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A Guide for the Confused: Faith vs Religion in Our Time

Introduction

All religions began first as a faith. The world’s three most popular religions share a common origin. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are all “Religions of the Book.” They evolved from the Cult of Yahweh and all three revere its sacred writings.

Religion might be defined as the exercise of faith, and faith might be defined as the exercise of beliefs. Unfortunately, this process involves institutionalization. That always leads to corruption of the “faith”.
This corruption may be intentional; the work of bad actors, or it may be unintended, caused by attempts to meet certain conditions.

However it happens, it usually leads to disaster and a loss of integrity. In Christianity for example, the “Church” has allowed and perpetrated much evil over its two millennia. To cite only two examples; it defended the practice of slavery, and in the Spanish Inquisition, thousands of non-Christians (Jews in particular) were tortured or killed by the Church if they refused to convert.

Despite that, the core values survive. In many isolated instances, Christians reach out to truly “love their neighbors.” Without the influence of the world’s religions, we would not have a great emphasis on charity and love. We would not have the intrinsic values of the original faith passed down to us.

While we tend to think of the three so-called “Religions of the Book” (Judaism, Christianity and Islam all originate from the Hebrew sacred texts), there are many other religions in our world. With the advent of instant communication, we now are faced with those often different and seemingly strange religious practices. Buddhism and Hinduism are among the world’s largest faiths. They are much older and have survived all the trials of institutionalized faiths.

In our time we are confronted by radical influences of Islam in particular, but there are radical elements in all faiths, including Christianity. This radicalism has diminished the reputation of religion in general. Now in the US there is a growing tendency to define oneself as “spiritual but not religious.”

The genesis of this was in the last century when Americans in particular became more aware of Eastern religious thought and the “New Age Movement” was born That movement actually promoted ancient wisdom that religions had ignored or lost. Now, fully one-third of Americans define themselves as “nones;” the spiritual but religious who refuse to join the institutionalized religions. They tend to find a variety of sources for their spirituality. Specifically, they want to reach out beyond the often limited vision of Western pragmatism to wider spiritual possibilities.

So. This creates a very difficult situation for many. How do we get to those faith principles that will inform and guide us through the vicissitudes of life? Often it is through social media. That means “sound bites” of little truths. The problem with this is that it leaves the believer with little guidance in the development of their faith.

Faith requires nurturing to grow. James Fowler defined a series of levels of “Faith Development” on the model of the steps of moral development of Lawrence Kohlberg. Fowler’s steps can be described in three (though this is not doing justice to the depth of his work).

First there is “Faith given.” This is the faith/sect/denomination into which we were born. Just as politically we define ourselves as our parents. We simply accept that this is correct. The second stage is “Faith questioned.” In this stage we begin to question if this faith is true or is it somehow not meeting our needs. In our doubts we begin to look at other faith traditions. Ultimately our questioning may lead us to a “Faith owned.” We finally have explored and found a faith that speaks to us and our situation.

The radicalization of many faiths and the politicization of the radical elements has caused many to reject the establishment traditions. In each of those cases the religions have picked out one or two elements to become litmus tests of faith. In disregarding the rest of their beliefs they essentially have defeated the essence of the original faith; reducing the faith to a particular practice that can be measured and judged.

As a result of this politicization of faith traditions, more Americans are moving to a “Faith-owned” that does not include any institutionalized religion. Researchers have begun to define this growing category of people as the “nones” (people who on surveys refuse to identify themselves as part of an organized religious organization). In their search for faith they find no institution that they feel has upheld the integrity of its origin and core beliefs. If the dedicated can so easily be misled, why bother?

Here then we encounter the problem of both the dedicated believer and the “none.” Faith as embodied in modern religion has grown complex and rigid. Faith has been replaced by rules that were intended to aid in guiding and nurturing faith but which ultimately were only a means to create orthodoxy and suppress independent thought.

As I am most familiar with Christian History and Tradition, that is what I will deal with as my example and the subject for my “Guide.” As one of those who questioned early in life, I have explored many different options.

Like many people, I was discouraged by the lack of adherence to the original principles as I perceived them. To me, Jesus brought a radical and dangerous message to the world. It is a message that is not dissimilar to most religions, but it is definitely more radical. That radicalism is what spoke to the ancient world and let the faith spread. Yet as it grew and institutionalized, the lamb became a lion.

Now, when I say radical, I am not equating Jesus’ message with the radicals of today. His message was focused on the care of the poor and the expression of love for all of God’s creation. This is a radicalism that is exactly the opposite of the violent and political-religious warriors of today.

Thus we need a guide to think through the many options and to clarify many of the confusing issues of
Christianity.

This is very much a work in progress. I am trying to put together some basic information from which we can branch out to answer long-standing, or immediate questions. I invite you to write me with comments and questions.

So. Please do remember that I come at this from a Hillbilly Protestant viewpoint; about as Protestant as one can be and still be a Protestant! I do not discount other views and I will attempt to describe many other views as objectively as I can. Many of my friends find great comfort and meaning in theological positions that I do not. I respect their choices and am grateful for the joy they receive.

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