In Defense of Church

On a The View  episode over a year ago, there was a conversation about the rise in senseless shooting in America. This past week alone, there were two mass shootings. Knowing this country as well as I think I do, I have a feeling there will be more posts on this blog about the senselessness of guns so buckle up. It's a hard conversation, not because there is no solution (it's a very very easy solution at that), but because we are afraid. Afraid of sending our kids to school. Afraid of going to the mall. Or the grocery store. Or the club. Or the wrong house. Or the wrong driveway. Shoot, we are afraid to live, it looks like. But conversation for another time. 

In the panel discussion I reference above, Sara Haines talked about the rise of porn, violent video games, and decrease in church attendance. She got a lot of flak for it in the comment section. I think it may have been because this requires a lot of nuance. It's not that she is wrong. Those things are problematic and destructive of people's minds all around. The real elephant in the room is that these things are happening in many other countries and yet, there are no mass shootings in those places. Which suggests that one problem we have is...guns. But a particular segment of our leaders has been bought and paid for by the ghoulish NRA. So, again conversation for another time.

Sara was not wrong. The vices she raised are indeed problematic and destructive. And there is a crisis of the mind in our nation. Of the three challenges she mentioned—porn, violent video games, and decrease in church attendance—this post will focus mainly on church. There is a lot of problems with the church. I am a Christian and even I would be the first person to tell you all about those problems, as I've often done here and elsewhere (over and over and over might I add). It is why I feel especially qualified to talk about this. What is "this"? "This" is where I go full throttle in arguing for the necessity of the or a church, or at the very least religion.

In response to the harm perpetuated by the Church, we have thrown the baby out with the bathwater. There is an emptiness across so many souls that I think religion can fill. And hard as we try to fill it with alcohol, vacations, drugs, social media, accruing more money than we possibly know what to do with, we are still empty. bell hooks said it best when she said, we think we are what we possess and that under the guise of divesting from organized religion, we remain spiritually empty. Yet, spirituality empowers us to love. It's not that any legitimate religion out there promises a life void of pain and despair. What kind of life would that be? Instead, we—followers of Christ—are told to count it all joy when we encounter trials. We are told that no matter what God will never leave of forsake us even when we go through the fire. And make no mistake, you WILL go through the fire.

Science argues for the benefits of religion including being linked to longer life expectancy, lower blood pressure, and better mental health. There is a morality to religion that I think, if taken seriously, can preclude you from doing certain things like greed, harming others, selfishness, murder, treachery, lying, power grubbing, GREED, GREED, GREED, GREED, and more GREED. One fundamental theory I hold dear is that greed is about the most singular thing destroying humanity; this desperation to amass more and more and more and more...more money, more power, more fame, more status. In making my case for shame, I said, "if you truly love God, there are some things that cannot coexist with that love and reverence. It transforms you, us Christians like to say. "

I once wrote, "there is a hopelessness, a profound sense of despair, a lovelessness, loneliness, emptiness, and meaninglessness in so many people’s lives that can only be cured by some form of spirituality. While Christianity is what I know and can advocate for, I will reluctantly agree that Christianity is not the only path to that spirituality. Again, just like bell hooks, my belief that God is love sustains me. God, being my anchor, sustains me. And like bell, I too affirm these beliefs through daily meditation and prayer, through contemplations and service, through worship and lovingkindness."

 I do not or will not always get it right. Same as you. 

“Usually, they find that the place of suffering—the place where we are broken in spirit, when accepted and embraced, is also a place of peace and possibility. Our sufferings do not magically end; instead we are able to wisely alchemically recycle them. They become the abundant waste that we use to make new growth possible.” – bell hooks

If the argument for spirituality and morality seem stupid to you (as it probably will to most liberals/progressives) or too tame (as it probably will to most conservatives), what about the need for connection? Especially given all that connection does for our souls. As the former surgeon general once said, loneliness and isolation are an epidemic that increase the likelihood of heart disease, diabetes, blood pressure, and DEATH. It can be comparable to smoking daily. Social connection is as important to our health as food, water, and sleep. You wouldn't forego those, would you? Then why are you not focusing just as much on connections? After all, improving social cohesion has become the cornerstone of numerous violence prevention program across the world. Social cohesion includes building a sense of shared purpose, trust, cooperation, belonging, intergroup interactions. Social cohesion helps bind a society together. One of the more important mechanisms linking social cohesion to [reduction in] violence is how it helps foster relationships between and within different groups and identities. If it looks like I sound confident about the importance of social cohesion when it comes to building a strong society and reducing violence and conflict, it is because I am. It is an important aspect my [published] research and I KNOW the evidence. 

Even the World Bank agrees. As we inch into a world torpedoed by the destruction from climate change; a world that must confront extremism, we will need resilient people. Guess what? Social cohesion also builds resilience and yes, it does reduce the likelihood of being susceptible to violent extremism. We can reduce the vulnerability of young folks to all kinds of extremism. We just have to want to. 

Now, you may contend that the Church is not the only place to get belonging and interactions and cooperation with others. You will be right. However, here is one question in response to that: in today's world, what are the avenues for civic and other forms of communal social engagement that exist? Almost none. If you are not counting bar hopping, that is. Yet, civic engagement remains one of the most important forms of really just existing in a society. As we disparage the church and all forms of religious institutions, no one is really working towards building other institutions to take the place and/or perform the functions that these religious institutions have embodied for centuries. There is a gap. Either fill it or allow some other entity to. It's that simple. 

You will find gaps in my argument and your rebuttal may be just as strong as I feel about my argument. That's okay. One of the fundamental strengths of any hypothesis/theory is that it's falsifiable. So I will concede to you disagreeing with me, but probably not to your reason for disagreeing. Maybe there are contours of my argument that are wrong. My [Christian] faith requires that I have enough humility to accept that I don't know it all. I ask that you come to this argument with the same mindset. That is all.

Love,

I