An Ex Muslim Says Make Jesus Fit the Culture
Cultures make religion, that's the way it has always been. An ex Muslim lawyer explained recently that if Jesus were presented as being of the global East he would be embraced by populations now Muslim.
He says the faith needs to recognize how the East sees Christianity. Christianity is an excuse for invasion and colonization. The cultures are much different as well.
The East, he says is very communal while the West in about individualism. Thus, we see Islamic prayers done in large groups with choreographed kneeling. While we in the West think of ourselves as concerned about what others think of us, in the East groups effectively shame individuals and they lose all honor.
The link's theory is that Jesus could be seen as restoring the honor of those who suffer its loss by liberating or lifting the shame. The author thinks the language attributed to Jesus is the language of the East.
The author's ideas would be good for missionaries to consider. From what I have read, however, young people from Muslim families are reacting to Islam the way their Christian counterparts are reacting. They are reading critical material, questioning the faith and leaving in large numbers. Even with strong social forces of conformity they are separating themselves from their parents' faith.
Studying people who worship Islam would be helpful but even better would be studying U.S. citizens and figuring out why traditional church attendance is not keeping up with population growth and may be actually falling. I think the U.S. cultural lean toward individualism needs to studied. Many denominations require a Creed to be recited at every church service. Reciting something that starts with, "We believe..." is contrary to individualism.
Perhaps people from backgrounds in both Christianity and Islam would prefer a creed that replaced "We believe ..." with "It could be that ...." and would end with " you can believe whatever makes sense to you." Mostly the latter is what people in the pews do anyway.
re. " Reciting something that starts with, "We believe ...." is contrary to individualism".
ReplyDeleteWRONGO--------All three articles of the Creed starts with "I believe". The Creed is a personal confession of the faith.
Jon; Best you go back to Sunday school and start over.
Cultures make religion. For you that seems to be a demonstrable, absolutist assertion. Too bad, then, that it leaves me scratching my head: what do you mean by culture? Culture, as you must know, is a very broad, general term. Perhaps you take the neo-Marxist view that culture is merely the reflection of economic relationships, a clash between the haves and the have nots? If not that, then what do you mean? And do you not recognize that religions influence, if not, create cultures. You, as is your practice, may not post this. But if you, a straight answer please.
ReplyDeleteUnknown "what do you mean by culture: Culture..is a broad general term."
ReplyDeleteGood post. I agree. It is a term central to the discipline of sociology and more generally about the behavioral disciplines. Conservative Protestants have glopped onto the word and use is as a euphemism for sin.
I agree also that religion influences culture somewhat. I think you would find widespread agreement in the social academic field, however, with my conclusion cultures create religions, not visa versa. Where does one start defining culture--by reading thousands of studies about it. The simplest was to understand the relation between cultures and religion is to note that before widespread travel and ocean crossing invasions and modern dictators since recorded history the various continents had different gods. This seems are close to proof as anything I know that the far flung cultures of world created their own individual gods tailored for each culture.
All of these gods are real to the people in the cultures that created them.
I think that one could make the case that religions and cultures arise simultaneously. Even that In some instances the religion arose in opposition to the extant culture.
DeleteUnknown "I think one could make to case religion and cultures arise simultaneously...religion arose in opposition to the extant culture."
DeleteYou could make those cases--probably others have. They would not explain why there are so many gods in so many cultures. If a god were separate from all the cultures it seems to me there would only be one. And, the way I see it which is not how anyone else needs to see it, the many variations in Christianity reflect the many cultures where is exists. Again, one god separate from the culture would be seen the same way by all cultures.
Explained another way, I would guess you see your God as you were trained since birth to see it, a sovereign god. Further you seen other gods in other parts of the world as fake gods--if I'm wrong about this correct me. Why do you and people from other places see their respective gods as real and the Christian god as not?
I am sure that you will not like this response, but will post anyway. It seems to me that it does not follow from your assertion (if gods were separate then every culture would have the same god). Why couldn't separate cultures have differing notions of the divine, the transcendent?
ReplyDeleteAs I said, gods are very much bound up with a culture (defined as a set of beliefs, a worldview , a way of life, held in common by a group of people: a tribe, a nation, a locality). Isn't it more a case of both/and rather than either/or? Besides, there is evidence to suggest that many varied cultures do, in many respects, have some intuition of a supreme being: a Great Spirit, a presiding sky god (as in Zeus and Jupiter), Aknaten's (sp?) Solar Disc, etc. Apart from that, what happens when the notion of a traditional God and all that goes with it becomes antithetical to a new, emerging culture? Internal cultural discord, even civil war. Thus, for example, you and Ardy raining down anathemas on pro-lifers, Trump, "fundamentalists". And your opponents all too eager to return the favor.
Unknown "...there is evidence to suggest many varied cultures do, in some respects, have some varied intuition of a supreme being: a sky god....etc."
DeletePeople have claimed that here and in other places. You do not claim it is true for all cultures, instead refer to "many varied cultures." So you admit it is not true all cultures. Natives of this continent seemed to have gods in animals. Cave drawings from varied places indicate spiritual forms of animals. If cultures don't have the same god then cultures manufacture gods--that's my point which you seemed to agree with in the first part of your post. In other words, there are no gods, only ideas formed by the cultural setting people happened to be born into.
Then you start in on an old saw that if we abandon the Christian God there will be "Internal cultural discord, even civil war."
WHAT? Our own civil war in the mid 1800's was caused by atheists? On one side was the South which believed God smiled on slavery. On the other were Northerners which did not believe this. Iraq is a similar mess, two different kinds of Islam. No, don't start in on the old thing that we will all turn to sin and kill each other if there are too many atheists and too little God. Our prisons are full of professed Christians now--fewer might be better.
here you go again, jumping back on the old soapbox. I was simply trying to be objective, taking into consideration ample historical data: i.e the American Civil War, a conflict that erupted as the north and south pulled apart, not only in terms of pro and anti slavery but economically and culturally as well. also the civil wars and/or civil strife that followed the French and Russian revolutions, the Reformation, Aknaten's religious revolution in Egypt, the English Civil War, the list goes on. obviously any society, including 21st century America is going to be torn apart (or already has been) in one way or another when significant members of the tribe assume opposing worldviews and began to fight among themselves. this is simple objective fact, quite irrelevant to your silly talk about Christians in prison. and whether the gods are invented or not, they are believed in. and when challenged strife, political or otherwise will follow. so sad that you cannot see an obvious point, retreating into ideology. not very academic is it?
DeleteUnknown "and whether the gods are invented or not they are believed in. and when challenged strife, political or otherwise will follow."
ReplyDeleteOh yes. Whatever the status quo, we should not disturb it. Order must prevail or there will be chaos and bloodshed. I'll bet that is what leaders in Paganism said be Christians began making inroads. That atheism and "nones", no religion identified, are on the rise is a sure sign of bloodshed to come and we need to stop them right now. Society cannot have any change of it will collapse.