Musings on How Mystical Matters of Faith Relate to Morality and Peace

By Rudy Barnes, Jr., August 31, 2024 

Institutional religion and personal faith have both mystical and moral dimensions.  The mystical dimension is about how we relate to God, while the moral dimension defines how we relate to each other.  Both are interwoven.  In the greatest commandment Jesus taught that we love God by loving others, even those we don’t like, as we love ourselves.  

We cannot be at peace with God and ourselves if we don’t respect and love others as our spiritual brothers and sisters.  Jesus once said, “Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister.” (Mark 3:34)  What is God’s will?  It’s to love others, even those we don’t like, as we love ourselves.  In John’s Gospel, Jesus tells us simply to ”Love one another.” (John 13:33-34)

These commands are God’s universal truth for all people.  Loving others is how we love God, and it requires that we must first be transformed by God’s love to be at peace with ourselves.  Only then can we share God’s peace with others; and if we are committed to share God’s peace with others, we can endure and overcome all of the world’s problems.

I have written over 500 commentaries on religion, legitimacy and politics.  As a retired UMC pastor I have emphasized morality and avoided mysticism due to many differences of believers over mystical issues of faith; but as in matters of morality, we can share common mystical beliefs, and relate them to our politics as well as to our personal spiritual issues.

I have problems with the many church doctrines not taught by Jesus, including the  doctrine of atonement.  I believe that Jesus was a prophet who taught God’s word and truth.  In John’s Gospel Jesus was introduced as the Logos. (John 1:1-2)  That was a uniqueness in John’s Gospel that supports Jesus as the word of God, but not the alter ego of God.

Jesus was a Jew who knew that it was blasphemous to claim to be divine.  He taught his disciples to follow him, but not to worship him.  The Trinity is exclusivist church doctrine that limits salvation to Christians who believe in Jesus Christ as God, but it was never taught by Jesus; even so, it has enabled the church to become the world’s largest religion.

As a retired UMC pastor it has been a challenge to promote a universalist Jesus in an exclusivist religion, and I’m not alone.  Many have come to believe that God does not favor one religion over others, but seeks to reconcile those in different religions with the reconciling love taught by Jesus as God’s universal word.  I’m hopeful that progressive trend will continue.

In the cosmic battle between the forces of good and evil, God’s will is to reconcile and redeem, while Satan’s will is to divide and conquer.  Unfortunately Satan does a convincing imitation of God in politics and religion, and often wins worldly political contests.  Only God’s universal and reconciling love and peace can save us from ourselves.

Democracy, Morality, Reason, and a Faith that Promotes the Common Good

By Rudy Barnes, Jr, August 24, 2024

Can a healthy democracy exist without a faith grounded in morality and reason that provides for the common good?  Alexis  deTocqueville was a 19th century French aristocrat who visited America in the 1830s and wrote Democracy in America.  He asserted that morality in a democracy could not exist without a religion such as Christianity.     

The greatest commandment to love God and our neighbors of other races and religions is a universal standard of the common good.  It was taken from the Hebrew Bible and taught by Jesus, and it has been accepted by Muslim scholars as a common word of faith; but only a minority of Jews, Christians and Muslims accept its moral imperative in their faith and politics. 

Thomas Jefferson was a child of the  Enlightenment whose politics were based on faith  and reason.  He considered the teachings of Jesus “the most sublime moral code ever devised by man,” and his views were acclaimed by The Jesus Seminar.  Jefferson was a slaveholder who opposed the institution of slavery, but he was never able to find a political solution to end it.     

  I have opined on the relationship between religion and morality in politics at https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/ and on my Facebook page.  Since 2016 things have gone from bad to worse.  America’s politics have confirmed Winston Churchill’s opinion that democracy is the worst form of government--except for all the others.

History has confirmed that human depravity is inherent in human nature.  For American democracy to promote the common good, a majority of its people must be committed to promote the altruistic and universal moral imperative of the greatest commandment.  Only then can America hope for peace and justice for all; and that may be wishful thinking.

As a nonpartisan in politics, I can’t relate to either Trump’s Republicans or to Democrats led by Harris.  Both parties have ignored the fiscal restraints required by America’s $35 trillion national deficit, jeopardizing the economic stability and common good of America’s future--with the dark specter of a bitcoin currency now threatening the stability of the dollar.

In her first economic policy speech, Harris promoted child care tax credits and ignored the economic reforms needed to reform Social Security and Medicare and control America’s massive national debt; and she did not mention the two datapoints that concern most Americans: the higher prices left over from the pandemic, and decreased personal savings.       

Hopefully, voters can change the trajectory of American politics by making the common good their top political priority.  It must include fiscal responsibility for America’s massive national debt, preserving the dollar, and reforming social security and Medicare over partisan objectives.  That’s the only way to save our democracy and the dollar from their current demise.

Notes:

On the Greatest Commandment as a Common Word of Faith, see http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2015/01/the-greatest-commandment-common-word-of.html.

Thomas Jefferson considered “the teachings of Jesus as the most sublime moral code ever designed by man,” and he also detested exclusivist church doctrines.  https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com.  

