"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." Attributed to James, the brother of Jesus, from The Book of James in the Bible, Chapter 1, Verse 27.
So that's "pure and faultless" religion based on what Jesus' brother thought. Sounds like a perfect whisky. No funny business, just expertly created to be a distillation of all the good stuff with no contaminants changing the taste. Of course we don't limit ourselves to "pure and faultless" religion do we. We understandably add in other things like widowers and foster kids. I haven't heard anyone disagree that this is an appropriate expansion of good religion and it seems right to look after all those disadvantaged by society and life circumstance. Let's not forget that widows and orphans had traditionally received the short end of the stick in a male dominated, tribal society. It's also a slippery slope to define "polluted by the world" and I have a lot of irrelevant opinions on that. So what do I personally consider as "useful religion?" If you'll give me a minute I'll tell you what I think from my perspective of me, God, and the environment. I'm really struggling with documented cases miraculous healings right now so that's the angle I'm going to come at this whole useful religion concept.
I recently heard a story of an epileptic woman who has been winning most of the ultra marathon running events (i.e. 100 mile plus) she competes in after having a kiwi sized piece of her brain removed. The brain surgery was to stop the life-threatening seizures she was having. Talk about mind over matter! Countless stories have been told of how humans are capable of so much more than what we think we can do. They often tie back to how we get in our own way most of the time and we just need to convince our minds that we can do it.
I'd like to make the walk to healings. Mind over matter? Maybe a little. As humans have been learning, a positive setting, supportive community, and healthy environment can make a big difference in individual performance. We know that people have been miraculously healed in the worst of circumstances as well. There are way too many stories of overcoming brain cancer in a day, or the deaf being restored after healing prayer to dismiss this idea. So what's going on here? Is there some external force causing a biological change? Is there an internal force or change in thinking that is driving the change? I'm not sure and I don't know that it matters. If you're tracking with me I think this is where our religion can become "useful."
When we are unified with others we seem to have an easier time getting over ourselves. Our internal roadblocks fall away when we see someone else placing their hands on someone and passionately praying for healing. Heck, I want to join in! This is especially true if its someone we care about. Take it one step further and we read stories of Jesus healing people from miles away. This seemed to empower the disciples to get involved with their own cases of healing. Then Jesus mentions their future ability to throw mountains into the sea. Fascinating. Something about being together and having faith encouraged by the actions of others can make the impossible possible.
Let's turn to the nasty business of sin for a moment. Being purified from all unrighteousness, chains breaking, eternity offered, etc. These are immensely freeing ideas right?! When we commit our selves to God and ask for forgiveness, is there actually something fundamentally, universal happening? Are we all trash until we choose to not be trash? I'm not so sure about this one either. However, the saving grace of a Christian conversion experience can be directly linked to people being freed from addiction or reversing their destructive life patterns, or even being physically healed. It makes something happen. It's certainly not the end of the healing and growth journey and may introduce other issues to resolve but it can be useful.
If you're feeling bamboozled at this point by a deconstructionist, emergence Christianity type ambush, I sincerely don't mean to offend. This is where I'm at and I'm looking for second opinions.
If you're still with me, I would take the next step to our worship experience. Our music styles change with the generations but to be successful in our objective of connecting with the creator, we sing together! Our melancholy modern synth music draws in a more emotionally connected generation who know what they feel. Our pound-em-out piano hymns resonate with a generation of doers, people who have a firm message and got stuff done when no one could afford an organ anymore. Some religions seem to skip these generational changes and just stick with the throaty moaning of proven mantras. The end result seems to be the same. A connected group of people willing to give it all for a higher cause. It seems we can get there on our own through meditation, prayer, solo singing, chanting, repetitive motion, etc. but it seems to take a lot more effort from my experience.
Religion can be useful as James postulates. It can make us better people, more connected to a higher power, and even get us to the point of miracles. It can also be useless as we've seen proven time and again. It can be a tool for the most horrific actions in human memory but let's steer away from the dark side on this one.
The problem is, if you don't buy in to the religion is it actually useful anymore? If you aren't fully convinced that Jesus had to die, but are convinced that people need to come together and care for the disadvantaged, does Christian tradition work for you anymore? Does the song about blood pouring over your hands still hold its appeal? Does the miracle happening in front of you still captivate you when you know that there will be a fire and brimstone message from the preacher hot on the heels of this beautiful event? How do you believe again so that you can do the good things that religion helps you have faith in when you see flaws in big chunks of the tradition? Can the useful side of religion be accessed without the damaging systems of control that have been so often abused.
What about all the people sharing their journeys on astral plains and telling stories of healing mysteries from ancient magic? It seems to me that when we lean into the mysteries of religion together, we can overcome our limited scientific understanding of how the universe works. I'm beginning to wonder if science is showing us that if we can use our minds we can also get there, and get there more firmly! We can believe in ourselves when research proves it. So is science a religion? Many would say so. I think this does a disservice to both. Faith seems to help us see what science still has yet to prove. But science proves what faith can only hint at. Many people are happy to live on hints. My struggle is when religion gets in the way of faith. When it is no longer pure and uncontaminated. When people introduce bad scientific methods to faith in order to form a religious position. When a world renowned worship band dials in their formula night after night to get the best effect out of the crowd, that's pretty solid science. Trial and error under close observation. When a local church band tries to emulate the big band, that's bad science. When they drop the big band pretense and pay attention to who's in the room, they get better.
Applying useful religion to the environment is a no-brainer in my opinion. We all feel the pain of the world. A miserable animal in captivity, a contaminated puddle seeping from the road into the forest. We don't need science to prove that something evil is afoot. Then science shows up late to the game, proving that that oil slick does in fact kill everything it touches. Showing that the captive creature will die a premature death from poor mental health. I wonder if the center of Christendom had been more aware during the industrial revolution if they would have had the guts to stop the factories from polluting. The signs were all there; greed, waste, abuse, bad health. In fact, these processes produced so many orphans and widows it's very clear to me that we had a whole lot of useless religion.
It seems high time to listen to the science, practice useful religion, and get on with the business of unity before we destroy every good gift we've been given.