The Church of Silence Might be the Best One


Mostly when I read articles by religious writers I find myself silently scoffing. But once in a while there is one so good it jumps out at me. This one is by a university president who is searching for a way to make Christianity relevant today. The first task, of course, is to correctly identify what has gone wrong.

The link found a lot of what most of us would call "group think" in the politics of clergy in the U.S. It was present during the period of the War of Independence, clergy preaching uniformly that independence was the message of the faith and being a colony of England was not. Sermons, he found, were all but 100% in agreement about this. The logical question we have today is, looking back, what does the faith have to do with the War of Independence?

He discusses several writers and personalities in religion who were able to separate themselves from the political group think of their trade. The one in my lifetime was Billy Graham. Billy honeyed up to politicians and show business celebrities when young but regretted this when older. He felt in retrospect he should have kept his distance and been more critical. Part of his life was traveling the world where he came face to face with the vast variety of cultures. His dufus son, Franklin, is a part of the simplistic group think of conservative politics. 

The link author says the left and right in Christianity falls into line with the political factions of each. What is needed, he says, are clergy who can be critical of their own factions in both left and right. Mostly, it might be best for the faith if neither said anything about current politics. 

The book I'm reading, For I Have Sinned, reviews the experiences of hundreds of priests who listened to confessions over several decades. He reviewed the advice and training they received on how to respond to confessions of sin. The company approved response was in inquire a little about the sin to determine how serious it is. Some priests who had been listening to confessions for decades stopped asking questions or seeking clarification. Instead, they advised, the priest should just acknowledge the confession bless and move on. It's enough that they just showed up. 

The link author suggests something like this for all clergy today. That is, acknowledge politics is part of life but stay out of it.

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