From the Moralistic Therapeutic Deism file, Newsweek has a story drawing on polling data that reveal Americans are post-Christian, and in fact thinking like Hindus. Excerpt:
The Rig Veda, the most ancient Hindu scripture, says this: "Truth is One, but the sages speak of it by many names." A Hindu believes there are many paths to God. Jesus is one way, the Qur'an is another, yoga practice is a third. None is better than any other; all are equal. The most traditional, conservative Christians have not been taught to think like this. They learn in Sunday school that their religion is true, and others are false. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me."Americans are no longer buying it. According to a 2008 Pew Forum survey, 65 percent of us believe that "many religions can lead to eternal life"--including 37 percent of white evangelicals, the group most likely to believe that salvation is theirs alone. Also, the number of people who seek spiritual truth outside church is growing. Thirty percent of Americans call themselves "spiritual, not religious," according to a 2009 NEWSWEEK Poll, up from 24 percent in 2005. Stephen Prothero, religion professor at Boston University, has long framed the American propensity for "the divine-deli-cafeteria religion" as "very much in the spirit of Hinduism. You're not picking and choosing from different religions, because they're all the same," he says. "It isn't about orthodoxy. It's about whatever works. If going to yoga works, great--and if going to Catholic mass works, great. And if going to Catholic mass plus the yoga plus the Buddhist retreat works, that's great, too."
If you are a conservative priest, pastor, or religious leader of any sort, and you aren't aware of this, you are going to get blindsided. If you aren't pushing on behalf of your congregation as hard against the culture as it's pushing against your congregation, they are going to get washed away -- and so too will small-o orthodoxy. This is where we are in America today, whether you like it or not. If you don't teach doctrine, and why doctrine is important, you shouldn't be surprised when people cease to believe it.
This story came to me courtesy of Terry Mattingly, who on his GetReligion post, once again repeats his TMatt Trio of questions you can ask of any church or religious group Christian church or religious group [thanks for the correction, TMatt] to find out where they fall on the cultural fault lines in American religion today.
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This is the kind of attitude that puts ideological barriers between people and starts wars. The answer is not in institutions and never will be.
I think all stems from several generations of schoolchildren being assigned the following poem to read and analyze:
Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An angel writing in a book of gold:—
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the Presence in the room he said
"What writest thou?"—The vision raised its head,
And with a look made of all sweet accord,
Answered "The names of those who love the Lord."
"And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so,"
Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low,
But cheerly still, and said "I pray thee, then,
Write me as one that loves his fellow men."
The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night
It came again with a great wakening light,
And showed the names whom love of God had blessed,
And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.
James Henry Leigh Hunt
To Rich and Max:
1) Apologies for loosely defining Sati... Sati existed voluntarily but was practiced by limited group of people. The practice of Sati by the group increased with muslims and christians (as did deaths of men)
2) Dowry existed as (voluntary) gift from parents of bride but became macabre as natives went poor due to Muslims and Christians
3) Casteism is a term coined by westerners. But whatever you ma call it, Greek scholars have described it in detail and you may study Megasthenes... It became corrupt with advent of Muslims and Christians
4) Some small incidents of violence against Christians... These current mentioned are nothing against what you guys have done so far in the world and continue to do so. Such things won't stop because Christians/ Muslims do not introspect the cause and effects of faith (Blind Faith) based actions like jihad or evangelists preaching that Christianity is better than Hinduism stooping down to abyss, lifting terms like Sanatana Dharma etc to create confusion (for these terms cannot be translated into English)
Christians (Missionaries and Evamgelists) are actively trying to change demographies of India on basis of falsehoods and bigotry and yet you expect them to be tolerated... Christian missionaries did so in India till 1857 in hand in gloves with British East India Company triggering mutiny which then forced British Empire to step in and reign in the missionaries. You can refer British Parliamentary Papers for the evil you (Missionaries and Evangelists) do and also learn that once their (Missionaries/ Evangelists) activities were reigned in, Britishers ruled the world till 1947 and a great contributor to this rule was army from India.
5) Reseting Muslims and Christians... If I study what Muslims and Christians did to my country based on their FAITH, I have to be some sort of mentally retarted not to be angered by their acts... But the thing is whether the society as a whole reacted back in equal blind faith... It hasn't.
Lastly, I did feel a hint of bigotry in your (both of you) statements... Whatever you may rant, truth of our times will always be that Islam and Christianity propagated faith based irrational and macabre practices which allows them to justify killing people not belonging to their religion. Examples I have given you... Jews, Cannibalism in Congo as recently as in 2002, Iraq, Afghanistan... Countless state/ faith based terrorism and racism against EVERYONE WHO IS/ HAS NOT BEEN A CHRISTIAN just because the person is/ was not CHRISTIAN
We are all Hindus now - can be termed the new amercian fundamentalism- at a nascent stage now. But you need to nip it in the bud. This is how all fundamentalism begins - with intolerance. What has been said ?
That a large percentage of Americans believe that other religions also have valid view points. So whats wrong with that ?
And on India- come on guys - admittedly there has been some violence against Christians- this has been isolated and is the work of a criminal. It is not a social phenomenon and I do not think Christians feel insecure in India.
Hindus have a different point of view yes. But that keeps them happy. There are many in India who practice Christianity- we do not go around stating that India is becoming Christian.
Hinduism's great strength is that it's not dogmatic. It has no pope or ayatollah declaring fatwas and excommunicating people. Like any religion, it has its blemishes. If you want to play that game, first remove the plank from your own eye.
Please, herd your flock on Sunday and rebuke them for their wayward ways. We exist. We'll still be here from Monday to Saturday. If and when they get tired of you, they're free to see that it's OK. We don't want to convert them and we don't want to hurt them. But they're always welcome to hang out with us if they're cool.
And, who knows -- if they are serious about Hinduism, we welcome the chance to learn something from them, too.
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