And Most Anything Organized (a follow up to the last post)

Studies, surveys, and polls, they are a dime a dozen.  They are often contradictory, and usually reflect the perspective of the organization that contracted to have them done.  After all, as I tell people, if you want compliments, pay cash!  Much of the study/survey/polling world functions that way.  They discover what they are paid to discover.  In the midst of the cynicism brought about through human reality, over time there are trends that the polling world slowly reveals.  For me, one of the most disturbing and most understandable trends is the rise of the “nones.”

The “nones” refer to the number of Americans who say they have no religious affiliation, no religious preference, or no religion at all.  According to an October 9 Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life study, the “nones” now total more than 46 million Americans with one-in-three U.S. adults under 30 as “nones.”  With the numbers of U.S. Protestant and non-denominational churches in decline and Catholics flat-lined, “nones” are growing faster than any Christian group in the U.S.  Here is my issue, I get it.

Over the past thirty to forty years people have watched the excitement and controversy of the birth of the early 1980s Christian Evangelical Revivalism as it morph into the political extremism of the Religious Right.  We’ve seen the Scriptural faithfulness of Classical Liberal Theology move against the injustices of racism; follow God’s Biblical call to address poverty; and, overtime steadily join their more conservative brothers and sisters as they are co-opted into larger political issues that draw them away from the teachings of Scripture.  The world has witnessed the moral failings, public scandals, outrageous statements and teachings, and controversies of very public religious leaders such as Jim Baker, Ted Haggard, Gene Robinson, Jerry Falwell, numerous mainline denominations, and any number of television evangelists selling everything from books, to cds, to dvds, to miracle spring water and prayer cloths.  Add to this the global effects of 9/11, international religious terrorism, the wackos of the Westboro Baptist Church and I understand why people increasingly no longer take religion, any religion, especially Christianity, seriously.

We purportedly follow one we call Savior, Messiah, Redeemer, Chosen One, Lord, the Way, who, when he was asked a question by a religious leader of his day that essentially meant something along the lines of “How does one really follow God?  What does it really mean to follow God?  Is it the right theology?  Is it the right style of worship?  Is there a correct political party?  What does it mean to follow God?”  Jesus said, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the greatest and first commandment.  And a second is like it:  ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40).

There it is.  That is why the “nones” are growing.  It is because of who we have become when Jesus calls us to be so much more.  My heart aches when I look at the Church universal, when I look at churches individually, when I look at what we have become, isolated little camps of unrelated followers of individuals, causes, theologies, politics, and policies, when Jesus called us to love God and those around us.  Want to help the “nones” find God.  Love God enough that you love your family.  Love God enough that you are involved in helping others.  Love God enough that you give to a food pantry, teach your kid’s Sunday School class, go on a mission trip, show up for worship more than at weddings and funerals.  Love God enough that you are willing to love others even though it is not always easy or convenient.  It just might change someone’s life.  It might just change someone’s mind and heart about God.  I guarantee it will change yours.

(Thanks for the photo Cindy!)