protagonists and between the protagonists and God) begin a growing process, that offer hope but not completion. Finally, a background theme in many of my novels is that of the Christian’s struggle in a postmodern world of shifting values.

In Singing in Babylon, the American protagonists feel exiled by their Christian faith within a country predominantly of another religion. When they return to the U.S., however, they sense exile from their consumer-hypnotized fellow citizens.

Quiet Deception unfolds in this country during the 1970’s, a boundary between a time of generally accepted common values and the time after, when those values changed and collided with others. Kim chooses a path already becoming less favored, one, in a cultural sense, of exile.

In Searching for Home, the protagonists constantly must exchange one home for another and eventually discover that the idea of home is at best a spiritual destination. No permanent home exists in this world.

My characters operate in a world that has lost its way, one in which values, including those common to most religious faiths, are questioned. Kate and Philip, Kim and Todd, Hannah and Patrick are remnant exiles. They struggle with the worth of old values as cultures collide.