In 1831 Alexis deTocqueville toured America and  observed that its many Christian sects shared a “Christian morality” that produced common standards of political legitimacy that defined what is right, and imbued American politics with its moral authority.  On the views of Thomas Jefferson and Alexis de Tocqueville on the moral values of religion in American politics, see Religion, Moral Authority and Conflicting Concepts of Legitimacy (July 1, 2017) at http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2017/07/religion-moral-authority-and.html. See also Musings of a Maverick Methodist on a Universal and Altruistic Jesus, August 19, 2023, at http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2023/08/musings-of-maverick-methodist-on.html.

Carl Krieg has distinguished between The Political [exclusivist] Jesus and The Real [universal] Jesus at https://progressivechristianity.org/resource/the-political-jesus-and-the-real-jesus/.

The Washington Post Editorial Board is normally reluctant to criticize leaders of the Democratic Party, but it has referred to Harris’ priorities in her most recent speech on economic policy as gimmicks that avoid serious economic ideas. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/08/16/harris-economy-plan-gimmicks/?utm_campaign=wp_todays_headlines&utm_medium=email&utm.

On the two data points of increasing costs and reduced savings in America’s economy, see  https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/08/19/biden-harris-economy-savings-debt-inflation-pain/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm.

 

James Carville has discussed How the Democrats can win on the economy, at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/20/opinion/kamala-harris-dnc-james-carville.html.

A volatile bitcoin “currency” now threatens the stability of the dollar with speculation on a BRICS alternative to the dollar.  See  https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2024/08/21/institutions-are-coming-35-trillion-us-dollar-collapse-predicted-to-trigger-a-bitcoin-price-boom-to-rival-gold.

Universalism can reconcile progressive Christians, Jews and Muslims.  While universalists are a minority among Jews, Christians and Muslims, they can be a reconciling voice promoting a common word of faith in those competing religions.  On universalism, see Universalism: A theology for the 21st century, by Forrest Church, November 5, 2001, at Universalism: A theology for the 21st century | UU World Magazine.

On the few remaining universalist Christians, see https://christianuniversalist.org/.

On the belief that God saves only Christians and condemns all unbelievers to hell, see Hell No! at http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2017/07/hell-no.html.

On Religion and Reason, see 

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2014/12/religion-and-reason.html.  See also Religion and Reason Redux: Religion Is Ridiculous, http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2017/01/religion-and-reason-redux-religion-is.html

The Teachings of Jesus and Muhammad on Morality and Law is an interfaith study guide based on the teachings of Jesus and Muhammad taken from The Jefferson Bible.  It’s  posted in its entirety in the Resources at  https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com.

Musings on the Universal Teachings of Jesus as a Common Word of Faith

By Rudy Barnes, Jr., August 10, 2024

In Christian universalism there is no exclusivist belief needed for salvation.  The teachings of Jesus in the Gospels are God’s common word for people of all faiths.  While the church limits salvation to believers of exclusivist Christian doctrines that condemn unbelievers to hell, the teachings of Jesus in the Gospel accounts assert universal, simple and selfless truths.

Jesus was a 1st century Palestinian Jew who never advocated a new religion, only reforms in Judaism.  His teachings are summarized in the greatest commandment to love God and our neighbors of other races and religions as we love ourselves.  It’s a common word of faith for Jews, Christians and Muslims alike, but ignored by most church doctrines and creeds.  

Christianity has long been the world’s largest religion, but it’s now declining because of pervasive church creeds and doctrines that have limited salvation to those professing exclusivist Christian beliefs that were never taught by Jesus.  Reform is not likely since exclusivist beliefs have sustained the institutional inertia of the church.

Thomas Jefferson considered the teachings of Jesus “the most sublime moral code ever designed by man,” and his Jefferson Bible affirms universalism as God’s will.  Jefferson’s views have been praised by theologians in the Jesus Seminar; but exclusivist Christian doctrines continue to divide Christians from those in other religions.  

In the 1830’s Alexis DeTocqueville observed that moral values are needed to sustain a healthy democracy, and he asserted that religion is the source of moral values.  The Civil War disproved any moral unity in America on slavery, and the reconciling universal moral values of Jesus have remained corrupted by materialism, hedonism and polarized partisan politics.

Since 2016 most white Christians have ignored the reconciling universal moral values of Jesus and supported Donald Trump’s divisive radical right partisan politics.  The Christian religion has become the handmaiden of the Republican Party, even though Trump promotes demagoguery in democracy as the divisive antithesis of the moral teachings of Jesus.

There are doctrinal differences in the wide variety of churches in America, but all share exclusivist Christian beliefs as the only means of salvation.  In a world of increasing religious diversity, religious reconciliation requires eliminating exclusivist doctrines of salvation; but given the prevalence of exclusivist Christian doctrine in America, that seems highly unlikely.

There was a universalist denomination in Christianity until 1964 when it merged with the Unitarian Universalists.  The UU does not emphasize any religion or give prominence to the teachings of Jesus as the universal word of God; and since 1964 the dominance of exclusivist Christian doctrine has continued unabated in the church.  Can a minority of Christians restore universalism as a common word of faith, or must that change come from outside the church?  

