Transforming Christian Theology: For Church and Society

Conversation 1. Choice, Convictions, and Connections

161 Conversation 1. Choice, Convictions, and Connections I n his upcoming book, American Grace: How Religion is Reshaping Our Civic and Political Lives, Robert Putnam demonstrates how, from the 1990s to today, the polarization and politicizing of religion has led an increasing number of young people to reject religion and its institutions , generally taking the attitude, “If this is religion, I’m not interested.”1 The result of these overly politicized forms of faith is two generations of adults in which 30 to 35 percent are religiously unaffiliated, and a batch of kids growing up in homes with a stronger commitment to religious cynicism than life-shaping convictions offered by religiosity. Our contemporary context presses us to ask questions about the impact of religious choice, the nature of religious convictions, and how we facilitate connections in religious communities. Choice Contemporary religious diversity is not bound to one expression of religion, even if you expand the options to include all the Abrahamic monotheisms, or even theism in general. The world’s faith traditions are no longer just present in apologetic handbooks, but also in our neighborhoods and on our computer screens. The sheer plurality of religion has moved from a topic in religious studies classes to an actual characteristic of culture. We live and breathe religious pluralism. The result is a Baskin-Robbins-like selection of living religious and spiritual options. How have you handled religious diversity in your life? What ques- • tions has it pressed upon you? 162 | Transforming Christian Theology What impact has religious diversity made on your Christian con- • victions and how you hold them? How is this situation affecting faith in the home? What is faithful • parenting in a pluralistic world, in an interfaith home? In what ways is the diversity of spiritual expressions an asset to • faith development? When can it be a hindrance? Convictions Putnam calls the religiously unaffiliated, “nones.” Interestingly, this group of people is not anti-religious or anti-spiritual, but simply apathetic when it comes to the dominant forms of organized religion. What they refuse to be affiliated with are the polarizing and politicizing of religious convictions at the expense of people. If religious organizations have come to represent those who use God to support their own ideology and divide people based on their own assessment of righteousness, then it makes sense that the institutions , which were once spiritual homes for many in past generations, are failing to connect in such a powerful way today. How can we have convictions without demonizing those who are • different or becoming indifferent to convictions themselves? Against whom does your community define itself? What convic- • tions are communicated in the average worship service? How would you state your faith in the positive and on its own • terms? What truth has transformed your life in such a way that you see it • as a gift to share with your family? Connections For a growing number of Americans, the church and its steeples no longer represent a harbor of safety and encouragement to the community. More importantly, the church is failing to be a place that actually contributes to people’s spiritual journeys. If people neither see nor experience real redeeming connections and relationships in the religious community, if they fail to find support to self, home, and society there, then one can hardly expect them to come. Since these connections and relationships between God, each Conversation 1. Choice, Convictions, and Connections | 163 other, and the world have been the foundation of the church and our own experience within it, we need to explore how to create a space hospitable to new people finding the same life-giving connections. Where in your own life are you free to be open, honest, and even • vulnerable? What has nurtured the most authentic relationships in your life? • Where do you partner with others to make an impact in your • community and in the world? How can your faith community support and join networks of • spiritual friendship and community transformation? Framing the Challenge Theologically At the heart of the present discussion are our shared convictions—those beliefs that we hold so dear that they shape our dreaming, living, and dying. Our convictions shape how we interpret and engage the pluralism of our world. Likewise, it’s our convictions that create communities where personal and social transformation will or will not occur. It is therefore essential to wrestle with our convictions...