Speaking of my own faith
23/01/15 05:18
“Pastor, would you ever consider preaching about the Muslim situation?” It was an honest question in a comfortable conversation. But, as is often the case, it caught me a bit off guard and I didn’t have an answer. My mind raced to find something intelligent to say. My first instinct was to simply confess that I am not very knowledgable about Islam. I’ve read a few books and parts of the Quran (in English translation, of course), but my life has been devoted to the study of the Christian faith and when I preach I am addressing Christians about our faith.
Of course the questioner was thinking about the most publicized and dangerous acts of radical Muslim terrorists. The recent attacks in Paris have garnered a lot of attention in the media and caused people around the world to wonder how vulnerable they might be to attack.
At the moment I wished i had gotten around to reading Karen Armstrong’s book, out last year, about religion and the history of violence. I had heard an interview with her about the book and knew that her intensive scholarly research led her to the conclusion that relatively little of the violent attacks can be directly related to religion. I’m not certain, but I think she would assert that the violent attacks by Muslim terrorists have not arisen out of the core tenants of the faith, but rather out of relatively new converts who are by and large unschooled in the faith. She would assert that religion, whether Christianity or Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Daoism or Judaism is not the cause of violence, but rather the extreme corruptions of religious ideology.
My conversation partner could sense that I was searching for an answer, and I needed to say something. I spoke briefly about the difference between Europe and the United States in terms of the numbers of people of various faiths. I think I said something about the problem not being the increase in the number of Muslims in our country, which is currently only just over 1/2 of one percent, but rather the decline in Christianity, which has fallen from around 90% in 1990 to around 73% today.
It seems to me that my calling has much more to do with the decline in the number of Americans who identify as Christian than the comparatively minuscule number of people in my country who identify as Muslim.
The truth is that I haven’t studied the decline in Christian identification in the United States. I know that rise of the mega church phenomena - very large congregations with very low commitment required of members - has corresponded with the overall decline in the number of people who identify as Christian, but I have no evidence that there is a cause and effect relationship. I know that the overall decline in membership in mainstream churches has not been caused by other churches. People who drift away from mainstream congregations tend to simply not participate in churches. And I have witnessed the shuffle within congregations. There are plenty of Christian congregations who have experienced growth at the expense of other congregations - gaining virtually all of their new members from existing churches while not reaching out to the unchurched in any effective or meaningful way.
Fortunately, I have been blessed to serve stable and slowly growing congregations for all of my career. Even with the farm crisis of the 1980’s and the rapid decline in population in the counties where our churches were located, we were able to maintain a very modest growth rate in the churches we served. Here in South Dakota, the congregation I serve has experienced ups and downs, but has varied by less than 10% in either direction in the past 60 years. Interestingly, periods of decline in membership have been accompanied by the congregation growing younger, which indicates that the primary factor in decline is the death of older members.
As you can tell by reading this blog, my mind quickly wanders from making comments about other religions. It is a topic about which I have relatively little to say.
So I guess the answer to the question that I never gave in the conversation with a member of our church is, “Yes, I would consider it, but I’m not sure what I would say.”
I think it is a more honest answer than is being given by popular media. Watching television might lead one to believe that terrorist attacks against the United States are on the rise, which is not the case. In fact the past five years have been the least active in terms of the number of terrorist attacks in the United States in the past 40 years. The most active years in terms of attacks were 1987-1991, with a sharp decline in 1992. 2001 to 2004 saw an increase in the number of attacks, but the number of attacks has been at an historic low since 2009. Statistically it is not getting worse. But you wouldn’t know that from watching television.
As a pastor what concerns me is that what is on the rise is fear. And fear is not rational. The level of fear doesn’t always correspond to the level of danger. The rise of fear, however, is a sign of the decline of faith.
The Gospel message begins with a calming of fears. “Do not be afraid,” says the angel to the shepherds. Jesus, it seems, is constantly reminding people, “Do not be afraid.” It seems like I would be preaching the opposite of the gospel were I to try to stir up fear in my congregation - fear of Muslims, fear of terror, fear of any kind.
I would rather contribute in whatever ways I am able to the growth of faith.