     

Notes:

On the Greatest Commandment as a Common Word of Faith, see

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2015/01/the-greatest-commandment-common-word-of.html. 

The Teachings of Jesus on Morality and Law is an interfaith study guide based on the teachings of Jesus taken from  the Jefferson Bible.  It’s  posted in its entirety in the Resources at  https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com.

Thomas Jefferson considered “the teachings of Jesus as the most sublime moral code ever designed by man,” and also detested exclusivist church doctrines. The Teachings of Jesus on Morality and Law is an interfaith study guide based on the teachings of Jesus taken from The Jefferson Bible.  It’s  posted in its entirety in the Resources at  https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com.

 In 1831 Alexis de Tocqueville toured America and  observed that its many Christian sects shared a “Christian morality” that produced common standards of legitimacy that defined what is right, and imbued American politics with its moral authority.  On the views of Thomas Jefferson and Alexis deTocqueville on the moral values of religion in American politics, see Religion, Moral Authority and Conflicting Concepts of Legitimacy (July 1, 2017) at http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2017/07/religion-moral-authority-and.html. See also Musings of a Maverick Methodist on a Universal and Altruistic Jesus, August 19, 2023, at http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2023/08/musings-of-maverick-methodist-on.html.

Universalism can reconcile progressive Christians, Jews and Muslims.  While universalists are a minority among Jews, Christians and Muslims, they can be a reconciling voice promoting a common word of faith in those competing religions.  On universalism, see Universalism: A theology for the 21st century, by Forrest Church, November 5, 2001, at Universalism: A theology for the 21st century | UU World Magazine.

On the few remaining universalist Christians, see https://christianuniversalist.org/.

Carl Krieg has distinguished between The Political [exclusivist] Jesus and The Real [universal] Jesus at https://progressivechristianity.org/resource/the-political-jesus-and-the-real-jesus/.

Robin Meyers is the author of Saving Jesus from the Church: How to Stop Worshiping Christ and Start Following Jesus (HarperCollins Publishers, 2009), and the title of his book says it all.  Meyers spoke at the Barnes Symposium at the University of South Carolina on April 12, 2019 on From Galilean Sage to Supernatural Savior (or, How I Became a Heretic with Help from Jesus). While Meyers is critical of the church, he was pastor of Mayflower Church, a large UCC congregation in Oklahoma City, for over 30 years.

On the belief that God saves only Christians and condemns all unbelievers to hell, see Hell No! at http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2017/07/hell-no.html.

Musings on Popularity as the Measure of Success in the Church and Politics

By Rudy Barnes, Jr., August 3, 2024

 

In America the church has always been a social institution.  Ever since the 4th century when Constantine made Christianity the religion of the Roman Empire the success of the church has depended on its popularity--despite the fact that the moral teachings of Jesus were never popular; and democracy has only exacerbated that irony.

Christianity became the world’s largest religion due in large part to exclusivist Christian doctrine that limited salvation to Christians.  Jesus never taught that God favored one religion over others, and he never advocated the creation of a new religion.  In fact, Jesus offended most Jewish religious leaders of his day by teaching the primacy of God’s love over Mosaic Law.

In the greatest commandment to love God and our neighbors as we love ourselves in the Synoptic Gospels, and in John’s new command to love one another, Jesus taught his followers to love those of other races and religions as they love themselves; yet church doctrines continue to subordinate those commands to belief in Jesus Christ as the only means of salvation.

It’s past time for the church to debunk doctrines that were never taught by Jesus and conflict with his teachings; but after 2,000 years the dependence of the church on its popularity for its influence and power will likely make that a mission impossible.  That means Jesus must be saved from an exclusivist church that has corrupted his universalist teachings.

In 1961 the Universalist Christian denomination merged with the Universalist Unitarian Association; but few Unitarian congregations today emphasize the teachings of Jesus as the word of God.  In hindsight, it seems that the emphasis on exclusivist Christian doctrines of belief in the 19th century forced the decline of Christian universalism.

Despite significant declines in the popularity of American churches, few have considered institutional reforms that give the altruistic and universal teachings of Jesus a priority over exclusivist church doctrines never taught by Jesus.  While internet conferences can suggest church reforms, most institutional churches are in person and oppose moral reforms.

With 2,000 years of church history and its pervasive institutional structures, changes in church doctrine to give primacy to the teachings of Jesus over doctrines never taught by Jesus will be a hard sell in America’s materialistic and hedonistic culture; but moral reform is needed to save the church from irrelevance and save American democracy from human depravity.

Our churches and democracy have lost their moral compass.  It seems increasingly obvious that we will never accept the unpopular but altruistic and universal teachings of Jesus to love those of other races and religions--and all those we don’t like--as we love ourselves.  But only that uncomfortable truth can save us from ourselves.   

    

            

Notes:

Why We Must Talk About Faith And Politics…Especially In Church, July 28, 2024.  See https://progressivechristianity.org/resource/why-we-must-talk-about-faith-and-politics-especially-in-church/

Robin R. Meyers has summed it up in the title to his book, Saving Jesus from the Church: How to Stop Worshiping Christ and Following Jesus, Harper One, 2009.