I was reading a book the other day that happened to quote two verses from the Bible that just stopped me in my tracks, realizing what a failure not only we are as humans but what a failure religion has been in leading its flock. The verses were:
“For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”
“Who shall ascend onto the hill of the Lord? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.”
These are core principles of Christian teaching, together with “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Similar teaching with different words can be found in all the great religions.
According to a 2017 Gallup poll, 37% of Americans are classified as “highly religious” based on their self-reports of church attendance and the importance of religion in their lives. Another 30% are classified as moderately religious.
Yet the same poll found that 48% of highly religious Americans approve of Trump’s performance in office, 40% of the moderately religious. Regarding party affiliation, 80% of Republicans are classed highly or moderately religious, but only 61% of Democrats.
How does one make sense of this data considering the teachings noted above? It is obvious that there is a serious disconnect between what people feel being religious means regarding their own and others’ actions and the teachings of the Bible and other spiritual sources. This is not only seen in the support of the religious for Trump but in their everyday actions, be it within their family or in the context of their work.
We live in a culture that promotes the quest for power at all cost, vanity, and deceitfulness. We live in a culture that is supremely irreligious. But why do the religious, who rebel against some aspects of modern culture, not stand up against this ethical and moral cancer?
One could look at this situation and say that the failing is due to the weakness of man. But that is only part of the answer. The more damning (pardon the pun) answer is that our major religions, especially the more orthodox branches, have failed to pass on the most meaningful aspects of their religion … how one acts towards his fellow man. Of course they give lip service to the moral and ethical responsibilities of man, but they do not press the point.
Instead the orthodox branches of religion are obsessed with gaining power, with having influence, and as a result stress the functional aspects of orthodox religious practice far more than the moral or ethical aspects. The only moral aspects they promote are cherry-picked from the Bible and again are geared to their defeating what they see as enemies of their power.
And so, whether it’s their stand against a woman’s choice, which they label “pro-life” and “anti-abortion” (is anyone pro-abortion?), or whether it’s their stand against the LGBT community, that is the orthodox moral litmus test for being a good Christian or a good Jew. To abstain from vanity, from deceitfulness, from the quest for power and wealth at all cost seems not to concern them.
And this is not just a criticism of Evangelical Christians (much has been written about the apparent hypocrisy of their support for Trump) or ultra-orthodox Jews. The Catholic Church in general has fallen into this same trap. Actually, the preeminence of survival is nothing new for the Church. It has historically seen its most important role as preserving its power, its presence. So for example, during WWII, Pope Pius said nothing about what was happening to the Jews in Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy or the conquered countries. He was more concerned that the church not be attacked.
And what about the ongoing scandal of the abuse of children, not just boys, by Catholic clergy? Not just the abuse, but the deceitful, disingenuous actions of church leaders in keeping the truth of this monstrous moral failure from their own flock. All in the name of preserving the power and strength of the Church.
If one reads the Bible in its entirety, not just the favored sections intoned in the culture wars, they will know that they and their religion have failed. That they are not leading a religious life in any truly meaningful way. Evangelicals may be “born again,” and ultra-orthodox Jews may maintain all the rituals and study the Bible and pray for hours, but orthodox Christians are not doing what Jesus would do, and ultra-orthodox Jews are not doing what G-d would have them do in dealing with their fellow man. And by the way, I should note that the eastern religions are not free of this problem. Look at the violence that Buddhist monks have promoted against the Muslim Rohingya of Myanmar.
Religion should be at the forefront of a real culture war, which is to say against the prevailing culture’s promotion of power, vanity, and deceitfulness. It should be our moral compass. But that would take real courage because it would risk turning people off and thus “weakening” the church’s power and presence.
It is ironic that it is the less-orthodox, less-conservative branches of the religions that do a better job at teaching the moral values of their religion, and those who are classified as “not religious” who do a better job at implementing those values. Something has gone haywire.
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