On that score, I have another opportunity. The person with whom I had the conversation yesterday will be around tomorrow and many days to come. I will be granted opportunity for more conversations and more ways to share.
I may never preach a sermon about Islam. But there are a few things about Christianity that I still want to say.
Of course the questioner was thinking about the most publicized and dangerous acts of radical Muslim terrorists. The recent attacks in Paris have garnered a lot of attention in the media and caused people around the world to wonder how vulnerable they might be to attack.
At the moment I wished i had gotten around to reading Karen Armstrong’s book, out last year, about religion and the history of violence. I had heard an interview with her about the book and knew that her intensive scholarly research led her to the conclusion that relatively little of the violent attacks can be directly related to religion. I’m not certain, but I think she would assert that the violent attacks by Muslim terrorists have not arisen out of the core tenants of the faith, but rather out of relatively new converts who are by and large unschooled in the faith. She would assert that religion, whether Christianity or Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Daoism or Judaism is not the cause of violence, but rather the extreme corruptions of religious ideology.
My conversation partner could sense that I was searching for an answer, and I needed to say something. I spoke briefly about the difference between Europe and the United States in terms of the numbers of people of various faiths. I think I said something about the problem not being the increase in the number of Muslims in our country, which is currently only just over 1/2 of one percent, but rather the decline in Christianity, which has fallen from around 90% in 1990 to around 73% today.
It seems to me that my calling has much more to do with the decline in the number of Americans who identify as Christian than the comparatively minuscule number of people in my country who identify as Muslim.
The truth is that I haven’t studied the decline in Christian identification in the United States. I know that rise of the mega church phenomena - very large congregations with very low commitment required of members - has corresponded with the overall decline in the number of people who identify as Christian, but I have no evidence that there is a cause and effect relationship. I know that the overall decline in membership in mainstream churches has not been caused by other churches. People who drift away from mainstream congregations tend to simply not participate in churches. And I have witnessed the shuffle within congregations. There are plenty of Christian congregations who have experienced growth at the expense of other congregations - gaining virtually all of their new members from existing churches while not reaching out to the unchurched in any effective or meaningful way.
Fortunately, I have been blessed to serve stable and slowly growing congregations for all of my career. Even with the farm crisis of the 1980’s and the rapid decline in population in the counties where our churches were located, we were able to maintain a very modest growth rate in the churches we served. Here in South Dakota, the congregation I serve has experienced ups and downs, but has varied by less than 10% in either direction in the past 60 years. Interestingly, periods of decline in membership have been accompanied by the congregation growing younger, which indicates that the primary factor in decline is the death of older members.
As you can tell by reading this blog, my mind quickly wanders from making comments about other religions. It is a topic about which I have relatively little to say.
So I guess the answer to the question that I never gave in the conversation with a member of our church is, “Yes, I would consider it, but I’m not sure what I would say.”
I think it is a more honest answer than is being given by popular media. Watching television might lead one to believe that terrorist attacks against the United States are on the rise, which is not the case. In fact the past five years have been the least active in terms of the number of terrorist attacks in the United States in the past 40 years. The most active years in terms of attacks were 1987-1991, with a sharp decline in 1992. 2001 to 2004 saw an increase in the number of attacks, but the number of attacks has been at an historic low since 2009. Statistically it is not getting worse. But you wouldn’t know that from watching television.
As a pastor what concerns me is that what is on the rise is fear. And fear is not rational. The level of fear doesn’t always correspond to the level of danger. The rise of fear, however, is a sign of the decline of faith.
The Gospel message begins with a calming of fears. “Do not be afraid,” says the angel to the shepherds. Jesus, it seems, is constantly reminding people, “Do not be afraid.” It seems like I would be preaching the opposite of the gospel were I to try to stir up fear in my congregation - fear of Muslims, fear of terror, fear of any kind.
I would rather contribute in whatever ways I am able to the growth of faith.
On that score, I have another opportunity. The person with whom I had the conversation yesterday will be around tomorrow and many days to come. I will be granted opportunity for more conversations and more ways to share.
I may never preach a sermon about Islam. But there are a few things about Christianity that I still want to say.